EA Expands Massive In-Game Advertising Deal

Officials from Electronic Arts and Microsoft-owned in-game advertising firm Massive Inc. have announced an expansion and two-year extension of the two companies’ agreement to offer in-game advertising for Electronic Arts games. The global agreement relates specifically to the Xbox 360 and exclusive rights to a “majority” of Electronic Arts’ PC titles. The two companies have already worked together in the past, on a range of EA Sports titles, as well as other franchises such as Need For Speed. Massive has not been Electronic Arts’ exclusive in-game advertising partner though, with rival IGA Worldwide providing in-game advertising for Battlefield 2142 on the PC – the implementation of which ultimately proved controversial with consumers. Electronic Arts will extend the participation of current titles in the Massive network and incorporate new games over the course of the deal. This will include the next two iterations of popular EA Sports franchises such as Madden NFL, NBA Live, NASCAR and NHL. Massive will also continue to supply in-game advertising for current and forthcoming PC and Xbox 360 iterations in the Need for Speed franchise, while in-game advertising will be added to the already released Burnout Paradise. “EA strongly believes that dynamic in-game advertising is an important growth area for our business, and is one of many opportunities we are pursuing in growing the advertising market,” said Kathy Vrabeck, president of the Casual Entertainment Label at EA. “We selected Massive because they are the industry leader in this space with a global sales footprint, solid brand recognition and in-depth experience in video game advertising.” “Our latest agreement with EA expands advertisers’ unprecedented access to EA’s world-class franchises to reach young male gamers around the world,” said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive. “This multiyear partnership reflects both the maturity of the dynamic in-game advertising medium and the benefits that our network continues to deliver for both publishers and advertisers.”