Gaming companies haven’t exactly been shy about putting ads in games before, but Sony is now changing how they work on the PS5 dashboard. What was once the home of beautiful game art now has ads directly integrated into the user interface on the dashboard, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to disable the ads short of unplugging the PS5 from the internet.
The ads appear to be linked to the official news feed for the games in question. For example, when the latest Spider-Man game was pulled up at the GameSpot office, the ad that came up was for a roundtable video featuring the creative team of Spider-Man 2 and and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. There are other examples included in the gallery below.
Some of the ads, like the one attached to Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, are also out of date. In this case, it’s for a May the 4th promotion from last May.
A May the 4th promotion for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
As you might expect, PS5 gamers aren’t very happy about these changes. The early response on social media has been almost universally negative.
Wait, after paying 600$ for a console, 80$ for a single game and 30$/month for online connectivity, you have to eat ads all the time?
How long does Sony pretends to keep milking you?
— artie (@Artie_boston) September 30, 2024
I was so confused when I I hovered over Horizon Zero Dawn and saw a full page ad for the Lego game. Thought I got an advance copy or something lol
— Elden Ring Thumbs-Up Worm Guy (@orenna) September 30, 2024
Just noticed this too, it came out of nowhere post update.
The funniest part? Suicide Squad and probably a lot of other devs/games drop the PS5 news updates shortly after launch; so instead of the season’s New Character splash art, it’s.. a 7 month old news feed article? pic.twitter.com/t78Ze6fg1W
— ReptileHand (@ReptileHand) September 29, 2024
GameSpot has reached out to Sony for comment about the PS5 dashboard ads.
