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Business Insider: Sony is cooking up plans to run ads in PlayStation games

Helix

Helix

Mayor of Clown Town
Member
Jun 8, 2019
24,007
www.businessinsider.com

Sony is cooking up plans to run ads in PlayStation games as rival Microsoft plans a similar program with Xbox

Advertisers will be able to reach gamers through in-game ads that Sony hopes won't annoy players and developers.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com

(Paywalled)

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.
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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.
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The new effort, expected to launch by end of 2022, would put ads inside PlayStation games themselves, to be sold via a private marketplace, the sources said. The goal is for the ads to appear like they're part of the game, like digital billboards in sports stadiums. Formats could include ads that give viewers rewards for watching ads and promotions for in-game items like avatar skins.
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Sony hasn't decided if it would take a cut of the revenue, the sources said; one said it's also considering charging developers and publishers for data on consumer activity on the PlayStation.

Sources said Sony started talking about building the PlayStation ad program about 18 months ago after launching the latest generation of its PS5 console. One said it's being strict about vetting adtech companies, ruling out collection of personal information like emails or names.
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dusan

dusan

Member
Aug 2, 2020
5,564
giphy.gif
 
MaulerX

MaulerX

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,700
Free to play games or everything?

"The idea is to encourage developers to keep building free-to-play games"


If it's limited to that then no biggie imo.
 
Lant_War

Lant_War

Classic Anus Game
Banned
Jul 14, 2018
23,601
Can't wait for F2P games to be literal mobile games where you gotta watch an ad to refresh your energy bar.
 
VirtualCloud

VirtualCloud

Member
Aug 3, 2018
778
Garbage, regardless of who's doing it. Seriously disappointing and it's just a matter of time before ads spread
 
Meg Cherry

Meg Cherry

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,332
Seattle, WA
Doesn't seem all that shocking, especially since free-to-play seems to be a consistent pillar of these platforms. Right now, marketing on those games is a very manual process for each developer - having a unified system-level option for developers to gain ad revenue is a natural next step.
 
DailyCalmSpirit

DailyCalmSpirit

Banned
May 17, 2018
3,454
"Encourage free to play by giving them a way to monetize them."

Jesus christ, have we not figured out multiple ways to do this already?

So done with this shit.
 
--R

--R

Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,906
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.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The new effort, expected to launch by end of 2022, would put ads inside PlayStation games themselves, to be sold via a private marketplace, the sources said. The goal is for the ads to appear like they're part of the game, like digital billboards in sports stadiums. Formats could include ads that give viewers rewards for watching ads and promotions for in-game items like avatar skins.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Sony hasn't decided if it would take a cut of the revenue, the sources said; one said it's also considering charging developers and publishers for data on consumer activity on the PlayStation.

Sources said Sony started talking about building the PlayStation ad program about 18 months ago after launching the latest generation of its PS5 console. One said it's being strict about vetting adtech companies, ruling out collection of personal information like emails or names.
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Hope this is enough to bring over the paywall.
 
MarinZero

MarinZero

Alt-Account
Banned
Jan 26, 2022
619
I'll say the same I said on the Xbox thread: if this is for f2p games, I don't mind. It's the paid ones that I have issues with.
 
Convasse

Convasse

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,832
Atlanta, GA, USA
Kalentan said:
Something in the water? What is with these stupid ideas.
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No, it's all proceeding according to Late Capitalism. It's a feature, not a bug.
Look at Netflix's recent discussion about ad-supported plans.
Because of the Constant Growth fallacy and its demands for higher and higher quarterly earnings, these corporations will scrape the bottom of every single barrel to squeeze every cent of profit from every inch of the cloth.
 
Det

Det

Member
Jul 30, 2020
13,079
Not surprising. As I said on the Xbox thread, as long as it's within the context of the game i.e., billboards in cities, football stadiums etc., and it doesn't impact gameplay then fine. Yeah, slippery slope and all that, but I'll hold judgment until there are concrete examples & details, as ads have been in games for a while know - both paid and F2P.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,834
So basically they're all doing it.

Fully expect them to be in F2P games though.
 
modiz

modiz

Member
Oct 8, 2018
17,905
I have access to the article, it basically reads just like MS's plan, and I like none of it.
 
Faceless_Caesar

Faceless_Caesar

Member
Jul 1, 2020
6,826
This has been done before in full priced games and is pretty common in the mobile space. It was only a matter of time before it made it's way up to consoles. Seeing ads for real brands in a free to play or budget priced game that has a realistic setting is fine. "Rennala, Queen of the Full moon. Brought to you by Applebee's" is not.
 
DoubleTake

DoubleTake

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,582
Ugh. Shit like this is just gonna make developers like From who dont do this shit stand out even more.
 
Dan Thunder

Dan Thunder

Member
Nov 2, 2017
14,140
The only real acceptable way I could picture this is on stuff like billboards that you pass in-game i.e. even if there's a number of them dotted through the game world you view them passively rather than being forced to stop and stare at them.

EDIT:
The goal is for the ads to appear like they're part of the game, like digital billboards in sports stadiums.
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Pretty much like this is what I'm thinking, stuff that's pretty unobtrusive.
 
J-Skee

J-Skee

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,143
Didn't they already try this bs in Wipeout HD? Maybe this will have a similar outcome.
 
B-Dubs

B-Dubs

That's some catch, that catch-22
General Manager
Oct 25, 2017
33,040
Shit, I was thinking of saving up for a PS5 but if they wind up doing this I ain't gonna deal with that nonsense.
 
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