Unskippable advertisements return to NBA 2K, fans angry The NBA 2K series is taking criticism for the re-emergence of loading-screen ads which appear during the game's main mode. Stevivor reported this weekend that Oculus' ad was shown before the "episode” of NBA 2KTV. This happens when the game loads in one of NBA 2K21's modes. The message to modify lineups while the game is loading doesn't appear until the advertisement finishes, meaning users have no choice but to watch the entire episode.

Monday morning, Polygon tried to find the unskippable ads, playing the game available on the Xbox One. They didn't appear in MyCareer, MyTeam or any of the Play Now matchups. It could be a temporary issue that is only affecting certain regions or games or 2K Sports may have already eliminated the ads from Play Now matchups in the chaos of the weekend. To clarify we spoke to 2K representatives.

Stevivor confirmed that the ads are being played on NBA 2K21's PC as well as PlayStation 4 versions. At the time of Halloween, NBA 2K20 started featuring non-skippable advertisements. NBA 2K19 played around with them during summer, following its release, at the time it went on sale for sale for a 95 discount. Both caused backlash that eventually went away.

Advertising in games -- and not just fake billboards or actual sponsorships -- is not something new. Madden NFL 10 began with it being available on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Also, they included advertising for pregame games for Snickers about a decade ago.

EA Sports introduced unskippable advertisements in UFC 4 (and 2018's UFC 3) in September. The UFC 4 launch was on August 4th on Xbox One and Windows PC. EA apologized later to its players and removed the ads. The company acknowledged that the in-game ads were "not something new to the UFC franchise," but said its inclusion "should have been discussed with players before the game began."

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