EA Also Accused Of Backdoor Promotion Deals, Confidentiality Agreement Outed Online

Following the outing of some  backdoor deals between Microsoft and Machinima, another anon has taken their promotion confidentiality agreements online, this time for EA.

This agreement is somewhat backdated, and this time involves Battlefield 4 and Need for Speed Rivals, with promotions dated October and December of last year. For $ 10 CPM, this user was to make videos about these two games using the promotional hooks, Levolution for BF4 and ‘Cross The Line” for NFS Rivals.

More importantly, neither campaign allowed the reviewer to say anything negative about the games. This is the wording used.

For Need for Speed Rivals:

We understand there may be minor glitches in footage, however please do not highlight major bugs in your commentary.

For Battlefield 4:

Do not make a video that focuses on glitches in the game.

Finally, the anon revealed the revenue they made from promoting EA’s products.

Now, EA has made a response to this issue, stating that they follow FTC guidelines and that they make it clear to compensated video makers that their videos need to comply with FTC rules. Obviously, this is a lousy response that flies in the face of what’s been disclosed, and doesn’t really explain anything. Also of note is the NDA section of the agreement, which makes it clear that the video makers were not allowed to reveal the terms of their agreement.

I hate to go back to it, but of course, this is a new lead to those allegations that EA management purposely released Battlefield 4 in an unfinished state. I would not be surprised if one of those lawsuits that’s sprouted for EA will reexplore this, possibly contact this or other gaming video content makers. 

Image is from Battlefield 4.