Obama a gamer? Campaign ads in 'Burnout Paradise'

By Brendan Sinclair on 16 October 2008, 11:03am

Campaign ads for Barack Obama popped up in Electronic Arts' high-octane racer game Burnout Paradise last week, according to GamePolitics. This is a political first, and makes us think he's really taking his 'change' message to heart.

An EA spokesperson confirmed for our sister site, GameSpot, that the Xbox 360 version of the game has been playing host to Obama billboards since 6 October. The advertising campaign will run until Monday, 3 November -- the eve of the US general election.

The EA representative said that the ads would appear in only ten different US states, most of them contested battlegrounds. Paradise City residents in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin are being targeted by the campaign. In the 2004 presidential election, all of those states except Wisconsin went to Republican incumbent George W Bush.

The Obama campaign is running only on the Xbox 360 version of the game, given that it was handled by Microsoft-owned in-game advertising firm Massive Incorporated. In-game ads for the PlayStation 3 version of Burnout Paradise are operated by IGA Worldwide. As for the absence of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, the EA representative said that Massive had approached the Arizona senator's campaign, which "passed" on a Burnout ad buy.

The EA representative said that the publisher treats its in-game advertising like a TV network or radio station would, noting, "Political advertising does not reflect the opinions or policies of EA or its developers." A representative with IGA Worldwide said the firm "could not comment on the political advertisements."

Though EA is not officially endorsing Obama, its top executive has donated to the Democrat's campaign. In another GamePolitics report, the site pointed to a host of industry figures' political campaign contributions, with EA CEO John Riccitiello throwing $4,600 into the Obama kitty. Many other game luminaries have also donated thousands this election cycle, with Spore designer Will Wright and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick among those sending thousands to McCain, whereas Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick and ESRB president Patricia Vance have contributed substantial sums to Obama. In the primaries, Valve Software head Gabe Newell contributed $2,300 to Democrat Chris Dodd's doomed candidacy.

A representative for Massive told GameSpot that the Obama campaign approached the company with the idea of the campaign, and went on to state that Massive "does not endorse either candidate". The in-game ad firm does restrict some advertisements -- it does not accept tobacco or alcohol ads, and other restrictions vary depending on the rating of the game in question.

The Associated Press has reported that Obama is running ads in eight other EA games, including Madden NFL 09. Other titles include "NASCAR, NBA, NHL and skateboarding" titles. But yesterday, National Public Radio's Morning Edition reported that the Obama campaign has announced it is now running ads on a total of 18 games. -Brendan Sinclair