Last week, TV ad tech company Simulmedia announced the launch of advertising platform called playerWON. It’s designed to allow developers to add TV-style commercials into console and PC games. The company also claimed it had already signed deals with several big gaming brands, including EA. EA, however, is denying its involvement.
“Following incorrect reports suggesting that we are looking to introduce ‘TV-style’ commercials into our games, we wanted to clarify that in-game advertising for console games is not something we’re currently looking at, or have signed any agreements to implement,” an EA spokesperson told PC Gamer. “Creating the best possible player experience remains our priority focus.”
It’s interesting, though, that EA only mentions console games, while the original report also cited PC as a targeted platform. The original report is actually confusing enough. Specifically, it fails to clarify whether Simulmedia’s alleged agreement with gaming brands concerns free-to-play titles only, or premium games as well.
The playerWON announcement might not have provided enough details, but it has certainly raised a lot of eyebrows among devs.
“When EA isn’t killing studios and parading around their corpses, they’re trying to get mobile-inspired ads on console and PC games. Just what users want!” Blazing Bit Games founder Bruno Beaudoin sarcastically noted. “The mobile ad world definitely isn’t a dumpster fire and imagine all the added value to consumers!”
Simulmedia is yet to respond to EA’s statement.