Ads could feature in free-to-play titles
Both Playstation and Xbox are said to be looking into the potential of having adverts in free-to-play games.
Business Insider broke the news this week and suggested it would give their developers a new way to make money.
“The goal is for the ads to appear like they’re part of the game, like digital billboards in sports stadiums,”the report claimed.
“Formats could include ads that give viewers rewards for watching ads and promotions for in-game items like avatar skins.”
While some gaming fans might find this news rather annoying, adverts within video games isn’t exactly something new if truth be told.
Back in the early 2000s, EA even featured political ads on billboards, encouraging people to vote for Obama, while Saints Row 2 had ads for Netflix on billboards.
These latest moves by Sony and Microsoft are simply more elegant, modern solutions to what has gone before.
Developers can earn more money and make free console games more profitable — importantly without funnelling players down pay-to-win routes or micro-transactions.
And if you don’t like it, you can always stop playing that game you paid nothing for to begin with. Seems fair enough.
Let’s just hope games companies don’t get greedy and stick full-blown unskippable commercials into paid-for games.
EA Sports tried to do this with UFC 4. Thankfully, a huge fan backlash forced them into a speedy U-turn.