Alexander Dao, Electronic Arts‘ Vice President of Advertising and Sponsorship, has claimed that video games have a huge opportunity to integrate ads into core gameplay experiences. His comments come after Electronic Arts introduced a brand-new platform called EA Advertising on June 15, which is designed to create more targeted and organic in-game collaborations with advertisers.
One of the recent examples of EA’s in-game advertising came in the form of the Coach collaboration in The Sims 4. However, according to the EA Advertising press release, the company has already partnered with several A-list brands to create branded game experiences. For instance, Mountain Dew, a famous soft drink brand, secured its own team called DEW University in EA Sports College Football 2026. Now, the company’s Vice President of Advertising believes there are even greater opportunities to explore when it comes to in-game partnerships and paid collaborations.
EA Wants In-Game Ads to Create ‘Value for the Player’
In the latest episode of The Game Business podcast, Alexander Dao, who has served as EA’s VP of Advertising for over a year, said the reason in-game ads haven’t taken off is that most marketers don’t know how to approach them correctly. The way EA wants to handle the concept is by prioritizing ads that create value for players. He used The Sims 4 and the Coach collaboration as an example of a successful campaign that made gamers happy without forcing them to watch or interact with traditional advertisements. He also said that, for EA’s sports franchises, the company will try to replicate real-life experiences since ads are already a common part of sports.
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Dao emphasized that in-game ads must be handled properly to be profitable for everyone involved. According to Dao, EA is trying to bring brands into the experiences it creates, a statement echoed on the company’s new advertising platform. “EA Advertising partners directly with brands and agencies to create custom integrations designed for specific games and audiences,” the company’s June 15 press release read.
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via EA -
Image via EA -
Image via EA
The Game Business host, Christopher Dring, asked Dao if, in the future, games would consider in-game ads before release and actually build around that idea. Dao said that this is another huge opportunity for in-game advertising. He said, “As we create new experiences, in addition to the existing titles, [pre-release planning for ads] allows us to bring brands in a much more flexible, creative, and dynamic way.” EA is already one of the biggest video game companies, and it claims that its games across all platforms in 2026 amassed about 120 million monthly players. So, from a financial perspective, Dao’s comments about the future of in-game ads make sense.
That said, EA might be an exceptional example among most other AAA game developers and publishers because it owns many sports IPs that are easier to integrate with branded products and ads. Even Take-Two’s boss, Strauss Zelnick, suggested that in-game advertising makes sense in games like NBA 2K but wouldn’t be a good decision for premium experiences like GTA 6. However, with the gaming industry currently in a critical position and reported declines in profitability of many titles, it remains to be seen if more companies will follow in EA’s footsteps and pursue more aggressive advertising plans.
