EA apologizes for adding in-game ads in ‘UFC 4’

EA has always had a bad reputation with gamers when it comes to their practices in terms of gaming. Just recently, the company took things to a whole new level by adding in-game ads in UFC 4.

UFC 4 was the talk of the gaming community these past days and not for good reasons. In an update, EA Sports added in-game ads to the game, which caught even those who loved the game off guard. While it does add to the realism, such blatant marketing wasn’t accepted by the gaming community.

Ads removed after backlash

It didn’t take EA Sports long to hear from the fans after adding ads to the game. They responded immediately by pulling out all of the in-game adverts in the MMA game. The company has also released a statement regarding the matter.

“It is abundantly clear from your feedback that integrating ads into the Replay and overlay experience is not welcome. The advertisements have been disabled by the team and we apologize for any disruption to gameplay that players may have experienced,” says the company in a statement.

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 assholedesign

Before apologizing, the company said that ads are not new to the UFC franchise. However, they now understand that it is not welcome in the game that fans have already paid for.

“We realize that this should have been communicated with players ahead of time and that’s on us. We want to make sure our players have the best possible experience playing EA SPORTS UFC 4, so ad integration in the Replay and overlay experience will not be reappearing in the future,” the company adds.

EA and bad practices

This isn’t the first time that EA has been put under the hot seat. One of their most controversial moments was how they handled the loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront II at launch. In a statement, the company said that they wanted to add a sense of accomplishment to the game, hence the microtransaction.

The company has since overhauled the loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront II. It is now a positively received game that still gets regular content updates.

UFC 4 is the latest entry in EA Sport’s take on the popular MMA franchise. Fans are happy with the game’s career mode, but they’ve said that the combat could’ve used more changes as it felt that it wasn’t much of an improvement from previous titles.

Image used courtesy of UFC/YouTube