EA is Putting Ads in its Games That it says will “Enhance, Not Disrupt, the Player Experience” via new EA Advertising Platform

EA Advertising is a new ad platform through which the EA Sports FC, Star Wars Jedi, and Skate publisher/developer will start putting ads in their games through "dynamic, real-time placements." These are ads that EA says will "enhance, not disrupt, the player experience."

Ads in video games are not something we haven't seen before. One of the most notable cases in recent years was 2K adding un-skippable ads in NBA 2K21, which was the third year in a row 2K had experimented with putting ads in an NBA 2K title. But it's a practice we've seen appear mostly in annualized sports titles for over a decade now, one that EA has also participated in before, its most notable occurrence also being six years ago with UFC 4.

While Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick seems to have changed his mind about introducing ads to premium games, EA is seemingly making its biggest go at putting ads into video games now. It's actually already started, and if you're someone who has EA Sports FC 26, Madden NFL, and College Football 26 in your rotation, you've already seen ads from Visa, Lowes, Red Bull, Xfinity, Peacock, and Mountain Dew.

It's also something we've seen in a slightly different sense with Skate through events like its Nike SB, made only slightly different in that you can't divorce Nike's place in skateboarding culture, which the collab leans on, with the reality that the whole thing is also one big Nike ad.

"Players come to EA's games and live experiences every day to play, watch, create, and connect," said chief experiences offer at EA, David Tinson, in a press release. "That gives brands a meaningful opportunity to show up in ways that add value and respect the player experience, while maintaining authenticity in the worlds our teams are building. With EA Advertising, we're helping brands become part of those moments in ways that are relevant and built for players."

Though EA has started with games in the EA Sports division, it's important to note that EA does not rule out any title, meaning the door is at least open for games from the EA Entertainment division to start including in-game ads.

Every time we've seen ads get introduced in video games before, players have been quick to issue severe backlash until the ads are removed. But now it seems like EA has tested the waters enough in different ways that it feels confident this is the time to launch a platform like EA Advertising and make a big push to establish a new normal, regardless of what players think.

That 'new' normal may just be the fact that instead of sneaking ads into games, EA is just being more upfront about it, but it still feels like a line has been crossed, and the industry as a whole is on the other side of it. A side that might also include what we saw BioWare veteran Mark Darrah argue earlier this month.

Games are more expensive to make than ever, and the biggest publisher/developers like EA, finding any path towards cost-cutting is an absolute must. Sales from in-game advertising could, theoretically, make it possible for EA and any other developer/publisher who can find its path to putting ads in their games can also find sustainability.

Whether they'll find sustainability so we don't have to see one-in-four game developers laid off in a two-year span, or more bonuses for C-suite executives, is to be determined. For what it's worth, Matthew Ball, the new chief strategy officer at Xbox, recently clarified a statement that was believed to be a suggestion in favour of in-game ads.

Ball's stance is in line with what the aforementioned Zelnick believes, which is "ads should be used to offer more affordable alternatives alongside today's ad-free experiences, in the hopes more could play as a result. Similar to how Netflix and Disney+ have ad-tiers with all the same content, but at half the price or so...I personally believe interrupting the gameplay experience would be bad."

This is not correct:
• In the interview, I am asked about a comment I made before being hired at XBOX, then state that I was only 10 days into the role, and that I am not stating the company's plans or beliefs
• What I do say is that ads should be used to offer more affordable…

— Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew) June 12, 2026

Does that mean Xbox won't try to find 'non-disruptive' ways of introducing ads to their games? It's not a huge stretch to see a billboard or two in Forza Horizon 6 include in-game ads.

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