Need for Speed Movie
"Please, please watch this movie"

Like it or not, advertising is becoming a part of console gaming. Sony may have been eager to avoid it on the PlayStation 3’s dashboard, but the ‘What’s New’ area of the PlayStation 4 is packed with promotions for upcoming titles and films. And it’s only a matter of time before that section gets stuffed with Axe deodorant and Doritos, too.

However, if you thought that your games would always provide a haven away from marketers and desperate salesmen, then you should probably reconsider your stance, as EA has supposedly stuffed troubled first-person shooter Battlefield 4 full of commercials for the upcoming Need for Speed movie. It’s, er, totally out now in the UK by the way.

While we haven’t been able to verify this for ourselves, a mob of angry Reddit users are currently up in arms over the intrusive ads, which you can see in the above image. The issue is, of course, worsened by the fact that the DICE developed title has been a bit of mess since release, with many players still suffering from connection hiccups and bugs.

This isn’t the first time that a publisher’s tried to incorporate product promotions in a game. Sony was famously blasted a few years back for adding adverts to WipEout HD, while Barack Obama purchased billboards inside Burnout Paradise. Personally, we can’t wait to see what happens when the next Mass Effect is sponsored by Colgate. “This is the best toothpaste on the Citadel,” said no one ever.

[source reddit.com]