Microsoft and EA: Partners in Advertising

With so many video game advertising deals being struck, and so few noticeable ads actually making it into games yet, it's easy to ignore the movement--until two of the industry's biggest names jump into bed with a jug of Downy Fabric Softener, that is. Microsoft today announced an arrangement to serve up ads to a wide variety of publisher Electronic Arts' sports games. The deal will see advertisements fed into PC and Xbox 360 versions of EA Sports franchises such as Madden, NASCAR, Tiger Woods, NHL, and Skate. Microsoft's advertising subsidiary Massive will be responsible for handling the surely-subtle intrusions. "The real issue here is that we're making a network play," said Massive CEO Cory Van Arsdale to Reuters. "If I just had Madden, while great, it would be of limited value to advertisers." The deal is seen as one more tie between the two software giants. Microsoft and EA last week announced that long-time Microsoft gaming VP Peter Moore intends to to leave the company for a job leading EA Sports. His replacement will be Don Mattrick, a former EA executive. Microsoft is keen to get a lead on the burgeoning in-game ad industry, with advertising monster Google hot on its heels after acquiring firm Adscape Media earlier this year, and Sony striking its own deal with The Nielsen Company to benchmark and analyze advertising effectiveness. "We need to build an overall network and this is a major stepping point to have us do that," Arsdale said, while noting that the deal does not extend to PlayStation 3 or Wii versions of EA's games. "We would love to do Nintendo and PlayStation, but they control the platform, they control the ecosystem and they have to decide what to allow or not. It's not something that's in our control."