It’s no secret that microtransactions make a lot of money in video games.Activision Blizzard made around $1.2 billionin three months from microtransactions alone, over half its revenue for that time.
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At first, it seems the ads would exclusively appear during load times, or perhaps certain cutscenes, but the patent goes into greater detail on actions that could lead to downtime. Based on the criteria listed, it seems that the patent is primarily for putting ads in mobile games like EA’sThe Simpsons: Tapped OutorClash of Clans.
The patent discusses common action types that can lead to downtime when the player cannot take action. These action types include troop maneuvers, simulated research, unit or building construction, and resource prospecting. All of these are actions that usually take a long time to complete in mobile games, creating many windows for ads.EA previously removed and apologized for ads in UFC 4, but this patent indicates that it is still moving forward with ads in games, just taking a different approach.
Of course, this is not to say that ads won’t begin appearing in EA’s mainstream titles again. Once players become used to it in mobile games, there’s a good chance EA will try to expand it into other games again, probably starting with the sports genre.EA previously said it “Got it Wrong” with the infamousStar Wars Battlefront 2, but perhaps “got it wrong” simply means “tried to monetize things the wrong way.”
Players were outraged at the ads inUFC 4, and odds are those feelings won’t change for new ads in games. Hopefully,EA’s struggle with its loot box fineswill discourage further gross monetization, but with a patent already filed, that seems unlikely.
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