EA's Battlefield 3 Facebook adverts worked big time

EA spent as much money on a Facebook advertising campaign for Battlefield 3 as Brian Fargo raised through Kickstarter to fund Wasteland 2.

OK, persnickety, it's not quite as much: EA spent $2.75 million and Fargo raised $2.93 million.

But that's not even the best bit.

The best bit is that by spending $2.75 million on Facebook Battlefield 3 advertising, EA made a return of 440 per cent in game sales, raking in $12.1 million.

"Electronic Arts recently spent $2.75 million promoting Battlefield 3 on Facebook," said Facebook bigwig Sheryl K. Sandbag err Sandberg during an investor call last night, reported by GamesIndustry International.

"They [EA] attributed $12.1 million of their sales to these ads, translating to a 4.4x return on their Facebook marketing spend."

Boring-talk for "it worked".

EA's Battlefield 3 success wasn't an isolated case, either. Apparently, two-thirds of 60 advertising campaigns made a return of 3x or better, and just under half made a return of 5x.

In other words, advertising on Facebook works - and it works for Facebook's bank balance, too. Expect more of it.