Sony is reportedly also considering ads in games

Shortly after Microsoft was rumoured to be considering putting ads in free-to-play Xbox games, a new report has indicated that Sony has similar plans for PlayStation games. 

According to Business Insider’s report, Sony is testing this idea in order to “encourage developers to keep building free-to-play games” since the market for them has soared since the start of the, somehow still ongoing, COVID-19 pandemic. 

Similarly to Microsoft’s plans for in-game advertising, Sony’s ads should supposedly appear as if they’re part of the game world so as to not disrupt the player. Similarly to Microsoft’s and Xbox’s plans once again, the use of in-game billboards to display advertisements is used as an example in the report. 

Unlike Microsoft, Sony is reportedly considering rewarding players for interacting and viewing the advertisements that appear in-game, potentially giving players in-game items such as skins, so everyone around them knows that they’ve been a good little capitalist. 

Reportedly PlayStation’s in-game advertisement scheme has been in development for eighteen months already, with the program expected to launch by the end of 2022. A similar timeframe was given for Microsoft’s free-to-play advertising scheme.