EA regrets NFS porn promotion

By Games Industry.biz Published 27 November, 2007

Slipped through approval process.

Electronic Arts has said that it regrets a promotion for its latest Need for Speed game which used Page 3 porn models for a topless photo shoot.

The images appeared on Page 3.com, the official softcore porn site of UK tabloid The Sun, and featured topless models posing with a Ferrari. The Need for Speed branding and EA logo featured prominently.

"We regret that these images slipped through the proper EA approval process," said a spokesperson for the publisher, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz.

"They were not appropriate for our brand. The original site has been taken down this morning."

While the images have been deleted, an accompanying video of the photo shoot still remains online, although any association with the game has been removed.

Need for Speed: Pro Street was released last Friday in Europe and today entered the all-formats charts at number two.

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Comments (54) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Saladin #1 4 years ago

    NFS NSFW

    Co-incidence?

  • Rich72 #2 4 years ago

    shame

  • LHH #3 4 years ago

    I can't see the problem, the ads are reaching the games targeted demographic.

  • Darren #4 4 years ago

    Ah I bet... so that's the real reason NFS: ProStreet entered the charts at number two then? LOL

  • hula hoops #5 4 years ago

    This article is useless without links to said materials, i.e., in other words, I want proof!

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #6 4 years ago

    Given that the game is called "ProStreet" it seems appropriate to have some cheap-arse hookers promoting it. I wonder if it has such wonderful locations such as King Street and Ber Street?

  • FooAtari #7 4 years ago

    Where is the picture then? A quick scan of page3.com and I saw nothing excpet lots of boobies. But no boobies with cars

  • lambtron #8 4 years ago

    The boobies escaped in the Cars.

  • FooAtari #9 4 years ago

    They didnt get away fast enough, I found them.

  • mrhand #10 4 years ago

    Tits, I mean pics here:
    http://po lygamia.pl/kolezanki-ani-amy-i-...


    Seems the original page has been taken down.
    http://ww w.page3.com/lodge/amii_and_beck...
    Edited by 2 at 27/11/07 @ 15:52

  • Bumhug360 #11 4 years ago

    "Given that the game is called "ProStreet" it seems appropriate to have some cheap-arse hookers promoting it. I wonder if it has such wonderful locations such as King Street and Ber Street? "

    Ber Street does have a BMW dealership so likely

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #12 4 years ago

    Cracking tits, though.

  • aldo_14 #13 4 years ago

    Cracking tits, though.

    Who, EA?

  • Darren #14 4 years ago

    So ProStreet is short for Prostitute Street then? Are EA using sublimal advertising to entice its male teenage audience into buying its latest NFS game. I demand to know!!!

  • jack_klugman #15 4 years ago

    Proz Treat!

  • GordonCaladan #16 4 years ago

    pix plz kthxbye

  • rhinoxious #17 4 years ago


    I bet they advertise in Maxim, Loaded and FHM.

  • asphaltcowboy #18 4 years ago

    "They were not appropriate for our brand."

    Err... hot women and fast cars? In what way were they not appropriate? What else is NFS about? It certainly isn't good gaming! :p
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/07 @ 15:40

  • jebus #19 4 years ago

    Of course they meant it. Jesus. If you are gonna stoop to this kind of shit at least have the balls to stand by it. I hate EA more than Arsenal FC.

  • chrisjm #20 4 years ago

    bet EA europe got told off by EA america as in america boobs kill more people than guns so are banned.

  • L42yB #21 4 years ago

    Hmmm... NFS: Porno Edition

    I'd buy it :)

    /coat

  • Guv #22 4 years ago

    Ye... can't have nekkid women in the games ruining the sales... oh wait.

  • NickJD #23 4 years ago

    I wouldn't call topless models porn. But I would think that as I grew in in England where page 3 is viewed by two year olds.

  • NickJD #24 4 years ago

    How can you hate Arsenal?, you must hate silky smooth passing of the ball then.

  • bad09 #25 4 years ago

    All the soft porn in the world couldn't get me to buy a Need For Speed game!!!!

  • jaxon58 #26 4 years ago

    So they've managed to expose this marketing thing to people who don't even read The Sun, by announcing that they shouldn't have done it, therefore we all go and look. Clever.

  • themerlin13 #27 4 years ago

    Oh for Fuck's sake!! PC gone mad. Can't show a car crash, cant show tits.

    some Cock moaning about it more like. Get a life

  • gmmonkey #28 4 years ago

    I loves da bewbs!

  • Greebo #29 4 years ago


    "I wouldn't call topless models porn. But I would think that as I grew in in England where page 3 is viewed by two year olds"

    2 year olds?! Blimey, I must be a late developer! Didn't get my Razzle subscription until I was 5!

  • L0cky #30 4 years ago

    'these images slipped through the proper EA approval process'

    'Oops, we accidentally signed off on a project and paid an ad agency to design and deliver a campaign; and then we accidentally published it to a specific media outlet.

    My bad.'

    Which fools are they trying to placate?

  • HarryB #31 4 years ago

    here you go guys :p

    [link url=http://www.humyo.com/29 805947
    ]http://www.humyo.com/29 805947
    [/link]

    just click view all images and itll show you the page... hardly special but its confusing why NFS people took a step back, this is for casual gamers who like max power (that's the main audience anyway, although I like the game and am not a ned/chav :))

  • Zaltan #32 4 years ago

    Page 3's porn?

  • SuperBas #33 4 years ago

    It's too late, my innocence was shattered already.

  • captain-future #34 4 years ago

    ZOMG! If you read rainbow press newspapers in like the UK or Germany you get BOOBS on page 3.

    What's the big deal?

    Although, they should have used more decent models ;)

  • Tweakmonkey #35 4 years ago

    Am I the only one that thinks the advert and subsequent removal is a stunt?

  • Xerx3s #36 4 years ago

    Useless without pics.

  • smelly #37 4 years ago

    >What's the big deal?

    Because EVERYONE knows that games are for children!

    That and americans get upset by boobies.

    My guess is the uk branch of EA thought it was fine, then the american god fearing branch saw it and went ape.

  • yagisencho #38 4 years ago

    I'm an American, and I fully support topless photo shoots. After all, every mammal has tits. Why the cover-up?

  • foamy #39 4 years ago

    Bad journalism Eurogamer. Where can we see those pics to confirm the news? :|

  • fightman #40 4 years ago

    rrrrhate you slut, fuckin' rrrhate you

    call the police if you want, i'll tell them about that note you put on my fucking car you bitch.

    fucking call them, lets sort this out slut.

    hate yer guts slut, 'krrrrr' ...hate yer fucking guts 'krrrr'

  • fightman2 #41 4 years ago

    HATE YER GUTS SLUT - HATE YER FUCKING GUTS.

    YOU UGLY WHORE, I'LL TELL THEM POLICE ALL ABOUT YOUR ANTICS IF YOU GET THEM ROUND HERE SO GO ON - CALL THE FUCKERS AND LETS SORT THIS OUT AS QUICKLY AS YOUR CUNT GETS GAPEY.

  • smelly #42 4 years ago

    @fightman : wtf?
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/07 @ 22:27

  • dsmx #43 4 years ago

    I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

    I didn't know EA had an approval process.

  • mkreku #44 4 years ago

    Since when is boobs porn? I thought porn was like.. naked people doing sexual.. things. Not just one semi-naked beautiful girl at least!

  • Nige #45 4 years ago

    Coincidentally an advert for an early version of Need For Speed was similarly pulled by EA after they invested a fair amount of cash on a campaign.

    If memory serves it was a parody of the "Hello Boys" advert, and it featured a relatively unknown-at-the-time Nell McAndrew. They ran it everywhere once, then pulled it when senior management took a disliking to the thrup'nny overtones.

    PS. Disappointed that someone couldn't cram a 'smell the glove' gag in here somewhere.

  • clean515 #46 4 years ago

    Now when i read porn promotion i expected to see girls having sex on top of cars... Not just titties and wtf approval process ? They should also get a approval process for the game they make and not just the ads.

  • YourMessageHere #47 4 years ago

    Of course Page 3 is porn. What the hell else would you call it? News? Art?

    Nice work EA, just when I thought this game couldn't get any worse. Perhaps for their next campaign they might consider having "blingin pimped ridez" (or whatever) run over an image of the Prophet Muhammed. That'll generate lots of nice controversy-fueled publicity too. Go on, try it.

  • Zuiyo #48 4 years ago

    Need For Speed: PornStreet

  • Fab4 #49 4 years ago

    Page 3 is hardly porn...there are many famous actresses who have exposed their breasts for money, it doesnt make them pornstars.

  • gaijin #50 4 years ago

    "it doesnt make them pornstars"

    interesting semantic point. My daily work involves sitting in an office not killing people, but if i go out and stab someone to death, does it make me a murderer? Yes. But if I go out and ride a skateboard once, does it make me a skater? Probably not. So is pornstar a binary state - like being a murderer - or something you gradually become over time - cf skater.

    /in the spirit of the thread - b3wbs

  • Fab4 #51 4 years ago

    Porn isnt exposing parts of your body to public view.

  • viper_h #52 4 years ago

    Page 3 is only porn if you whack off to it, according to Wikipedia.

  • gaijin #53 4 years ago

    Fab - indeed not. the standard definition of porn is material primarily intended to cause sexual arousal. This definition is always contentious as it depends on proving the intention when the work was created - hence the wrangling in obscenity trials since the year dot - was the artist/writer whatever making a meaningful point about human existence that required nudity, sex, whatever, or did they just want to get people horny?

    So, if page 3 is part of a government research project started in the 60s to discover whether exposure to a picture of naked breasts in the morning increases worker productivity, it would arguably not be porn. If it is intended to make people think "whoa, wouldn't mind spraying me hot spaff over those" then it probably is.

    That's not to say it's bad. The moral status of pornography is a different debate.
    Edited by 1 at 28/11/07 @ 10:22

  • Riggers #54 4 years ago

    I suppose it depends on context. Generally speaking, a model standing there starkers in a life drawing class isn't a pornstar, nor are the works resulting from the class. A model standing naked/topless in a sexualised manner, like Page 3 girls, is borderline pornographic. I suppose the whole 'glamour model' thing is so engraved in Red Top/chav/lad culture that it does seem a bit of an exaggeration to call it porn.

    Personally I don't like it, but I think it is in keeping with the NFS brand - I agree with people that it seems like EA are trying to stir up controversy as part of their marketing.

  • Lovemoose #55 4 years ago

    Page 3 is porn? Jeez, they better not see the contents of my H:\ drive.

    I fear for the effect it would have ON THEIR TINY LITTLE MINDS.

  • HarryB #56 4 years ago

    I can't believe the people saying where's the pictures.. READ THE COMMENTS. :)

  • blender #57 4 years ago

    Its a publcicity stunt and the gaming media fell for it ..

  • SomaticSense #58 4 years ago

    "We regret that these images slipped through the proper EA approval process"

    What utter, utter bullshit. More like "We aren't at No1 this year? Quick, we need more press. Let's make a statement trying to trick the media into thinking we didn't do it on purpose. That way it'll get even more attention and sell more".
    Ok, maybe the game isn't just a bunch of utter wank, and this advertising lark was all a mistake targeting it towards the wrong market. Maybe it's actually a pretty respectable game not in any way made for chavs. Yeah right, and I'm a fucking beaver.

    They hit the market they were trying to sell the game to, everyone knows that, even EA. Are they trying to trick us into thinking that they actually intended to target the game towards the more high brow (more high brow in this case being above gutter level.....) gaming market?

    It'd be interesting to look at the statistics of the amount of chavs who saw the ad and thought, "gotta get dat, looks wikid innit, tits n evrything". I've a feeling it's a worryingly large amount.........
    Edited by 1 at 29/11/07 @ 02:03