EA’s attempt to add in-game adverts to UFC 4 after its launch has prompted enough of a backlash to have them quickly removed.
Only a couple of weeks ago, EA came under fire from Madden fans for the release of Madden NFL 21, and now the publisher has managed to tick off UFC 4 players as well.
The MMA sports game released earlier in August and, over the weekend, players discovered that EA had implemented in-game advertisements.
In-game ads aren’t a new thing, but they usually appear in free-to-play mobile games, whereas UFC 4 is being sold at full retail price.
The ads aren’t innocuous in the slightest either, with full-screen ads popping up during replays.
In a clip shared on Reddit, an ad for Amazon TV show The Boys appears twice during the replay, with a smaller, third pop-up appearing during gameplay.
What makes it more ridiculous is that the fighting ring already has an ad for the show plastered across the floor, making the whole thing even more obnoxious.
Unsurprisingly, this news sparked a backlash from players, both for ads being included and the fact that EA waited until after reviews of the game had already been published to add them.
Had they been included from the start reviews would have mentioned them and potential buyers may have turned away.
EA has since responded and has rather quickly removed ads from the game. In a statement to Eurogamer, it apologises for any disruptions and promised that ads will not be added back into the game at any point.
‘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 apologise for any disruption to gameplay that players may have experienced.
‘We realise 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 UFC 4, so ad integration in the replay and overlay experience will not be reappearing in the future. Thank you for your continued feedback on UFC 4.’
UFC 4 is available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
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