There are a ton of players interested in UFC 4, the fourth mainline installment to the video game adaptation of this mixed martial arts sport. After the 2018 launch of UFC 3, the franchise continued to bring in more viewers into the franchise and while it took a bit of time to bring out the next installment compared to other annual releases of sports games, EA delivered UFC 4 on August 14, 2020. However, the review copies that went out didn’t include one particular feature that some fans likely feel is a bit shady.
UFC 4 released like a standard sports game for the franchise and it received generally good reviews. It’s a game that mixes in the different martial arts move sets along with iconic athletes from the UFC. However, one element that wasn’t present in review copies was advertisements that would show up between rounds. Instead, these banners and logos were only showcased in different areas of the in-game map, which is The Octagon.
EA decided to add full-on commercials in the middle of gameplay in a $60 game a month after it’s release so it wasn’t talked about in reviews from r/assholedesign
Now after the game has been out for a few weeks, it seems that EA decided to go ahead and release advertisements that would showcase an on-screen roll between rounds. One user on Reddit has already released a video of this ad in their game which is for the Amazon streaming series, The Boys and it’s latest second season.
Fans are finding this to be a real shady move on EA as they didn’t incorporate these ads prior to game reviews and waited until the positive feedback that was released not showcasing the in-game ad rolls. This would give fans no warning of the content they may have to endure after purchasing a copy of the game. What could likely make some fans mad is the fact that they had to purchase for this $59.99 video game and continue to get ads placed inside. This is something that we would see free-to-play games offer in order to get a bit of revenue. After a brief display in-game it looks like EA has listened to the fan feedback and stated that the ad integration within the different Replays will no longer appear in the future.
