Business Insider shared a report last weekend about how Microsoft is building a program that would let brands advertise directly in Xbox games, and a new story from the publication today suggests that one of its biggest competitors is planning to do the same. Sources with Business Insider claim that Sony is working on its own developer program for facilitating in-game advertisements in PlayStation titles, such as digital billboards in sports games. The program is expected to launch by the end of this year.
Sony is cooking up plans to run ads in PlayStation games as rival Microsoft plans a similar program with Xbox (Business Insider)
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.
PlayStation’s current ad inventory is limited to in-menu ads like game publishers promoting their own titles in the console’s store, the sources said. PlayStation also serves ads on streamingvideo to people who stream via their consoles through apps like Hulu.
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.