Those who want to play free games often get frustrated with “Pay2Win” or restrictions. There are allegedly plans to bring ads into free games on Xbox and PS5. MeinMMO explains what this is all about.
Many free games rely on certain payment systems or restrictions to be able to finance themselves. For example, you can only create a limited number of characters or have a limited cap on in-game currency.
With mobile apps, you often see ads as well, which the studios use to finance development. Now, both Sony and Microsoft are also considering bringing new ads to their consoles. At least that’s what the magazine Business Insider reports (via businessinsider.com, paywall article).
Is a new form of advertising coming soon to the PS4 and PS5?
Is there already advertising on Xbox and PS5? Advertising already exists now, for example on PS5. Developers can promote their games in the PS Store, and streaming services can also display ads in their apps on the next-gen consoles.
However, in the future there should be even more ways to insert ads into free games.
What ideas for advertising are there? Ideas are being considered to place ads on billboards in sports games, similar to a real sports arena. This is not entirely new, as the publisher Electronic Arts already uses in-game advertising on billboards in the “Need for Speed” games (via winfuture.de).
There are also other ideas, such as rewarding users for watching ads. Many users may already know this from apps on their phones, where you receive premium currency or other rewards for watching ads.
On Xbox or PlayStation, you could also be rewarded with in-game currency or skins for characters.
When is the new advertising expected? There are no concrete plans yet on when the new advertising will be implemented. Allegedly, Sony and Microsoft are still looking for the right partners for the ads.
Sony and Microsoft have big plans for the coming years
In addition to ideas about ads, Sony has big plans for the PS4 and PS5. For example, Sony has bought multiple studios that want to bring MMOs to the PS5. Nevertheless, Sony has stated that they still intend to produce single-player games like the Horizon series.
Microsoft and Xbox also have big ambitions. After just acquiring Bethesda a year ago, Microsoft announced in early 2022 that it aims to buy Activision Blizzard. Some were already concerned that some games might not come to the PS5.
The games that we believe are most deserving of a conversion to an MMO have been summarized in the following article. You might recognize a few games that we wish to see online:
Sony is developing more MMOs with Bungie – 5 games that deserve a conversion to MMO for PS5
