Electronic Arts has drawn ire for inserting commercials into EA Sports UFC 4 weeks after the game’s release. These ads, which weren’t present when the game was being reviewed by critics, are (or were) slapped right onto the gameplay.
A clip posted on Reddit has been widely circulating online, showing an ad for Amazon’s The Boys‘ second season flashing twice in a match – during and after a replay. Although it only lasts a few seconds, the ad is pretty intrusive and covers a good chunk of the screen. As the match resumes, a thumbnail of the ad appears above the timer.
You can see this for yourself in the video below.
EA decided to add full-on commercials in the middle of gameplay in a $60 game a month after it’s release so it wasn’t talked about in reviews from r/assholedesign
Players contend that such ads are understandable in free-to-play games, not in a $60 title that also features microtransactions. Others have said that although they don’t agree with the practice, they wonder why Kojima Productions got a free pass for marketing products like Monster drinks within Death Stranding. In response to this, some folks pointed out that Kojima games contain integrated product placement akin to movies, which is an entirely different concept than the one EA was using in UFC 4. The latter outright flashed intrusive ads on screen in the middle of gameplay. Yikes!
For its part, EA has issued an apology and removed the ads from the replay and overlay experience.
