Sony Reportedly Joining Xbox In Creating 'Ad Program' For Free-To-Play Games

You may recall Business Insider reporting last week that Microsoft was creating an advertising program for free-to-play games on Xbox, and now the same outlet has suggested Sony is doing something very similar for PlayStation as well.

According to the report, Sony wants to "encourage developers to keep building free-to-play games by giving them a way to monetize them," with the apparent goal being to have ads "appear like they're part of the game, like digital billboards in sports stadiums." It's mentioned that players could be rewarded for watching ads, for example.

It's believed that Sony started working on the program around 18 months ago, but it "hasn't decided if it would take a cut of the revenue," and is potentially considering "charging developers and publishers for data on consumer activity on the PlayStation." However, it's said to be "strictly vetting adtech companies" to ensure there won't be any collection of personal information from PlayStation users.

Like the Xbox program, it's expected that this will roll out later in 2022. The plot thickens!

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know down in the comments section below.

[source businessinsider.com]