EA signs Massive in-game ad deal

Massive Inc has announced that it has extended its in-game advertising partnership with Electronic Arts, to cover a range of Xbox 360 titles and a "majority of EA's premium PC products" for the next two years.

Dynamic ads will be incorporated into a number of titles covered by the agreement, including the next two editions of EA's Madden NFL, NBA Live, NASCAR and NHL franchises, as well as a continuation of the existing deal covering Need For Speed and future work on 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," commented 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."

In-game advertising is seen as one of the possible ways for publishers to offset the cost of developing titles, and studies have so far shown that gamers are happy for advertising to exist in games, as long as it's appropriate and not intrusive.