After Xbox, Sony is also planning to introduce in-game ads.

According to reports, Sony Interactive Entertainment plans to include adverts in free-to-play games.

Microsoft was said to be planning to add in-game adverts to free-to-play Xbox games only a few days ago. According to a recent story from Business Insider, Sony may be aiming to do the same.

 

According to insiders, Sony wants advertisements to "appear like they're part of the game." According to a recent Business Insider article, the change is intended to encourage developers to keep producing free-to-play games by providing a revenue stream.

 

According to Business Insider, Sony is looking into methods to encourage developers to make more free-to-play games by monetizing them through in-game adverts.

 

According to three sources familiar with the project, Sony's ambitions to include advertisements in free-to-play games are now confined to menu screens, which developers and publishers may use to promote their PlayStation-supported games.

Sony, on the other hand, is said to be looking into ways to take this a step further, including advertisements that would appear in game worlds "as if they were part of the game," with the company comparing them to billboards in sports arenas.

Some advertisements may also entice players to watch them by rewarding them with in-game items, such as character cosmetics, once the commercial is completed.

According to Business Insider, Sony has been working on integrating advertisements into games for the past 18 months and plans to launch them this year.

Sony is reportedly in negotiations with advertising partners, but it is picky about which firms it would cooperate with. Internally, the collection of personal data has been ruled out, but a source claims that Sony is considering selling customer activity data to developers and publishers.

Last week, it was disclosed that Microsoft is considering including advertisements in free-to-play Xbox games. Unlike Sony, it's unknown whether Microsoft is in negotiations with partners already, since the business is "moving gingerly" to minimize player criticism.

 

By the end of the year, Sony aims to deploy in-game advertisements, which, like Xbox, will show on billboards within the game. Advertisements that reward viewers for viewing adverts and promotions for in-game commodities such as avatar skins are examples of other forms.

 

With in-game adverts, there's still the question of security, which Business Insider notes was already being discussed 18 months after the PlayStation 5 launched. According to the insider, Sony is selecting ad-tech businesses with great caution, excluding any that involve the collecting of personal information like as names or emails.

 

Sony, unlike Xbox, may want to profit from the cash produced by in-game advertisements in free-to-play games. According to other allegations, Sony may charge developers and publishers for data on PlayStation user behavior.