Is That a Video Game -- or an Ad?

The Sims 2 Open for Business, the expansion pack in the popular Sims franchise that hits stores in March, allows players to launch virtual restaurants, stores, and other entrepreneurial ventures. But, oddly enough, they won't be able to interact with true-to-life financial services companies, or see any on-screen versions of objects, food, or clothing representing recognizable brands. Although the game's publisher, Electronic Arts (ERTS), considered product placements and even wrote some into early storylines, the game's ad and design staffs decided against it.

"We realized breaking the Sims fantasy in this case would detract from the player's experience, so we declined," says Julie Shumaker, EA's director of video-game ad sales. It's a surprising statement from the Redwood City (Calif.) company that, in 2002, garnered the video-game industry's first seven-figure product-placement deals from megabrands McDonald's (MCD) and Intel (INTC), which appeared, no less, in The Sims Online.