The Future of EA gaming

2006-09-01 07:25:23

#1

RasorX: Member; +17|6750|Indianapolis

Well, it's finally happened.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060901/ts … 0901005959

Too lazy to read? Well essentially EA is going to start putting advertisements in video games. Which INCLUDES BF2142. Some games already have limited ads, which make some sense, like in billboards in car race games, signs at sports games, etc.

Advertisers pay millions upon millions for a deal like this, which means more money for EA which will not translate to the consumer at all. So they make more money and you still pay the same price for video games, if not more.

Am I really the only one who's sick and fucking tired of advertisments in every aspect in every place at every time in people's lives?

Edit: I just reread the article and missed something the first time, a key word, "updatable" advertisments. So now you'll be spending 10 minutes of download time every other day to update the ads in your already buggy game, very nice.

Last edited by RasorX (2006-09-01 07:27:45)

2006-09-01 07:27:43

#2

{BMF}*Frank_The_Tank: U.S. > Iran; +497|6585|Florida

The advertisements dont bother me any. The only thing that bothers me about this is the fact that EA will get a crap load of money, and not put it to good use.....such as.........releasing a new patch for BF2 and fixing bugs in the game. It will probably all be dumped into creataing their next game after 2142 and support for 2142.

2006-09-01 07:29:15

#3

jord: Member; +2,382|6685|The North, beyond the wall.

I fail to see how adverts bother people.

2006-09-01 07:32:23

#4

Agent_Dung_Bomb: Member; +302|6743|Salt Lake City

The next think you know, they will start offering a subscription fee to not have the advertisements appear in games...essentially forcing you to pay for the game, and then pay again not to be bombarded with ads.

2006-09-01 07:33:34

#5

Eboreus: Member of Foamy's Card Cult; +46|6654

they dont introduce advertising to internetgaming and has been long there before (look at NFS) but the advertising will change in-game constantly due to the internet connection, which means a more customer/consumer orientated advertising.
i think it's a great idea (and about time that they put it to some use) not because ea gets money but because it's a whole new market. and aside from that it does not bother me a tiny bit - most of the time i dont give a damn about commercials in game because i concentrate on the game.

and in addition: development costs for games are exploding, so we should be kinda thankful that they have a new income source, otherwise games would be even more expensive imo.

2006-09-01 07:40:24

#6

CameronPoe: Member; +2,925|6562

10 years down the road there'll be in-game subliminal messages in support of whatever government agenda is seeking support at that time. Advertising makes me sick because the methods employed in affecting group psychology are wide open to abuse.

Last edited by CameronPoe (2006-09-01 07:42:27)

2006-09-01 07:43:28

#7

loonitic: ...is a potty mouth; +286|6541|Valhalla

Well as EA always said - ITS IN THE GAME...

2006-09-01 08:11:30

#8

jonsimon: Member; +224|6502

Advetising bugs me because the cheapest way to advertise is simply to attract attention, and the easiest way to do that is through annoyance.

2006-09-01 12:16:56

#9

Spearhead: Gulf coast redneck hippy; +731|6697|Tampa Bay Florida

If it actually lowered the cost of the game, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. But capitalism doesn't work like that, and it probably won't happen. That's how you can tell whether or not a company cares about the consumers : when they get a whole lotta extra cash, do they treat the consumers to less expensive games, or do they keep it for themselves for just more profit. Obviously EA is the second.

Last edited by Spearhead (2006-09-01 12:18:14)

2006-09-01 12:34:52

#10

jonsimon: Member; +224|6502

Spearhead wrote:
If it actually lowered the cost of the game, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. But capitalism doesn't work like that, and it probably won't happen. That's how you can tell whether or not a company cares about the consumers : when they get a whole lotta extra cash, do they treat the consumers to less expensive games, or do they keep it for themselves for just more profit. Obviously EA is the second.

There's no competition. Video Games are an oligopoly currently. If there was competition, the extra revenue from advertising would enable EA to price lower, thus beating out the competition for demand.

2006-09-01 12:36:18

#11

SGT.Slayero: Member; +98|6472|Life in a vacuum sucks

i know the future of EA oh wait there is no future

2006-09-01 13:32:22

#12

Wasder: Resident Emo Hater; +139|6682|Moscow, Russia

I heard that Microsoft bought a company which specialises in putting ads shifting one another inside MMORPG games. This market seems to be very perspective.
I think in the future the games full of advertising will be given out for free, as the publishing companies will still get their profit with the money they get from companies interested in advertising their products.
I reckon we will be remembering the "good old days" when games were fun and were not full of ads.

2006-09-01 13:32:58

#13

joemah: Member; +6|6749

Another reason I am never buying an EA game again.

2006-09-01 13:42:20

#14

JG1567JG: Member; +110|6595|United States of America

What does it matter if there is a billboard or sign in the game that advertises for Coke or Pepsi or some related computer hardware. To me it just makes the maps look all that more real. You see advertisements all over in the real world so why not in games.

2006-09-01 13:47:03

#15

RasorX: Member; +17|6750|Indianapolis

JG1567JG wrote:
What does it matter if there is a billboard or sign in the game that advertises for Coke or Pepsi or some related computer hardware. To me it just makes the maps look all that more real. You see advertisements all over in the real world so why not in games.

Who knows if it'll be that simple? It says "updating advertisments" so you'll be downloading new content periodically. What if it means 5 minutes of non-skippable commercials everytime you try to startup a new game?

2006-09-01 16:05:47

#16

The_Shipbuilder: Stay the corpse; +261|6507|Los Angeles

RasorX wrote:
What if it means 5 minutes of non-skippable commercials everytime you try to startup a new game?

Come on. They're not stupid.

Everything comes down to the bottom line. If they annoy people with advertising so much that people stop buying their games, it would be a net loss. Not to mention that if the ads detracted from the game experience itself, people would develop NEGATIVE attitudes towards the products advertised, and advertisers would pull out.

2006-09-01 16:35:34

#17

Havazn: Member; +39|6701|van.ca

Generating as much profit as possible is the basis for a capitalist soceicty. Don't like it? Change it.

Downloading graphics will take all of 5 seconds and you won't even notice it as the game "loads". Just imagine "verifying client data" taking a couple seconds longer. You won't even know its downloading new ads.

2006-09-02 05:24:35

#18

com on people, games are a cows. Companies like ea want to milk it for wots it worth, just like everyone else.

i really don't give a shit, considering i know someone will make a ad-blocker for the game, just like msn messenger.

2006-09-02 05:46:55

#19

sergeriver: Cowboy from Hell; +1,928|6764|Argentina

Advertising should have two goals to achieve. The first one is promoting or selling a product. The second, and most important, is to allow products to be cheaper. How come? When our dear friends of EA include advertisement in a game, I don't think it's wrong. I don't bother seeing the advertisement in my game. What bothers me is that EA keeps the prices over 50 bucks. Why don't you guys sell your games at 20 bucks for instance, and this way you will sell a lot more copies of a game, which will atract a lot more of companies who will pay you a lot more of money to put their advertisement in your top seller games.

2006-09-02 05:56:21

#20

CLEVERLITTLETROJAN: I killed you,you just don't know it yet; +18|6621|birmingham,uk

when i shoot someone i do not need to see that the bullet i shot them with was sponsored by pop tarts

Last edited by CLEVERLITTLETROJAN (2006-09-02 06:02:41)

2006-09-02 06:03:29

#21

Koevauxe: Member; +0|6460

These updates should be easy to biapass with some modifications to the game files, that is if it realy bothered you. Still images or textures in games are quite small no more than half a meg at the most for a high resolution billboard in a game, so you shouldn't have to worry to much about update time.

2006-09-04 01:08:52

#22

dubbs: Member; +105|6639|Lexington, KY

For a different article, I read that the ads will be "moving". Also, if I rent a server from EA will I get money for the ads? Will admins be able to turn off the ads if they do not get a profit from it? Does this mean that you do not have to pay to host ranked servers in BF2142?

I have said this before, if gaming companies would not spend time creating files that they do not use in the game, then they could reduce the cost of games.

2006-09-04 01:18:35

#23

Kirokura: Member; +26|6545|Sweden

Can't we all chip in and rent a big billboard in 2142 that says "FIX BF2 NOW!" or "EA sucks".

2006-09-04 01:25:07

#24

AlbertWesker[RE]: Not Human Anymore; +144|6651|Seattle, WA

Oh EA, what have you done now???

2006-09-04 02:38:48

#25

Sambuccashake: Member; +126|6617|Sweden

Quoting myself from the other thread about this topic:

After bombing the carrier on Wake for 3 minutes the server pauses and display the following message:
The spawn rape is brought to you by...
Nike - Just do it

BF2S Forums The Future of EA gaming

Spearhead wrote:

JG1567JG wrote:

RasorX wrote:

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