SimCity?s first free DLC is a logo-plastered Nissan Leaf charging station

[Lieju]

Of course, some gamers have no problem with this kind of product-whoring. Just don't start bitching when you're suddenly seeing paid SimCity DLC packs that include Carl Jr.s and Coca Cola manufacturing plants for your cities.

Making it free for the player and asking money for it are two different things, though.

Only to the consumer. The end result is always the same for the companies doing the marketing: brand exposure.

And the publisher getting paid twice.
Not all gamers have an issue with advertisement, but they do with the companies over-pricing their product, and the publisher has already been paid for the advertisement, why should the consumer then pay for being advertised to?

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

EA and Nissan working together? Do you speak Micra-transactions? XD

Alright the dlc is free and SimCity is one of the few games where real in game advertisements can work but putting blatantly unbalanced building based off a sponsor's product does not sit well with me.

 

[generals3]

Tbh i don't see the issue. I mean movies shove brands into our faces all the time too. The reason why people are bothered by this is simply because they ain't used to it. Someday we will be more surprised about the appearance of fake brands rather than rl ones.

I could understand if we were talking about a fantasy universe. You know like having Adidas boots in WoW but sim city is in a sense trying to be "realistic" so it's not like it breaks immersion or anything.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Honestly, the Nissan DLC isn't the worst example of invasive marketing. Eidos sneakily threw a Dr. Pepper advertisement into Deus Ex: Human Revolution after it hit the market, but the real kicker was that the ad was integrated into the loading screen. The plan was to implement a permanent streaming banner that would showcase various products. Gamers didn't like it and quickly found a way to disable it. At least Eidos got the picture and removed it completely after the outcry became loud enough.

Even worse was EA's cross-marketing deal with various arms manufacturers for Medal of Honor: Warfighter. That ad campaign was just downright offensive. EA came to their senses and ended the promotion before the game was released, but it really highlights the company's attitude towards advertising.

 

[Judgement101]

Okay, this is legitimately hilarious. They botch the servers pretty bad for a while and right when they fix it they just go "Like advertising?" to which I have to say "Yes, so long as it is shoehorned in awkwardly and noticably."

 

[aguspal]

There was some kind of good ending to this... I, was going to say it but I forgot what it was... it was something favorable thougt.

 

[Zenn3k]

This isn't a way to win back angry customers.

Can they do ANYTHING right over at Maxis??

 

[Zenn3k]

Reminds me of that scene from Wayne's World...
OT: Don't loads of games do this now? Fallout had Nuka Cola (basically Coke) I know it's the lore but still, I found myself buying loads of coke after that. I have a weak mind.
GTA had it's KFC lookalike.
SSX I'm pretty sure had branded boards
Hell, even my Skyrim character only wore Nike clothes.
Serious now: I'm sure any publisher would do this if it wouldn't jeopardise their integrity- and it isn't like EA have much anyway. Money is money is money, and I'm not one to say if it's right or wrong, but I really don't care either way.

Those examples are not the same, well...other than SSX, but board branded is expected and even desired in a game like that, different animal completely.

If the building said "NASSEN" or something and was laden with parody, thats one thing.

Its a real product from a real company. Way different than Nuka Cola or a KFC parody in GTA.