Microsoft partnering up with EA, is the beginning of the end? I wouldn’t go that far yet so put away your Ouija boards and crystal balls. In the meantime, Microsoft announced a deal to supply advertisements for various upcoming sports games from EA.
The deal will cover a variety of sports games series, including Madden, NASCAR, Tiger Woods, NHL and Skate. Microsoft’s subsidiary Massive will provide the advertising, which will come in the form of dynamic ads, which can be changed to target specific audiences, areas or groups.
When talking about the deal, Cory Van Arsdale, Chief Executive of Massive, stated, "The real issue here is that we’re making a network play. If I just had ‘Madden,’ while great, it would be of limited value to advertisers. We need to build an overall network and this is a major stepping point to have us do that."
With Microsoft and EA partnering up over advertising, could this be the beginning of even bigger deals in the future? Just last week, Microsoft’s former bigwig Peter Moore jumped ship to head EA Sports. Also this shows that in-game advertising is really jumping to new heights.
[Via Reuters]
