Battlefield 2142 Ships Amidst Controversy

The latest game in the Battlefield series, Battlefield 2142, has shipped to stores and is now available online through the EA Downloader. They've also released the first patch for the title which updates it to version 1.01. What really has people stirred up, however, is the disclaimer inside the box related to the in-game advertising that is being implemented. Essentially, by installing the game, you are giving EA the right to collect "advertising data" from your system, presumably to help them target their ads. Of course, they promise that this won't involve any "personally identifiable information" about you.

In-game advertising is nothing new, and gamers are growing accustomed to having their computers probed by anti-cheat software, but publishers are treading into dangerous territory here. It's one thing to place and monitor an in-game ad, it's quite another to collect data about a person's computer usage for advertising purposes. There is a limit to how much of this gamers will tolerate, particularly since the benefits of in-game advertising are not always being passed on to them. When people stop buying your games because they don't want to deal with the spyware, that ad space won't be worth much either.

Update: EA has responded to gamer's concerns, pointing out in a press note that "The advertising program in Battlefield 2142 does not access any files which are not directly related to the game." Gamasutra also has an interview with IGA explaining what information is being collected.