EA Sports wanted to deliver an authentic UFC presentation with EA UFC 4 and to do that, they added in-game ads to fights.
During replay breaks, ads popped up for Amazon original series The Boys, which upset many fans who didn't want ads for a game they already paid for. As a result of the backlash, EA removed the ads from the game.
The company gave the following statement to Eurogamer:
“Earlier this week, the team turned on ad placements in EA SPORTS UFC 4 that appeared during the “Replay” moments in gameplay. This type of advertising inventory is not new to the UFC franchise, though we have typically reserved displaying ads to specific main menu tiles or Octagon logo placement.
“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.
“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.”
EA adds, then quickly removes ads from UFC 4 after fans go ballistic. https://t.co/kCjC2QGfZT pic.twitter.com/qV75kc2wst
— Kotaku (@Kotaku) September 7, 2020
In other EA UFC news, the most recent patch went live over the weekend, fixing some major issues including the purple screen bug. You can find the full patch notes by clicking here.
