Pause-Screen Ads May Be The Future For PC And Console, Says Expert

Mobile gamers already have to put up with numerous ads when trying to play on the go, but they may have to deal with the same issue in the future with console and PC games. Video game analyst Matthew Ball has published his State of Video Gaming report, and one of his predictions is that ads will be coming to pause and loading screens for players at home, whether they like it or not.

While speaking with The Game Business, Ball noted that advertisements are already littered in mobile phone apps and streaming services like Hulu, Peacock, and Netflix. He believes that the major video game publishers will soon adopt the same strategy in part because an additional revenue stream may help keep prices down.

“The more important thing is the economic reality,” said Ball. “If we say that audiences in the eight major markets [US, UK, Germany, Japan, Korea, Canada, Italy, and France], which are 60% of all PC console sales globally, are not spending more, the costs are going up. We don’t want layoffs, we don’t want fewer games, we don’t just want the same games … We don’t want price increases. The money needs to come in one way or another.”

Ball added that EA already has teams in place to work on ad deployments in games, and that it could prove to be particularly lucrative for sports games. EA already tried something similar with EA Sports UFC 4 in 2020, but the angry backlash against the in-game ad placements led the company to reconsider.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that players will accept these changes quietly. Streaming services charge extra if subscribers want to go ad-free. Would the video game publishers also offer that option? Players may learn the answer sooner than they’d like, if Ball’s predictions prove to be accurate.

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