Are you enjoying Mortal Kombat 11? Well, maybe you’d like to buy Hogwarts Legacy! That pretty much describes the main menu for NetherRealm Studios’ acclaimed brawler, as it’s been filled with ads for Warner Bros’ other hit game. We’ve never actually seen anything quite like this: as Reddit screenshots show, huge banners for Avalanche’s wizard-‘em-up have been added to the fighter’s home screen – there’s even a hyperlink which presumably takes you directly to the PS Store!
We suppose it makes sense for the publisher to try and cross-promote its releases, but in-game advertising rarely goes down well with enthusiasts – after all, do you remember when Sony tried to add commercials to WipEout HD on the PS3?
It’ll be interesting to see whether the backlash is strong enough to encourage Warner Bros to remove these, but with the shiny new Mortal Kombat 12 seemingly on the horizon, we’re honestly not holding our breath.
[source reddit.com]
Comments 55
WB are trash. Almost at Acclaim levels of embarrassment.
Don't people like to have the quality of a free to play game when they paid full price for it? How odd.
It's not like the game needed extra advertisements. Strange decision... hope they receive some good backlash.
They sold fifteen million copies, I think they’re going to be fine with sales numbers for the foreseeable future
Some adverts are fine in context, like sponsors on jerseys and on cars in sports games, but dedicating entire menus to it in an unrelated game by the same developer leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.
I’m somewhat surprised publishers don’t patch older versions of games to advertise and provide links to the newer version. Just seems to make sense to me. Games as different as Hogwarts and MK though? That one’s a bit strange.
WB in gaming = Disney in movie streaming
Most unnecessary bad PR ever. The game's sold like hotcakes already and will continue to do so, there was basically zero need to plaster advertisements of it on older games.
They need to make an M rated harry potter game now then if you gonna advertise something to a different audience in a different setting
This reminds me of when SFV tried to do something similar. Sure it was a bit annoying but at least Capcom gave an option to turn it off. Hopefully WB does the same thing on this.
On the bright side it's at least kind of funny to see a game as whimsical as Hogwarts Legacy being advertised on something as brutally violent as MK11.😄
@Dloki it is a big deal. It's the principle. 1. Nobody wants advertisements in their purchased games. 2. They've updated a 4 year old game with an advertisement for the already best-selling game of 2023.
Also, like every scummy practice in gaming you can expect to see more of it if people don't push back.
Back when I played the game there were only ads for MK DLC and related sales, which made much more sense
Thats weird.wtf.word up son
I'm guessing it's to raise more the HL's sales, which is funny because the game, like it or not, was a breakout hit, with already a sequel possibly underway too. Literally what's the point of this lol
I remember playing Saints Row 2 years ago and driving past a billboard in game that was for Lynx (Axe). Ads being on menus is terrible, it being in the actual game world is immersion-breaking.
This is actually the marketing right here. The outrage of Hogwarts being advertised in a mortal kombat game will get people speaking about the game for one last sales push.....square
I don’t play either of these games but I have a question.
Is there a reason this is there? And before you all go “What reason could there possibly be?!?!” I have a couple of reasons.
1. Game crossover. The character(s) from 1 game are being added to the other as dlc.
2. There is a discount incentive to buy the advertised game thru the link that appears in the menu. Think “Hope you are enjoying X, here’s a link to get 10% off Y as our way of saying thanks”.
As much as I think ads in games are bad I’d be ok with either of those as they at least have a rationale, and I like saving $.
This seems like advertising for advertising sake but since I have zero interest in either game I thought I’d ask in case I’m missing something.🤷🏻♂️
@Wheatly I completely forgot about the Monster branding in DS since I last played that on the Director's Cut where it's removed. The ad thing with the shower I also can't remember, even from the original version. But looking it up that definitely is horrid. Now I'm just thinking about the awful ad placements in games, like Energizer in Alan Wake.
wow imagine the remaster and remake versions down the line of hogwards.
Jesus. They're just openly advertising products in normal games now? How brazen.
Sticking mostly with Nintendo and smaller Japanese games, I sometimes forget how gross parts of the industry are becoming.
Im ok with ads in free to play games but games that ppl have paid for should be ad free unless its to promote new dlc for said game
Harry Potter in Mortal Kombat 11 confirmed.
Gran Tourismo on PS3 had real billboards around track.
Can't wait for a random NPC in Diablo 4 to advertise the newest season of Warzone.
@Dloki if this were to happen to a game I play, I'd stop playing.
Yuck. Adverts are annoying even at the best of times. I certainly wouldn't want to see it in a game that I'd paid for.
In game ads? Won't touch this ever.
It's a multi national company, don't be so upset that they are promoting other products.
WB got what they wanted - more attention for HL after the recent last gen launch -PushSquare case in point.
@Kanji-Tatsumi I just don’t get why it really matters. Who cares that on the main screen there’s an advertisement for another game from the same publisher. It’s like complaining my 4K blu rays have trailers for other movies.
@Wheatly yeah except those were just games funded by non gaming brands, they weren't filled with adverts for for buy the new McRib or Cherry Zup now.
A lot of simple minds here talking about thematic adverts in game, a real advert in game on a billboard or a TV set doesn't decrease immersion it improves it with the advert being real, a fake advert usually looks whack. What this is doesn't compare.
This is embarrassing. Not to mention just bizarre. It's friggin mortal combat... Not exactly the best place to advertise a pg IP for a pre pubescent Hogwarts larping adventure...
Slight contrast in content there WB
Whats next, crossover skins in Mk, or maybe a hogwarts mortal combat battle royal mode taking place in the unused quidditch stadium. Complete with a seasonal battle pass.
Nah! If you pay for a game then this should not happen.
What next? Will the winner start celebrating with a coke?
@dark_knightmare2 it really doesn't, but it's the internet, so it does.
@Dloki don't think this has anything to do with "woke".
@BeerIsAwesome I rather see nothing I still remember crashing into Levi trucks with Burnout after EA took over. 🤣
@dark_knightmare2 Look NBA 2K when they adds during your loading screens yeah give them a finger and they will take your hand.
@Dloki Just like adding microtransactions after talking big about not having them Activision Blizzard with Crash Bandicoot. If I pay €60 just leave it out of my games or make it free to play then we can talk.
@Dloki: You say that now, but wait 'til your favorite characters wear branded armor (nike?). This is just the beginning and if no one complains they'll take it further and further.
Sometimes seeing an ad for a video game within a game is fun, and sometimes it’s annoying. In Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3, there are ads for one of the Ys games when you go into one of the shops and walk by their tvs. I thought that was pretty dang awesome when I stumbled upon it, and I thought it was a cool way to cross-promote their games. But, just a straight up ad of another game within a game, like on the fighter’s screen in MK XI? That just sounds like a cheap, exploitative way to market software and tick off their gamers.
What next? Video game ad blockers. When a friend questioned the amount of time I play games I said yes I do however it is nearly 100% ad free, at least the games I play and how I use my PS4. Same when I read a book, just hundreds of pages of pleasure free of ads.
However one feels about ads, and some may say just don't watch them, the ads are there. When ads are there people see them whether they think they do or not. The ads then have some influence on the viewer.
If there was a positive that could come from in-game advertising, ok. Like, for example, if Pepsi signs showing up on a roadside billboard within a game led to the game being lowered in cost from $70 to $50, I’d be ok with that. But if the ad is being force fed to the players… 😄…😐…😧…🤢…🫢…🤮!
Love how people are complaining for no reason. People complain over the littlest of things these days.
A banner ad is nothing to complain about. If it does bring a video ad or interrupt gameplay, then I would have an issue with it.
Not usually a fan of adverts in games but I’m amused by this as a big two fingers to all the cancel culture karens out there. Congratulations Avalanche on making a great game and it doing really well.
I remember ps2/xbox games having trailers for other games in the options menu, but you had to go looking for them.
New character pack inbound!! Right?!
FINISH THEM!! 🔥
@Dloki Actually it is causing me from enjoying the game. Actually, it is invasive. Actually, it is forcing me to go through ads I don't give a flying apple about. There is a major difference between having adverts in Pole Position or driving to real world locations in Crazy Taxi compared to having ad after ad after ad and a video advertising a completely unrelated game. MAJOR HARM! MAJOR FOUL! I'm not sure if what planet you live on, but I play MK to relieve my stress and ignore everything else in the world.
@Dloki It is a big deal. I hate ads and I don’t want my games polluted by them, it’s worsen by the fact that MK isn’t a free to play game.
Makes sense. Given what I've played through the game and seen in Let's Plays, Hogwarts Legacy MC has probably killed/tortured more people than the entire cast of MK11 put together.
That is unforgivable, hopefully a mistake and will be removed soon.
We aren't paying $100 with ads in the full game. It isn't a mobile game/app to get rid of the ads with the free version you can't skip that step of ads in a paid for game that's just disgusting.
They didn't pay $100 for a Netflix subscription (an example I know streaming services don't cost that much) with ads to then pay the Limited Edition or whatever tier up version of the game for maybe $120 or so without the ads. The Season Pass that doesn't remove ads but gives more characters for what $30 and the one that does for another $100 maybe just to make a more hilariously bad example. That's disgusting if it 'were' real.
2K: This worked out with ads for our sports games.
EA: Yeah we did politics ads/other ads in Burnout Paradise ah the days. Our fictional city with real ads no one will care about the disconnect at all.
Warner: Hmm seems interesting, lets advertise our non-fighting game that's popular right now in this for reasons. Because we should be able to advertise our own games and other games you have to pay for in them. I bet players in the wizarding world would love a disconnect of some Lord of the Rings Golem ads too over some actual related in-universe advertising. Because clearly they paid full price and we deserve to market our games inside our products even if it's a game unrelated or unappealing to an audience buying a intense fighting game the whimsical magical world game. Because were just generous greedy people like that.
Do these companies actually take a breath and think because some of them are too stupid and too greedy clearly.
Like there was realism of ads in racing games, besides real music in Tony Hawk and other examples or real likenesses or cars or whatever but ads in video games do we need ad free passes too greedy companies.
@Dloki Compare this to ad free mobile games/apps. Then the paid version to remove them. Except they skipped the step where you don't have the ad free version. That's more what this sounds like.
If they put the older games there then understandable I guess it's part of the same series people may be interested.
Even though seen that more as part of the game related stuff on PlayStation 4 like the 'here is the manual, here is the other content and the newest game' then in the game itself.
Sure trailers for other games used to be a thing in PS2/Xbox era games, or TV shows on DVD/Blu ray are a thing but they are in their own menu.
I agree the TV example is fair as you pay for cable and get ads or a 'free' service in terms of say YT then Premium with no ads but Mortal Kombat 11 isn't a free experience is it? It's paid for already with no ad remove option so I think that's understandable of why it's pretty shocking. Again the console advertising makes sense inside the game a different related purchase I think is a bit far. Like no one complains when they get a streaming box but if it's inside the show then it's distracting. People went away from cable, so repeating things already done again when people got away from it in the first place.
Then again Burnout Paradise had the Obama voting ads. 2K has their sports games with ads and people pay for the games.
But even streaming services offer ad tiers for cheaper and the no ads version for a bit more where is that offered with this game? Where is the ad removal pass or the free to play Mortal Kombat 11?
Otherwise how many passes do we give companies to do more and more with their games to make money off customers? I can't wait for the pop up ads to be a thing.
Like sure ads or likenesses and music and so on have been in games for years but people didn't mind as they related to it in some way. But ads for promoting another's games seems a bit much. Just as much as the Burnout voting ads. Like that takes people out of the experience, if publishers want us to be immersed to pay them more money for more content why take us out of the experience with other products or things from real life.
That and ads that are unskippable (not sure if the case) in the 2K sports games it isn't a TV ad break in a paid for game there.
What a great way to wind down and take a break to keep pushing reality on people sounds wonderful. I know I'm exaggerating but still.
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