Microsoft Gets into EA Games

Microsoft will become involved in some of your favorite EA games including Madden NFL 08, NASCAR 08, NHL 08, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08 and SKATE. This because of a new advertising agreement inked between the Redmond company's Massive Network and Electronic Arts. Massive deals directly with placing ads inside video games in order to tap a rather elusive demographic for the advertising industry.

"EA is committed to providing both great entertainment experiences for gamers and effective advertising solutions for brands and marketers. Massive has proven its ability to deliver relevant ads in a seamless, nondisruptive way that enhances the realism of the game environment. We look forward to building on the strong progress we've made to date," stated Shelby Cox, EA's senior director of in-game advertising.

"We're thrilled to be EA's trusted partner for dynamic in-game advertising for these products," said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive. "The addition of EA's leading titles to our network represents a tremendous opportunity for brands targeting the youth demographic and sends a clear message that in-game advertising has arrived as a compelling medium for marketers."

The Massive network for video game advertising is a subsidiary of Microsoft, and the Redmond company is leveraging it, in order to increase its footprint on the market. Massive will place a range of dynamic in-game ads in all the EA titles added to its network, delivering gamers with contextual brand publicity associated with the sport themes of the games.

All the in-game ads can be managed, updated and modified in real time thanks to Massive's dynamic advertising platform. This will ensure that the dynamic ad element insertion will blend seamlessly into the background of the gaming experience. The five new titles from EA have in this manner been added to Massive's already extensive collection of more than 100 games.