EA has removed a variety of intrusive in-game advertisements from UFC 4 after being inundated with fan complaints.
As noted by Eurogamer, a number of players took issue with the almost full-screen adverts, which would appear at the beginning and end of replays, after one Reddit user highlighted the contentious design choice on the ‘asshole design’ subreddit.
As this video shows, the large adverts (also pictured below) would flash onscreen to bookend in-game replays, and while EA claims these sort of ad placements aren’t new to the UFC franchise, the implementation is hardly subtle.
It’s also worth noting that EA turned on the ad placements post-launch, meaning critics weren’t able to comment on them during the initial release window.
Explaining its decision to enable and subsequently remove the adverts from UFC 4, EA said it believed the adverts were par for the course for the franchise, but said it valued player feedback and wouldn’t be reinstating them in the future.
“Earlier this week, the team turned on ad placements in 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,” reads a company statement sent to Eurogamer.
“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 UFC 4, so ad integration in the Replay and overlay experience will not be reappearing in the future.”
