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Sony PlayStation (Games)

Sony Plans To Sell Advertising in PlayStation Games (businessinsider.com) 67

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Sony is building a program to let advertisers buy ads in PlayStation games. From a report: It's doing testing with adtech partners to place in-game ads, similar to an initiative by rival Microsoft. The program is expected to launch before the end of the year. Sony is working on a plan to put ads inside PlayStation games, sources said, similar to a move by Microsoft to run ads in Xbox. Three people who are involved in the plans said Sony is doing testing with adtech partners to help game developers create in-game ads through a software developer program. The idea is to encourage developers to keep building free-to-play games, which have soared in the pandemic, by giving them a way to monetize them, they said. PlayStation's current ad inventory is limited to in-menu ads like game publishers promoting their own titles in the console's store, the sources said. PlayStation also serves ads on streaming video to people who stream via their consoles through apps like Hulu .
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Sony Plans To Sell Advertising in PlayStation Games More

Sony Plans To Sell Advertising in PlayStation Games

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  • I avoid ad supported games (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:11PM (#62462762)
    Ad supported games suck to high hell. I would prefer the shareware model from years ago. Offer a level of the game. If you like it, purchase the game for the remaining levels. Purchased most of my ID, Epic Megagames, and Apogee software using that model back in the 90's.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      There is a very simple way to stop this crap. Don't buy any game that forces you to see ads.

      Unfortunately, the world has a nearly unlimited supply of stupid people, who ruin things for everyone else.
      • You'd have to make this particular version of bait and switch demonstrably illegal. Wipeout HD got a patch a long time after launch that added ads to the loading screens to help pay for the online component. They claimed it didn't affect load times but other people demonstrated that the length of the ad seemed to determine how long a level would be "loading." Since there's no legal obligation for companies to refund you after they change the nature of the product on you, and you have to agree to a click thr

    • Re:I avoid ad supported games (Score:5, Insightful)

      by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @02:02PM (#62462976) Homepage

      They want to join the mobile side's revenue forever model. You can never buy the game. You can either subscribe or you can have ads. No subscription? Oh and even if you subscribe, you can't advance without one-time payments or grinding.

      • Yeah, can't wait until "Theft Grand Auto" appears on PS4/PS5 which looks like a 90s game made with 3DGCS and has far worse controls than those games have. And it's an endless adfest if you do much as move your character more than two blocks.

        No thanks.

        • FYI: The Android 'eco system' is FILLED TO THE BRIM with lame knockoff titles like this, almost all pure shit, almost all look like they were made by some "no coding" click together kit ala 3DGCS, and looks like they were put together by someone who thought "ads first, gameplay- peh! Who needs that?". The artwork that is shown in the app store is designed to look real good and professional, of course.

          And I download titles like these just to see how good/bad they are onto a device that is not my "dai

    • Yeah, games to avoid and not buy ever.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by blahplusplus ( 757119 )

      Ad supported games suck to high hell.

      Then you all should have avoided, mmo's, steam, and any client-server software like windows 10/11.

      You can't have advertising in a local application, the last 23+ years of gamers sucking world of warcrafts dick, told the industry you were all chimpanzee's.

      MMO's were an attack on game ownership in the late 90's to pave the way for the computer you don't own where you don't get to see the local files of your application. There's been a war on you owning software and your PC from 97 onwards since the internet.

      • Are you that same dude that keeps posting how the internet today is broken?

        Can't open a new gmail account (or was it facebook?), and github locked you out of your repository and now you can't get it back...

        Or whatever all that nonsense was...

        Anyhow, seems like maybe that's you? No?

        • Are you that same dude that keeps posting how the internet today is broken?

          Can't open a new gmail account (or was it facebook?), and github locked you out of your repository and now you can't get it back...

          Or whatever all that nonsense was...

          Anyhow, seems like maybe that's you? No?

          No, you don't all get that being spied on 24/7 just to use a game or app is fucking creepy and dystopian as fuck, it's like you all want to live in a dictatorship and panopticon.

          Client-server apps are the ultimate security risk because you can't audit the code, so you have no idea what data they are harvesting. You've given up control of your PC to foreign companies that can do anything they want on your pc.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Arethan ( 223197 )

            it's like you all want to live in a dictatorship and panopticon

            I think maybe the paranoia has you locked in pretty solid. Maybe take a few weeks off the hash, my dude.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        MMOs were a reaction to the truth - piracy was killing the PC game market. Why develop for the PC when 95% of the people won't pay for it (it's slightly lower in western countries, nearly 100% everywhere else).

        Developers were migrating en masse to consoles, where the piracy rate was much lower - usually the highest it got was around 10%, and platform holders were actively trying to help you sell games. The biggest game developers left on the PC platform that was PC exclusive was Valve and Blizzard.

        The PC en

        • These days the PC is far better, and piracy has gone done where it matters that publishers are making games easily available for it.

          Man this is the biggest load of shit, yes, games shutting down, and not having basic multiplayer inside them. Nor modding or level editors in the AAA space. AKA overwatch is the modern version of quake 3/unreal tournament with less features and zero ownership.

          Not exactly the future we wanted.

          Unreal engine game circa 2014, has less features then games from 20 years ago.

          https://imgur.com/oWeY5Ps [imgur.com]

        • Piracy is a perception and reality problem. Perception: the massive amount of piracy on the PC is impacting sales, Reality: not so much. Unfortunately the perception drives business decisions like incorporating Denuvo. Perception: Denuvo protects our games during the best retail window and increases revenue beyond what it costs, Reality: angry customers with poor performing games and some measure of lost sales. I have never bought a game with denuvo and never will. Fortunately Denuovo is so useless that it'

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      Ditto. However, I'm OK if the ad supported games are free but still have full paid games without ads. Also, non-Internet games must not use the Internet.

  • Line in the sand... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by x0ra ( 1249540 )
    At this point, this whole ad-bullshit need to fucking stop... I'm already stepping movie piracy back up, next will be games...

    • Re:Line in the sand... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Kremmy ( 793693 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @03:38PM (#62463350)
      I think advertising itself has lost so much utility that we're going to start seeing the acceptance of advertisement everywhere dropping off hard. Side effect of the Internet, so much of the online advertising being literal nonsense *the entire time* that it's insane to still see advertising moving so much money through it. Leaving ads unblocked has been a recipe for disaster for 25 years. It's going to take a shift in our global consciousness to happen but we're well on the way.

    • when people are lost in the "metaverse"...how will they legally be able to distract them before they wither and die?

  • wow amazing, welcome to 2008 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by snowshovelboy ( 242280 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:17PM (#62462796)

    Whats old is new, I guess.

    https://www.wired.com/2008/07/sony-taps-doubl/

  • Fine for sports games (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:24PM (#62462816)
    everything else it ruins the game. Like the Pepsi machines in Bionic Commando on the 360. The brand owners stuck their noses in and you can't do anything fun with them.

    As a dev there's no way I'd go in for this unless I was making a game explicitly built from the ground up as an advertising platform, and if I was doing that my game would be shit. If I wasn't doing that then the interference from the brand owners would make it too expensive.

    Sports works because you're copying a broadcast that already has adverts in the background. you're just changing textures at that point. But nobody's gonna pay all that much for it since it's so unobtrusive, and they they tried adding "commercial breaks" into games it was a disaster.

    • Sports games especially racing games are the genre where billboard ads actually enhance the experience.

      Seeing generic ads such as "Joe's Auto Parts" or "Bedwysr" is a bit off putting and makes the game feel cartoonish.

  • Unfortunate! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Green Goo Glitter ( 8774951 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:26PM (#62462828)
    A proper manifestation of greed is simply raising the price.  You could pretend it's because of inflation!  Stealing my time for purchasing your consoles is odious.

    Well, never again is an easy enough solution, I suppose!

  • Just as long (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Baconsmoke ( 6186954 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:26PM (#62462830)
    Just as long as they keep this crap in the freeware games I don't care. Those games need to find a way to generate revenue one way or another. However, once it goes into paid titles, then I start to feel all stabby.

    • Re: Just as long (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Midnight Thunder ( 17205 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:32PM (#62462852) Homepage Journal

      I play games to escape. If I suddenly feel I need to be watching my credit card to beat the next boss, then that escape is ruined. I also lose trust in the product, wondering how they are planning to screw me next.

      • I play games to escape. If I suddenly feel I need to be watching my credit card to beat the next boss, then that escape is ruined.

        You should be battling not escaping the boss if you want to level up.

    • I have a considerable stash of completely DRM free games bought via GoG and such like exactly for a hypothetical situation like this. If I am asked to pay for a game AND watch ads, I will just go back to the very enjoyable retro gaming.

  • Do I Get A Discount (Score:5, Interesting)

    by aerogems ( 339274 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:27PM (#62462836)

    If I get say 50% off the base price of the game in exchange for ads, I might consider that fair. Provided I can then pay the remainder at some later point to turn off the ads. Similar to Amazon's "special offers" on the Kindle.

    • As if you'll get to make that call. Imagine your favorite franchises all go to it and keep their prices the same. Are you really going to give up all your favorites? Your favorite movies and TV shows have them and you don't stop watching. Same with your favorite websites. If they add them to something like the load screens, people won't likely care too much.

      • I'll drop games, even favorite franchises that do this. Seeing an ad in a Fantasy RPG or a strategy game is so out of place and ridiculous

        • Good for you. You're not the average person. Most will not change a thing and this'll happen.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Pascoea ( 968200 )

          Seeing an ad in a Fantasy RPG or a strategy game is so out of place and ridiculous

          Or seeing an ad for a Tesla on a billboard in Red Dead Redemption 3? Can't fucking wait.

      • Yes, give up the favorites. Why is this hard to understand. The same applies to television aned movies. Ie, anyone who has cut the cord with cable has likely given up some of their "must watch" TV in the past. No one is a slave to the content, even if the content producers assume we are.

        Now maybe most people won't care, but there definitely are many who DO care. There are people who pay extra on streaming services for an ad-free service. And I know people who have purchased no-ads for some phone games.

      • Suppose it depends. Oddly enough, the anime Tiger & Bunny is better if you watch the non-Netflix version. Netflix stripped out all the ads that show up on the hero's costumes, and it's one of a few cases where something is actually better because of ads. I've also seen a few cases where the writers will make fun of product placements, sort of like Tiger & Bunny where there's a running joke that all one of the heroes does is just photo bomb the other heroes and make sure their sponsor's logos are vis

        • For me personally, I don't mind product placements like everyone in a movie uses Apple phones and laptops, or at some point one of the characters grabs a can of coca cola, or there's a Pepsi machine in the background of some scene.

          I guess it depends on the placement. I remember watching some cop show years back, where one of the characters said to 'Bing it', and it was just so weird and blatant I stopped watching it.

  • Cool! (Score:3, Funny)

    by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:29PM (#62462844) Journal

    And I plan to continue not buying a PlayStation, as Sony seems content with being assholic towards their customers with policies such as this.

    Not buying a $600 console and $60/each games to see further advertisements. Go fuck yourself.

  • I thought everyone here was finished with Sony after the rootkit fiasco and removing Linux from the PS3?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zlives ( 2009072 )

      That was the old days, this is the new security conscious and conscientious [insert company here]

    • That was before everyone was properly monstered into thinking that not only do companies have the 'right' to control everything, but *must* control everything.

        Everything is smart these days, as in smart enough to make the majority believe that consumers having full control over their own stuff is a quaint notion, and downright dangerous.

        The very young kids today? They will grow up never knowing what it's like to have something that is 100% under the user's control.

  • I remember when Burnout had in-game ads. And most of the inventory was bought by CompUSA. Then CompUSA went out of business. And Burnout took more than a year to update the game so you were driving around in some sort of post-capitalist wasteland, breaking billboards of dead companies.

    • Looking into this I stumbled upon a thesis of a guy who made a study about How Memorable Is In-Game Advertising In The Long-Term? [dropbox.com]. Interesting read!

    • I remember when Burnout had in-game ads. And most of the inventory was bought by CompUSA. Then CompUSA went out of business. And Burnout took more than a year to update the game so you were driving around in some sort of post-capitalist wasteland, breaking billboards of dead companies.

      You just gave me an idea for a game! It could be called "Capitalist Wasteland", and one of the major features would be getting over on and maiming or killing major corporate figures while defacing and blowing up their companies' billboards, etc.

      I'm not a gamer so I don't know how to turn the scenario into a playable game, but I'm pretty sure some game developer could take this idea and run with it. Hell, such a game might even turn me into a gamer! I could happily waste a few hours strafing Zuck with a mach

    • Burnout: Zombie Edition

  • Didn't you have ads in the 20th Century? (Score:3)

    by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:58PM (#62462956)

    Well sure but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio. And in Magazines. A-and movies. And at ball games, and on buses, milk cartons, and t-shirts, and bananas, and written in the sky. But not in our dreams. No siree!

  • All NEW!

    You TOO can INCREASE your profit size!

    Interested?

    CLICK here! [fuck.you.cunts]

  • I think this could work. In specific circumstances.
    If done right, this could be good for sports and driving games. Since ads being paste on everything is already a thing.
    Could keep the stadium looking like the current stadiums and the billboards could change.

    Now the next thing they would need to do is to remove the microtransactions and allow more than one company make football games. I wanted to buy Madden '22 since it had a Buc on it and who the fuck know when we will have a player good enough to grac

  • Well I guess it's time to unplug my PS4 and PS5 from the Internet. I never buy games from the online stores on my consoles; only physical disks. If it's only available online, I buy it for the PC. I never connect my TV or Receiver or any anything that doesn't need to be connected to Ethernet/Wi-Fi. I kept the PS4/5 online for game updates, but if they start pulling this shit, I'm fine with game bugs.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by J1896 ( 7064685 )

      For me, the only solution is to _not_ buy an Xbox or Playstation from this point forward.
      I think a sharp and sustained drop in sales is the only thing which will tell the makers that they can no longer abuse the minds and lives of the public.

      I don't enjoy any device or platform that will not let me easily block an ad, close an app, mute an ad, or shut down the stream of incoming info.
      In the past I have physically destroyed devices because of ads which refuse to be blocked or muted, and don't allow for an ea

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by SumDog ( 466607 )

        I don't think you can really vote with your money. I wrote this whole post about it:

        https://battlepenguin.com/poli... [battlepenguin.com]

        That being said, I do try and I applaud you for trying. I don't think it will really make a difference, but it's good to try anyway.

  • I could see this making sense in Gran Turismo, but the moment it happens in a Final Fantasy or Horizons game....bleh.

  • As long as we are allowed to shoot up, nuke, and/or hump their logos, mascots, and spokespersons.

    Oh look, an ad for SCO!...

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