Nowadays, triple-A games are getting bigger and longer, and EA seems to want to make them a little longer with in-game ads. For in-game advertising, EA officially believes that it is a "meaningful" growth driver.
Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, said EA's internal team is working a "in-game ads" strategy for triple-A games, but it's too early to include ads. The focus now is on building a community for the game and figuring out how ads can be added to it as a potential source of growth. But in-game advertising has the potential to be a "meaningful" growth driver for publishers.
Of course, advertising is naturally revenue for publishers' growth. Today, EA's main revenue is still driven by the continued profitability of service games like EA Sports FC and Madden NFL. For this kind of game where players will be engaged for a long time, the inclusion of ads seems like a "no-brainer" just like TV and streaming. However, EA should also remember how it offended the community when the "Black Robe Pickets" ad was inserted in UFC 4 four years ago. Service games inherently charge players extra for microtransactions, and EA doesn't know how long it will take to look at the more uncomfortable content of advertising, especially the content of advertisers in other fields, to make players acceptable.