Your Favorite Games Are Now Ad Spaces

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Rob⛧Slayer 24 Jun @ 3:23pm

Your Favorite Games Are Now Ad Spaces

You're not just buying a game; you're funding an endless barrage of advertisements. Take Fortnite, for example. Its continuous cycle of crossovers, promos, and branded events leaves little room for genuine gameplay. Every update seems less like an expansion of an imaginative universe and more like the next installment in a marketing campaign.

Call of Duty follows the same ruthless formula. Instead of delivering a pure gaming experience, it inundates you with a never-ending stream of ads—movie tie-ins, celebrity endorsements, and the latest collaborations—that treat your attention as just another commodity to be sold.

Even Sonic's latest title, CrossWorlds, is caught in the same trap. SEGA signed a six-season deal with Paramount to promote its franchises, turning what might have been an opportunity for inventive world-building into a prolonged ad campaign. The focus has shifted from creating immersive universes to merely slotting in the next brand.

Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV seem to opt for a subtler approach, yet their tactics remain clear: branded skins, crossover events, and seasonal tie-ins that emphasize visual exposure over creative vision. This is not an isolated case; it has become the blueprint for modern gaming.

What is most disheartening is witnessing powerhouses like SEGA and Blizzard, once revered for their rich, storied legacies, trade their unique identities for short-term profit. Every dollar spent feeds an advertising machine that transforms immersive worlds into endless billboards, systematically replacing authentic creativity with ceaseless commercial messaging. This relentless model is not only turning games into platforms for ads but is also eroding the legacies that once defined these franchises.

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Showing 1-15 of 71 comments

Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD} 24 Jun @ 3:27pm

old news, has been since at least 2001

dazza0511 24 Jun @ 3:32pm

ChatGPT was a mistake.

rawWwRrr 24 Jun @ 3:42pm

Originally posted by dazza0511:
ChatGPT was a mistake.

It has been helpful to me, however, I am not using to write for me.

nullable 24 Jun @ 3:50pm

Are you really surprised that gaming is still evolving?

Or are you just now realizing you're not the target demographic or the most important demographic anymore? Surprise, other people want different things than you, and the IP you love isn't actually sacred. And if that ruins games for you then you should find a new hobby right away.

datCookie 24 Jun @ 4:00pm

When you stop making threads with AI and in bad faith, then we can have a proper discussion. Until then, everything you write has no substance and isn't worth discussing.

Rob⛧Slayer 24 Jun @ 5:02pm

Originally posted by nullable:
Are you really surprised that gaming is still evolving?

Or are you just now realizing you're not the target demographic or the most important demographic anymore? Surprise, other people want different things than you, and the IP you love isn't actually sacred. And if that ruins games for you then you should find a new hobby right away.

Oh, I’m well aware gaming evolves—that’s the point. Evolution doesn’t mean blind allegiance to trends that gut creativity in favor of metrics. Wanting quality, coherence, or respect for the soul of an IP isn’t entitlement—it’s called having standards. Dismissing criticism as nostalgia or ego isn’t some enlightened take; it’s just a lazy way to silence valid feedback. If evolution means silencing legacy fans while chasing clicks, maybe the hobby needs more critical voices, not fewer.

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 24 Jun @ 5:04pm

COD selling skins from TV/movies and other crap has been a thing for years. Fortnite was the one that made it a thing.

People keep buying them and they keep licensing the art.

Blame the people that can't stop spending money on skins.

Last edited by cSg|mc-Hotsauce; 24 Jun @ 5:05pm

C²C^Guyver |NZB| 24 Jun @ 5:06pm

Originally posted by Rob⛧Slayer:
Originally posted by datCookie:
When you stop making threads with AI and in bad faith, then we can have a proper discussion. Until then, everything you write has no substance and isn't worth discussing.

Lmao, “in bad faith”? What’s bad faith is acting like it’s totally fine for AAA studios to churn out AI-generated content—but suddenly it’s a problem when I use AI to critique them.

No one is forcing you to buy any game on Steam.

datCookie 24 Jun @ 5:06pm

Originally posted by Rob⛧Slayer:
Originally posted by datCookie:
When you stop making threads with AI and in bad faith, then we can have a proper discussion. Until then, everything you write has no substance and isn't worth discussing.

Lmao, “in bad faith”? What’s bad faith is acting like it’s totally fine for AAA studios to churn out AI-generated content—but suddenly it’s a problem when I use AI to critique them.

Yes it's in bad faith. You don't want a discussion, you want agreement and praise for pointing out what's been happening with big franchises for years.

Stop pretending that AAA games are the only games in the industry, or that they make up the majority of games at all, they don't. And guess what? You're not forced to buy anything that you don't want to. I haven't bought a AAA game for a damn long time, because they're all slop to me.

Rob⛧Slayer 24 Jun @ 5:09pm

Originally posted by datCookie:
When you stop making threads with AI and in bad faith, then we can have a proper discussion. Until then, everything you write has no substance and isn't worth discussing.

Using AI to critique the state of gaming is still more productive than what you’re doing—dismissing legitimate concerns and shielding publishers from criticism by pivoting the conversation. You’re not engaging, you’re deflecting. If anything’s in bad faith, it’s that.

Last edited by Rob⛧Slayer; 24 Jun @ 5:10pm

#10

Rob⛧Slayer 24 Jun @ 5:10pm

Originally posted by datCookie:
Originally posted by Rob⛧Slayer:

Lmao, “in bad faith”? What’s bad faith is acting like it’s totally fine for AAA studios to churn out AI-generated content—but suddenly it’s a problem when I use AI to critique them.

Yes it's in bad faith. You don't want a discussion, you want agreement and praise for pointing out what's been happening with big franchises for years.

Stop pretending that AAA games are the only games in the industry, or that they make up the majority of games at all, they don't. And guess what? You're not forced to buy anything that you don't want to. I haven't bought a AAA game for a damn long time, because they're all slop to me.

#11

Rob⛧Slayer 24 Jun @ 5:11pm

Originally posted by C²C^Guyver |NZB|:
Originally posted by Rob⛧Slayer:

Lmao, “in bad faith”? What’s bad faith is acting like it’s totally fine for AAA studios to churn out AI-generated content—but suddenly it’s a problem when I use AI to critique them.
No one is forcing you to buy any game on Steam.

What does this have to do with the topic?

#12

Rob⛧Slayer 24 Jun @ 5:12pm

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:
COD selling skins from TV/movies and other crap has been a thing for years. Fortnite was the one that made it a thing.

People keep buying them and they keep licensing the art.

Blame the people that can't stop spending money on skins.

:nkCool:

If you take a look around this place, it’s clear—Fortnite brain has fully colonized the discourse.

#13

datCookie 24 Jun @ 5:12pm

Originally posted by Rob⛧Slayer:
Originally posted by C²C^Guyver |NZB|:
No one is forcing you to buy any game on Steam.

What does this have to do with the topic?

Literally everything. You're complaining about big publisher practices, but what does it matter what they do so long as you're not buying their products?

They can advertise to me all they want, which they aren't, I'm still not buying their ♥♥♥♥♥♥ games.

#14

C²C^Guyver |NZB| 24 Jun @ 5:15pm

Originally posted by datCookie:
Originally posted by Rob⛧Slayer:

Lmao, “in bad faith”? What’s bad faith is acting like it’s totally fine for AAA studios to churn out AI-generated content—but suddenly it’s a problem when I use AI to critique them.

Yes it's in bad faith. You don't want a discussion, you want agreement and praise for pointing out what's been happening with big franchises for years.

Stop pretending that AAA games are the only games in the industry, or that they make up the majority of games at all, they don't. And guess what? You're not forced to buy anything that you don't want to. I haven't bought a AAA game for a damn long time, because they're all slop to me.

Aye. I mean, Pole Position had Marlboro and Pepsi on the signs in the game in....wait for it...1982