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EA: Console game makers should consider in-game ads during development · The Game Business Show

0:00
SPEAKER_00: This week,
0:01
SPEAKER_00: we dive into the topic of in-game advertising for PC and console games,
0:04
SPEAKER_00: and we're joined by EA's VP of Advertising and Sponsorship, Alex Deo.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to The Game Business Show.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: This week's edition is sponsored by Gamescom.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: The Cologne Trading Consumer event returns next month, of course.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Now, they do all sorts of things at Gamescom.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: It is a massive event,
0:23
SPEAKER_00: but one thing you might not know about is they do a standalone digital Anyway,
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Indie exhibitors at Gamescom can submit their game up until the deadline on August 2nd.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: There's a link on where to do that in the latest Game Business newsletter,
0:59
SPEAKER_00: and there's also sponsorship opportunities for those that want to support it
1:01
SPEAKER_00: and promote their brand across the showcase.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, on to our show.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: And this week, it's been a bit quieter.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: After two weeks of Xbox,
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Bungie and Ubisoft job cuts,
1:11
SPEAKER_00: and the surprise news that PlayStation will be killing the disc in 2028,
1:15
SPEAKER_00: we have thankfully had a calmer few days.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Normally, the summer is a quiet time, not a lot of game releases, a lot of folk on holiday.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: It tends to be a bit of a barren period between what used to be E3
1:26
SPEAKER_00: and is now Summer Game Fest and Gamescom.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: But we've just come off, you know, this period of industry-shaking stories.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: Not good stories, I must say.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: And now we've had some... We're in a period of nice interviews on The Game Business Show.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Today we have EA, and we'll come on to that in a moment.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: We have had Netflix on Tuesday.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: Next week we've got Jagex and Amazon.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: Lots of things to look forward to, even as the kids break up for the summer.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: Now today's episode,
1:49
SPEAKER_00: as I said at the top,
1:51
SPEAKER_00: is about in-game advertising,
1:52
SPEAKER_00: and specifically the untapped potential of in-game advertising in
1:55
SPEAKER_00: the HD gaming market.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: That's been a topic for us this year.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Analyst Matthew Ball wrote about it in his report, The State of Gaming 2026.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: He pointed to a statistic that said mobile in-game ad revenue grew from $45 billion
2:08
SPEAKER_00: to $55 billion in 2025.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: Mobile ads have
2:13
SPEAKER_00: This is of course mobile,
2:14
SPEAKER_00: ads remain rare on PC and console and Bull believes that there is
2:16
SPEAKER_00: a real opportunity.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: Here's a quote from the interview we did with him in February.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: There are a few different truisms, right?
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Eventually advertising does reach all addressable surface areas.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: It does.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: We see it in an Uber app.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: We see it in Tinder.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: It's now in ChatGPT.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be in Gemini.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: We see it at gas station kiosks.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: Every place that can have an ad does ultimately have an ad.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Or because the user economics suggest that it should be there.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's clumsy.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: When you take a look at Hulu or Peacock,
3:00
SPEAKER_00: and now it's coming to Disney Plus and Netflix,
3:02
SPEAKER_00: they make pretty ample use of pause screen ads.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: There's no reason why you can't see a shampoo bottle when you've paused Bridgerton,
3:07
SPEAKER_00: and the same thing will likely come in some shape or form to PC and console.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: The more important thing is the If we say that audiences in the eight major markets,
3:16
SPEAKER_00: that's US, UK,
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SPEAKER_00: Germany, Japan, Korea, Canada,
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Italy and France,
3:19
SPEAKER_00: which are 60% of all PC console sales globally,
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SPEAKER_00: are not spending more,
3:23
SPEAKER_00: the costs are going up and we don't want layouts,
3:25
SPEAKER_00: we don't want fewer games,
3:26
SPEAKER_00: we don't just want the same games,
3:28
SPEAKER_00: we don't want price increases, the money needs to come in one way or another.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: He particularly highlighted sports games and he used 2K as an example.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: He said, 2K said last year about two and a half billion games of NBA 2K are played a year.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what 2K is thinking, but EAS team's working on ad deployments.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: If we think very basically,
3:45
SPEAKER_00: that's two and a half billion games that were match made
3:48
SPEAKER_00: and have some loading screen.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: That's such an extraordinary amount of inventory.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Would Ford Mustang or the Avengers or Old Spice pay some pretty material sum for
3:55
SPEAKER_00: that inventory with a targeted valuable audience?
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, I put that last comment to Tate's CEO Strausenek,
4:01
SPEAKER_00: who of course oversees 2K and NBA, and he was a little dismissive.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: He did ultimately say that he believed this is fine for free-to-play games,
4:08
SPEAKER_00: but not so much premium titles.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: He told me, Titles for which you've paid $70 or $80, no.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: We have some limited advertising inside games like NBA 2K because it fits with the vernacular.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: You want to see advertising in a stadium because you would if you were there
4:21
SPEAKER_00: in real life, but that's not a big economic contributor.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: It's difficult for me to believe that we would want to have interstitial advertising
4:28
SPEAKER_00: in a game that someone paid $70 or $80 for, it would seem unfair.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: They're not necessarily disagreeing with each other here.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: There's some similarities in what they're saying.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: I spoke to Ball again in June.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: This time he's not an analyst anymore.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: He's the chief strategy officer at Xbox.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: And although he didn't know Xbox's position on in-game advertising,
4:44
SPEAKER_00: he doubled down on his belief it could be significant.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: And this time he said it might be a way to give users access, you know, an alternative option.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: He said, everyone feels terrible with prices going up.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: That is a challenge.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: It's not good if it is the only option.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: I think the best evidence comes from the TV streaming space in excess of 100% of net ads.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it all sounds interesting.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: It's potentially what the industry could be looking for.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: It does feel slightly untapped.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: And last month,
5:30
SPEAKER_00: EA announced its new EA advertising platform that will allow brands
5:34
SPEAKER_00: to advertise directly to players via EA's games.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: It is built into Frostbite and the new approach covers branded content,
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SPEAKER_00: ads and digital billboards and overlays, plus more involved partnerships.
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SPEAKER_00: For example,
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Mountain Dew has its own playable team in EA Sports College Football 25 with
5:48
SPEAKER_00: a custom stadium mascot and reward ecosystem.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Now the new platform features some of the things that advertisers need to be able
5:54
SPEAKER_00: to submit and measure ad performance,
5:56
SPEAKER_00: and EA is working with quite a few major brands,
5:58
SPEAKER_00: Visa, Coach, Red Bull, Lowe's, Peacock, lots of different folks.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: As soon as I saw that announcement, I thought I had to get EA on the show, and they said yes.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: Today I've spoken to Alexander Deo, he is the VP of advertising and sponsor for EA.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: He comes from the advertising world,
6:13
SPEAKER_00: he worked at Snapchat before this,
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SPEAKER_00: he's not a native video game industry person,
6:17
SPEAKER_00: which makes it anything more interesting.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: And here is my chat with him.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: Hello, Alex.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: Excited to get the conversation started.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, you've come from, is it you come from Snap?
6:30
SPEAKER_00: Have you been with video games before?
6:32
SPEAKER_01: First time working in video games, but I've always worked at consumer platforms.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: So previously at Snapchat for the last seven years,
6:41
SPEAKER_01: was at Amazon for a number of years before that.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: And then worked at companies like Criteo and Yahoo before that.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: Always in the advertising side,
6:51
SPEAKER_01: always with consumer facing platforms and excited to be at EA for the last year now.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: So what has surprised you about video games?
7:01
SPEAKER_00: I always think that we're probably a little bit behind when it comes to advertising,
7:04
SPEAKER_00: but you tell me, what surprised you?
7:06
SPEAKER_01: You know,
7:06
SPEAKER_01: I think the biggest thing that surprised me and what really drew me to
7:10
SPEAKER_01: the video game space and to EA in particular is just the level of engagement
7:15
SPEAKER_01: that it has.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: You know,
7:16
SPEAKER_01: obviously gaming is a massive part of the population,
7:20
SPEAKER_01: you know,
7:20
SPEAKER_01: half the world But when you really take a look at the time spent and the engagement
7:27
SPEAKER_01: that you get in games, there's really no other medium like it.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: You know, people spend a lot of time on social media.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: People spend a lot of time shopping in retail media.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: But gaming is just one where there's just so many eyeballs.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: People are...
7:45
SPEAKER_01: We've featured quite a bit on the show, Matthew Ball, who's
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Former analyst, now chief strategy officer at Xbox, and he came on our show back in February.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: And we spent a lot of time talking about the in-game advertising opportunity.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: And he felt it could be a way to solve the problem.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: The fact that consumers certainly
8:25
SPEAKER_00: in Western markets aren't necessarily spending more, but the costs are going up.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: And so he sees this as a potential big opportunity.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: This isn't the views of Xbox to be clear.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's just his own interviews.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: How big do you think the opportunity is?
8:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, listen, I think when you take a look at what's happened with advertising over the years,
8:45
SPEAKER_01: it always follows where the audience is and where the attention is.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: You saw that happen with social media.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: You saw that happen with retail media.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: You see that happening now with connected TV where there's a lot of time spent and
9:02
SPEAKER_01: if done properly, just a really big advertising opportunity.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: Gaming represents that same opportunity.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: You've already seen it on the mobile side,
9:12
SPEAKER_01: but specifically with console and HD gaming,
9:17
SPEAKER_01: there's massive audiences there, a ton of engagement there.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: It's just a big opportunity broadly for marketers to start to go in.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Now, the reason why it hasn't taken off in the way that Maybe some people predicted
9:33
SPEAKER_01: or some people think is because quite frankly,
9:36
SPEAKER_01: it's just been tough for marketers to figure out how to get in front of
9:39
SPEAKER_01: that audience, how to do it right.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: It's very easy to show up and maybe do it wrong or you push the limit too far.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: And so there's a big opportunity in that space, but it has to be done properly.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: And it's part of what we're starting to solve for.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: So what is that limit?
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Where is the line over what is acceptable?
10:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so what we've done is really focus on value for the player.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: And as we think about different advertising experiences,
10:13
SPEAKER_01: it has to lead back to some type of value for the player.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: So what does that value look like?
10:20
SPEAKER_01: If we think about some of our sports properties like FC or Madden
10:23
SPEAKER_01: or college football,
10:25
SPEAKER_01: What that means is showing up in a way that feels authentic to the game.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: When you're used to going to a real live match or game,
10:34
SPEAKER_01: you're used to seeing brands across the ad boards in the broadcast placements.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: What we're doing is really It's really replicating those experiences
10:42
SPEAKER_01: that you're playing the actual game and it feels like you're at a live match.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: It makes the experience go much more authentic than if random brands were showing up
10:53
SPEAKER_01: or just the The NBA sports logo was showing up.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we've seen from the community too,
10:59
SPEAKER_01: is as we've started to introduce and as we've started to bring real world brands in,
11:04
SPEAKER_01: it actually makes the gameplay feel much more authentic and exciting
11:09
SPEAKER_01: because it just mirrors what they're seeing in the real world.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: And so that's one example of values driven.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: The other is we've just taken a step further in thinking through,
11:19
SPEAKER_01: well, what do players actually care about?
11:23
SPEAKER_01: What are the behaviors and progressions that they want in the game?
11:27
SPEAKER_01: And can we bring brands in to be a part of that experience?
11:30
SPEAKER_01: And so we've done things with various brands that just really understood the player,
11:37
SPEAKER_01: they understood the behavior,
11:38
SPEAKER_01: and they started to feed into that and build an experience for them.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, sports games, it fits, right?
11:44
SPEAKER_00: It's part of the sports games ecosystem.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: We had Strauss Alnick from Take Two on,
11:49
SPEAKER_00: and he was a bit relatively dismissive of in-game advertising,
11:52
SPEAKER_00: actually, but he did say that with sports games, it fits with what that is.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: But can any of what you're doing apply to other titles?
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Could it work for Battlefield or Mass Effect?
12:02
SPEAKER_00: I know it's not one of your games.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Death Stranding featured an advert for Norman Reedus' ride show,
12:07
SPEAKER_00: because, of course, he was the star of that game.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: Do you think it fits with those other titles, or can it fit?
12:12
SPEAKER_01: So it has to make sense for the game, to your point.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: Sports,
12:16
SPEAKER_01: it's a bit easier to imagine what that looks like because what you're really trying
12:19
SPEAKER_01: to do is just mirror the real-world experience.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: But if we pull on the thread that I talked about on where,
12:25
SPEAKER_01: how do we actually understand what the players want,
12:28
SPEAKER_01: progressions, and can brands be a part of that experience?
12:33
SPEAKER_01: And so I think about the activation we did in The Sims with Coach,
12:37
SPEAKER_01: where The Sims, it's not a sports game.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: But we understood what the Sims community wanted.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: We did some research,
12:45
SPEAKER_01: we did some surveys to understand what type of brands would they actually want
12:50
SPEAKER_01: to see in the game itself.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Where is a good overlap in audience?
12:55
SPEAKER_01: And if a brand were to come in, What's the right way for them to do it?
13:00
SPEAKER_01: And so what we did with Coach and then what Coach wanted
13:03
SPEAKER_01: to ultimately do was democratize access to their products, to the Sims community.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: They didn't want it to be a paid product where somebody had to purchase that.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: They actually just wanted to drop their entire product line,
13:17
SPEAKER_01: put it in front of the community, surprise and delight on.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: And when we did that and knowing that the Sims community loved Coach, The socials blew up.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: I mean, everybody was talking about it,
13:29
SPEAKER_01: the whole community, a bunch of our gaming creators were talking about it.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: They were all really surprised and happy that it was made free for everybody.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, the media and the press and everything picked it up too.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: And so I think if done appropriately with the right brands,
13:43
SPEAKER_01: with the right title,
13:45
SPEAKER_01: understanding what the players ultimately want,
13:48
SPEAKER_01: it can drive that type of experience.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: But it is a bit nuanced title by title.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: To make sure that you're getting it right and it doesn't feel random in the environment.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you haven't come across anything yet,
13:58
SPEAKER_00: but have you encountered anything
13:59
SPEAKER_00: that you thought actually maybe didn't work spectacularly or maybe it wasn't quite
14:03
SPEAKER_00: the right fit?
14:04
SPEAKER_00: Have you encountered any of those moments?
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know,
14:07
SPEAKER_01: like EA and I think the gaming industry broadly has done things in the past
14:12
SPEAKER_01: where It didn't land like we thought it would.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: As much as you kind of assume what the players would like or what they would want
14:22
SPEAKER_01: or not want,
14:24
SPEAKER_01: the real result is when it actually goes live and seeing the receptivity and
14:28
SPEAKER_01: the engagement around it.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: And so as we introduce new experiences, we're constantly learning and iterating.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: If something isn't working, it isn't landing the way that we thought it would.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: Quite frankly, we just pull it.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: We'll say, hey, you know what?
14:42
SPEAKER_01: We tried it, didn't work.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we'll try something different.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: We've had some of those learnings in the past,
14:49
SPEAKER_01: but we're continuing to iterate to make sure that we learn from those,
14:52
SPEAKER_01: it gets better, and ultimately it's just driving value back to the players.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to name and shame them though.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: My name's name, none.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm a name before my time as well.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: Where are the friction points in this?
15:06
SPEAKER_00: You've come in from other worlds.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: Where are you seeing,
15:12
SPEAKER_00: apart from what users will accept,
15:14
SPEAKER_00: where are you seeing the friction points when it comes to this,
15:17
SPEAKER_00: particularly in the console and PC and HD side?
15:19
SPEAKER_01: When I think about the friction points,
15:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to think about it in terms of the marketer and the brand themselves.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: And I've heard this from brands.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: I've heard this also from other publishers, from other platforms.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: And it's really when they think about the game The gaming audience,
15:39
SPEAKER_01: when they think about the engagement, usually the interest is there.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: They've heard about it.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: Usually where the friction comes in is how hard it is to actually get into gaming.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Maybe because of the development cycles,
15:50
SPEAKER_01: how long it takes, how custom each game is, how nuanced each title is.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: And there's really no way for them to standardize and run across games in an easy way.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: But that is where I think the opportunity is for the industry.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: It's what we're starting to build with the launch of EA's advertising platform.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: To just make it easier for marketers to get in game.
16:15
SPEAKER_01: Instead of long dev cycles and waiting for a new patch to update creative or
16:21
SPEAKER_01: to create a new experience,
16:23
SPEAKER_01: we've launched our own ad platform that connects into our Frostbite engine
16:28
SPEAKER_01: that allows brands to go in a bit more dynamically so that they could show up in
16:32
SPEAKER_01: the ad boards, the broadcast placements, they have different targeting.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: Then they can use some of their existing assets and we can convert it into 3D assets.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: That's where the friction is,
16:44
SPEAKER_01: but also where I think the opportunity is for the gaming industry is,
16:48
SPEAKER_01: can some of this become more standardized?
16:51
SPEAKER_01: Can we work with third-party industry bodies to help verify the way that ads show up
16:57
SPEAKER_01: and the type of units that can show up in-game?
17:00
SPEAKER_01: And so it's part of the reason why we've also partnered with the IAB
17:04
SPEAKER_01: to help standardize in-game ad units.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: We partnered with the IS or viewability standards
17:10
SPEAKER_01: to help marketers feel more comfortable in the way that the ads are showing up.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: And so there's a big opportunity for different publishers,
17:17
SPEAKER_01: platforms to come in and just ultimately make it easier for the brand to be able
17:21
SPEAKER_01: to create these experiences.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: I suppose you'll be able to answer this question,
17:26
SPEAKER_00: but how much does in-game advertising contribute to EA currently?
17:29
SPEAKER_00: And is there like a goal on how big you want to grow that?
17:34
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not able to share specific numbers around how big it is.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: I didn't think you would.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: But look,
17:40
SPEAKER_01: it is a important venture for the company and we see a big opportunity there
17:46
SPEAKER_01: and we see an opportunity to do it the right way where it is driven in player value
17:52
SPEAKER_01: and it does drive that excitement and engagement.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: And so it's growing.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: We're building a lot of demand and interest around it and the way
18:02
SPEAKER_01: that we're creating these experiences and the way that we're starting to measure it
18:05
SPEAKER_01: for our partners.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: And so we're excited for the future of what this looks like.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: So no, not even a percent, the double, triple, none of that.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Is there going to be a need for developers to start Making games with advertising in mind?
18:21
SPEAKER_00: Do you think there'll ever be a situation where that might be something that needs
18:24
SPEAKER_00: to be coming in from the process of creating the games from the start rather than,
18:29
SPEAKER_00: I guess what you're having to do now is place it into the titles
18:32
SPEAKER_00: after they've been made?
18:33
SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a huge opportunity,
18:35
SPEAKER_01: not just for EA,
18:36
SPEAKER_01: but I think broadly,
18:37
SPEAKER_01: because most of the games that have been around for a while,
18:43
SPEAKER_01: building the advertising experience is really kind of retrofitting it back in.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: But as you think about new games that are coming out,
18:52
SPEAKER_01: as you think about free to play experiences that are happening on the console side,
18:57
SPEAKER_01: we launched our skate game.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Those are opportunities where if you actually design them with the right advertising
19:07
SPEAKER_01: and brand experience in there from the get go, it just makes it easier.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: It makes it feel more native.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: It creates more flexibility in the types of brands that can come in and out.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: So I do see a big opportunity to do that.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: It's part of the reason why we launched our ad platform is because
19:23
SPEAKER_01: as we create new experiences,
19:25
SPEAKER_01: in addition to the existing titles,
19:28
SPEAKER_01: it allows us to bring brands in in a much more flexible, creative and dynamic way.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: How do you measure the success of in-game advertising?
19:37
SPEAKER_00: Is it the number of eyeballs, the important ROI?
19:40
SPEAKER_00: How do you judge that?
19:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it ultimately does actually just go back to what the players are saying.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Were they excited about it?
19:49
SPEAKER_01: Are we seeing engagement on it?
19:50
SPEAKER_01: When we think about bringing in custom jerseys into our FC game
19:56
SPEAKER_01: or we're giving players You know, different modes and challenges.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: Are they actually playing it?
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Are they wearing the jersey?
20:07
SPEAKER_01: And what is the engagement we're seeing?
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Are they talking about it on socials?
20:11
SPEAKER_01: If we're running surveys, are they giving positive feedback on the experience that they saw?
20:16
SPEAKER_01: And so what We're measuring across all of those things to see if
20:23
SPEAKER_01: the players are actually engaging and talking about it in a way where it's exciting
20:28
SPEAKER_01: for them.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: I think about the...
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Activations that we did with Visa where we built squad building challenges with them.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: And if they completed that,
20:40
SPEAKER_01: they then got access to compete in a tournament versus other players in
20:44
SPEAKER_01: a Visa brand stadium.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: And so we saw a ton of engagement around that.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: We did something with Lowe's where they sponsored the Stadium Pulse and
20:53
SPEAKER_01: the Stadium Pulse in college football ended up having over a billion impressions.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: As we do these things, it's ultimately around like, you know, are the players engaging with it?
21:05
SPEAKER_01: Are they talking about it?
21:07
SPEAKER_01: Is it ultimately leading to the brand being talked about and engaged in a positive way?
21:14
SPEAKER_01: And so those are all things we're measuring and iterating on as we do more and more activations.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Can you target people?
21:21
SPEAKER_00: Is it easy for you to do that in the same way,
21:23
SPEAKER_00: you know,
21:23
SPEAKER_00: like other digital advertising able to target,
21:25
SPEAKER_00: you know, if a partner wants to reach a certain EA Sports FC audience.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Are you able to do that?
21:32
SPEAKER_01: So that's what the launch of our ad platform is unlocking the ability for us to do.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: The first targeting,
21:40
SPEAKER_01: of course,
21:40
SPEAKER_01: is just title by title, depending on the title that the brand is interested in.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: But what we've done beyond that now with the launch
21:48
SPEAKER_01: of our platform is just have some other basic targeting capabilities,
21:53
SPEAKER_01: like the ability to If a brand is only focused on a few regions,
21:59
SPEAKER_01: we're able to give them the ability to do that.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: We can go down to different geographies or state levels within the US.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: And so now those capabilities are coming into place
22:11
SPEAKER_01: in gaming just like they're seeing in other mediums.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: And so as we start to build this out,
22:17
SPEAKER_01: there will be additional targeting capabilities that we start to introduce.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: We recently partnered with LiveRamp
22:25
SPEAKER_01: to figure out different audience targeting capabilities that we can do
22:28
SPEAKER_01: in partnership with LiveRamp customers.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: And so the things that marketers are used to seeing in other mediums,
22:35
SPEAKER_01: we're going to start to be able to bring some of that into
22:38
SPEAKER_01: the in-game console space.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: It seems quite ambitious.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: I mean, do you have like a big team?
22:43
SPEAKER_00: How are you scaling all this up?
22:45
SPEAKER_00: Have you had to expand the team much?
22:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we had to expand the team quite a bit.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: And the first part of expanding the team was really investment in our engineering and product.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: Make sure that we are actually designing the platform and experience as best
23:01
SPEAKER_01: as possible and then integrating it into the different studios.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: And so that was really the first area of investment.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: As we've started to build that out,
23:10
SPEAKER_01: as we've started to build out the tech and capabilities,
23:13
SPEAKER_01: we then started to build some of the go-to-market functions.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: We've staffed up some of our sales and account management functions.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: We've staffed up some of our operations and strategy functions.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: With the announcement of EA advertising and building that awareness and building
23:31
SPEAKER_01: that kind of interest externally,
23:33
SPEAKER_01: we now have the different internal teams to be able to support that from
23:36
SPEAKER_01: a product engineering all the way down to a go-to-market function perspective.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: Talk us through, because you mentioned some of the campaigns.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: You mentioned the one with Visa and Lowe's,
23:45
SPEAKER_00: and you also mentioned ones with Red Bull and Mountain Dew.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: They're all sort of doing interesting things,
23:50
SPEAKER_00: quite different things in some cases, like entire teams, I see.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, what is proving most effective?
23:55
SPEAKER_00: You know,
23:55
SPEAKER_00: one of the things
23:55
SPEAKER_01: that I think is proving the most effective,
23:57
SPEAKER_01: and this is where we see Just the value of advertising in general is
24:03
SPEAKER_01: that it helps democratize access to some of the games or it helps democratize access
24:09
SPEAKER_01: to some of the content of the games.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: And so whether that access be packs that we give to And I think that there's a lot
24:16
SPEAKER_01: of things that we're going to talk about,
24:17
SPEAKER_01: whether that access be vanity kits or jerseys or custom challenges or tournaments
24:22
SPEAKER_01: or surprise and delight moments where we brought in Jake from State Farm
24:26
SPEAKER_01: to be cheering in the crowd and FC.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that is bringing real excitement and value back.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: And so when we center it on those elements where it just democratizes the access,
24:39
SPEAKER_01: it gives value to the player,
24:40
SPEAKER_01: it gives them some optionality,
24:43
SPEAKER_01: it feeds into gameplay and progression,
24:45
SPEAKER_01: those are the things that we're seeing work really well.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: You're hearing these different experiments and activations that we're doing
24:53
SPEAKER_01: because we're constantly just testing.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: We're ideating with brands to figure out how do we drive that excitement?
25:00
SPEAKER_01: How do we speak to the brand's value in a unique way and have that come to life
25:05
SPEAKER_01: in game and make it make sense?
25:08
SPEAKER_01: Expect more of that to come.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: As we start to do those,
25:13
SPEAKER_01: You know,
25:13
SPEAKER_01: then we'll start to hone in on the types of things that we know players really want
25:19
SPEAKER_01: and just do more of those.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: One of the things Matthew Ball was talking about was this idea of,
25:23
SPEAKER_00: he was talking about Netflix ad funding models,
25:26
SPEAKER_00: basically,
25:26
SPEAKER_00: and how, in fit,
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Here you could be watching Bridget and then you see a shampoo ad if you press pause
25:31
SPEAKER_00: and there's all these video game menus.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: And he was talking about all this inventory and all this space.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: He's obviously looking at it very much from an analyst perspective and necessarily
25:38
SPEAKER_00: a user perspective.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: But do you foresee an opportunity in this space?
25:42
SPEAKER_00: Could it be so huge that we could see games funded by this?
25:45
SPEAKER_00: Was this always going to be an additive?
25:47
SPEAKER_01: It's really gonna be like a spectrum of experiences, right?
25:51
SPEAKER_01: And you can almost take a look at mobile as an example of that.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: A lot of the mobile games, they're free.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: And because they're free,
26:03
SPEAKER_01: Then the monetization comes through a couple of forms,
26:05
SPEAKER_01: either through in-game purchases or through advertising.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: When you take a look at the console space,
26:13
SPEAKER_01: traditionally,
26:14
SPEAKER_01: most of the revenue was coming in through full game sales and your start.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: And it started to shift more towards life service revenue.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: But now we're starting to see advertising come in and become another revenue stream.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: But by doing that, it does...
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Again, democratize access either to the game or to content in the game.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: We've launched titles like Skate that are free to play
26:41
SPEAKER_01: and we're bringing advertising experiences into there.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: We're unlocking content.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Because of some of the brands and advertisers that we're bringing into there,
26:52
SPEAKER_01: it's ultimately, you're starting to see just more opportunity in that space.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: But it is going to depend on the game.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: It depends on the price point of the game and the type of experience and quality
27:04
SPEAKER_01: that the players are going to expect from it.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: This is a nuts and bolts question, this one.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Do you have to share any ad revenue with like the platform holders?
27:11
SPEAKER_00: So whether it's Steam or PlayStation or Xbox or whatever, who's at 100% EA revenue?
27:16
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to talk on the sports side for a moment.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: With the sports side,
27:23
SPEAKER_01: what we've done is as we've brought brands in,
27:26
SPEAKER_01: we really focus on areas that are EA-owned IP.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: So like within FC,
27:32
SPEAKER_01: as an example,
27:33
SPEAKER_01: where we're bringing brands in as a part of the experience is
27:36
SPEAKER_01: within our ultimate team.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: These are in EA stadiums, it's EA IP, and And so that's where we've really focused.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: In terms of the platforms,
27:51
SPEAKER_01: I can't really speak to the specifics around the partnerships or engagement models
27:55
SPEAKER_01: that we have with the platforms,
27:56
SPEAKER_01: but there is very close partnership with each of the platforms to make sure that
28:02
SPEAKER_01: as we're designing and building the advertising experience type of brands,
28:07
SPEAKER_01: that it adheres to their policy and guidelines in the way that it shows up
28:11
SPEAKER_01: in game itself.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: I see.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: I might, maybe it's a question for them.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, about what their rules are with that.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: And you also talk about one of the things you talk about in your press release,
28:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm conscious of the time,
28:22
SPEAKER_00: but you talk about partner program,
28:24
SPEAKER_00: which you've described as co-created fan experiences.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
28:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's an exciting thing that I do think is really unique to EA,
28:33
SPEAKER_01: given our EA Sports portfolio.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: With the EA Sports portfolio,
28:38
SPEAKER_01: because we have the largest sports titles in the world,
28:42
SPEAKER_01: it gives us an opportunity to work with a brand to figure out how do they get
28:47
SPEAKER_01: in front of the community in a unique and engaging way,
28:51
SPEAKER_01: not just in game, but also around game.
28:55
SPEAKER_01: And so as we think about these co-created experiences,
28:59
SPEAKER_01: It is how do we start to integrate and bring those brands in game in a unique way
29:06
SPEAKER_01: that feels immersive,
29:07
SPEAKER_01: that feels exciting, and then find ways to amplify that out of game.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: And so I'll give an example of what that looks like.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: I mentioned some of the activations of things we did with Visa and FC.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: We've then extended Visa to activate with us in the real world
29:24
SPEAKER_01: at our largest sports events like Maddenball.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: And so at Madden Bowl, Visa created their own lounge for Visa cardholders.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: They were branded all over our event.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: And the Madden Bowl event,
29:36
SPEAKER_01: which is one that we do every year around the Super Bowl,
29:41
SPEAKER_01: was one of the most talked about events of Super Bowl weekend.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: And Visa showed up everywhere.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: We worked with their talent.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: We worked with their athletes.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: And so we started to engage with them both in game and around game
29:53
SPEAKER_01: that created these co-created experiences and activations.
29:58
SPEAKER_01: And there's going to be more of those available as we think
30:02
SPEAKER_01: about different categories that we can start to work with and building experiences
30:06
SPEAKER_01: for those categories in game and around.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: I'll ask one last question because I'm wary of the time.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: It's quite a general one,
30:12
SPEAKER_00: but where do you see in-game advertising on console,
30:15
SPEAKER_00: on HD gaming basically in five years?
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Where do you think it can get to?
30:19
SPEAKER_01: The biggest opportunity is solving that friction point where today or historically
30:26
SPEAKER_01: a brand has to work custom for every single title,
30:31
SPEAKER_01: every single publisher,
30:33
SPEAKER_01: every single platform And five years from now,
30:37
SPEAKER_01: I believe the opportunity is just more standardization.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: And that standardization means a brand has some assets that they can start to run
30:48
SPEAKER_01: across publishers, across platforms and do it in a much more scalable way.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: It can be measured easier and it can be activated.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: Again, still adding value to the player and centered on that.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: But just making it easier to go live,
31:05
SPEAKER_01: making it easier to manage,
31:07
SPEAKER_01: making it easier to measure and prove the outcomes that they're looking for.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: And so I see that as a huge opportunity over the next five years
31:16
SPEAKER_01: as more players start to get into
31:18
SPEAKER_00: the space.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: Google Ads of video games.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: Is that what this platform is?
31:22
SPEAKER_00: Could this be something that other publishers use and other things get involved with?
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Is that something you'd like to see?
31:28
SPEAKER_01: So for our platform, it is very specific to EA.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: It's built on the Frostbite engine,
31:34
SPEAKER_01: but we are working with the third parties to try to standardize some of this.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: So when we think about in-game 3D assets,
31:42
SPEAKER_01: how do we start to standardize what that What that looks like for a brand.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: When we think about in-game measurement and viewability standards,
31:49
SPEAKER_01: how do we make sure that's consistent so that when other publishers
31:52
SPEAKER_01: and platforms also do this and we share back reports back to the brand or
31:58
SPEAKER_01: the marketer, they're seeing consistency.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: They know that it's showing up the way that You know,
32:05
SPEAKER_01: it should be showing up and it's being measured the way that it should be measured.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: And so some of the things that we're doing here,
32:12
SPEAKER_01: I believe,
32:12
SPEAKER_01: will translate into other areas to drive a bit more consistency and standardization.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's cool.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, Sega,
32:20
SPEAKER_00: going back to the 90s,
32:21
SPEAKER_00: they launched an age rating system for the video games industry
32:23
SPEAKER_00: that ended up being changed and adopted into the one that became
32:27
SPEAKER_00: the standard age rating system for the US video games industry.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Alex, I've taken up too much of your time,
32:31
SPEAKER_00: but this is quite, I mean, you know, I'm a business journalist.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: And I know it's going for a bit of a challenging time.
32:37
SPEAKER_00: Growth is slow and costs are going up.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is potentially maybe a solution or at least one solution to some
32:46
SPEAKER_00: of those challenges.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: It'll be interesting to see if it plays out.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: I know that we don't want to see any more cuts and fewer games.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: We want to see more games.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: We want to see more people making them.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: And maybe if advertising can become a viable business model, I mean,
32:59
SPEAKER_00: I guess it already is a little bit,
33:00
SPEAKER_00: but if it comes even more so, then that'll be good for the whole business.
33:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, look,
33:04
SPEAKER_01: it's an exciting time for us and hopefully an exciting time for the industry
33:09
SPEAKER_01: as we watch this grow.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: From what we've seen and the way that we've done this,
33:13
SPEAKER_01: players have been really receptive and excited on how we've introduced
33:18
SPEAKER_01: and how we've done this.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: More to come and appreciate the time and just dive in a bit deeper with us.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Brilliant.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Alex.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Christopher.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: Thank you to Alexander for joining us he couldn't answer all my questions
33:31
SPEAKER_00: but I think what they're doing well I'll certainly be watching and
33:35
SPEAKER_00: who knows maybe they can bring some standardization and reliable revenue into
33:38
SPEAKER_00: the video game space when frankly the industry desperately needs it
33:41
SPEAKER_00: although I'm not Entirely convinced we'll be seeing many ads in
33:44
SPEAKER_00: the next Mass Effect.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: All that's left for me to do now is run through the big stories of the week
33:49
SPEAKER_00: and there are lots of career moves and changes this week and let's begin
33:52
SPEAKER_00: with Glenn Schofield.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: He's retiring after 35 years,
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Glenn was the director and producer Across three major Call of Duty games,
33:59
SPEAKER_00: he was also the creator of Dead Space and the Callisto Protocol.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: And we had him on the show this time-ish last year if you remember.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: He struggled to find funding for his Triple H projects and has now decided
34:10
SPEAKER_00: to back away from making video games.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: It's a shame he pitched an idea to us on the show around an Egyptian horror game
34:16
SPEAKER_00: and I was all over that.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, good luck to Glen with whatever he does next outside of video games.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: Another move in the games industry,
34:24
SPEAKER_00: Steve Allison,
34:25
SPEAKER_00: the former Epic Games VP who was in charge of the Epic Store
34:28
SPEAKER_00: and Epic's third party publishing business,
34:30
SPEAKER_00: he's joined Sabre Interactive
34:31
SPEAKER_00: as Chief Business Officer Allison also held senior publishing stints at Midway,
34:36
SPEAKER_00: Telltale, Impact Wrestling and Atari.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: I actually met Steve earlier this year.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even realise he'd left Epic.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: It's quite a big, quite a big win there for Sabre.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: So congratulations to the Sabre team.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, well done to the Team 17 folks as well.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: They've just hired PR veteran Johnny Bryant as their communications director.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: Bryant, you know,
34:54
SPEAKER_00: he just most recently spent nine years at Bethesda,
34:56
SPEAKER_00: including His most recent role being global PR director.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: He's held senior PR roles at the Pokemon Company and Jagex and Blizzard and Take-Two
35:04
SPEAKER_00: and Vivendi.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: I've known him for a long time and he's another great signing there for Team 17.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: So some big moves there in the games industry.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: Moving away from new hires,
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Compulsion Games,
35:14
SPEAKER_00: the former Xbox studio that is responsible for the BAFTA winning South of Midnight.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: They're one of the companies that went independent from Xbox last week.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: They're looking for work.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: The firm says it wants to collaborate with studios across games and entertainment.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: The company said in the link With deep experience in creating acclaimed original IP,
35:30
SPEAKER_00: we bring our artistry,
35:31
SPEAKER_00: technical expertise and collaborative approach to every project.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: We're excited to support the development of memorable experiences that engage
35:37
SPEAKER_00: and entertain players around the world.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: They're looking for work there that devoted to Compulsion.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: If you played South of Midnight, I'm sure you'd be interested in giving them some.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Another studio story,
35:47
SPEAKER_00: former employees of Build A Rocket Boy protested outside the office of
35:51
SPEAKER_00: the Mind's Eye studio on Saturday.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: This was due to a large playtest event held with fans.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: The independent workers union in Great Britain suggests that these are duties
36:00
SPEAKER_00: that would usually be carried out by professional staff.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: Build A Rocket Boy has recently laid off 400 employees after the failure of its Mind's Eye game.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: Another somewhat negative story,
36:10
SPEAKER_00: the Entertainment Retailers Association,
36:11
SPEAKER_00: we reported this on Monday,
36:13
SPEAKER_00: and this is the group that represents major video game retailers in the UK,
36:16
SPEAKER_00: including Amazon Games, Sainsbury's and H&B.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: They've criticised PlayStation's plan to stop manufacturing game discs from January 2028.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: The trade body said consumers deserve the freedom to choose how they build their entertainment.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: Removing discs doesn't represent progress, it simply removes choice.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: That's bad for gamers,
36:32
SPEAKER_00: bad for retailers,
36:32
SPEAKER_00: and ultimately bad for the long-term health and preservation of our games industry.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: There are few people that seem to like this move from PlayStation.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Elsewhere,
36:41
SPEAKER_00: investment bank Ariman Co.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: Says that $2.3 billion was spent on mergers and acquisitions in Q2 2026.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: There were 54 deals in total.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: This is the highest number since 2022.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: This was mainly due to deals above $100 million,
36:54
SPEAKER_00: such as acquisitions of Balatro Publisher Playstack and EVE Online CCP.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: The big deal, however, was Scopely's $1 billion acquisition of Loom.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: A few sales stories here for you.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: The remake of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resinked has sold 2 million copies in 24 hours.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: And stylized animated first person noir shooter mouse PI
37:12
SPEAKER_00: for hire has now surpassed 1 million players.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: Well done to those games.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: And finally, Summer Games.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: Games Done Quick 2026 has raised $2.4 million for
37:21
SPEAKER_00: the international humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: That's it from us today at The Game Business Show.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: Hope you enjoyed today's episode.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: Next week, I mentioned it earlier, we've got two big interviews.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: We've got Jagex on Tuesday and then we have Amazon joining us on Thursday.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: They've got some news to share.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: But until then, that's it from us.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: If you want to make sure you don't miss those episodes,
37:41
SPEAKER_00: head to thegamebusiness.com,
37:42
SPEAKER_00: stick in your email address,
37:43
SPEAKER_00: and every time we have a new episode out,
37:45
SPEAKER_00: we'll give you an alert and you won't miss a thing.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: But until next time, thank you for tuning in.