Sony Could Interrupt Your Games With Ads

[KeyMaster45]

Dear Sony,

If you actually do this in 6-8 weeks you will find on your doorstep a cardboard box filled with my feces and a very large spoon.

Prepping for his possible Taco Bell binge,
--KeyMaster45

 

[LilithSlave]

If this means pop-ups during video games, I feel disgusted right now.

I can just imagine it, commercials for Auto Insurance during an emotional character death scene. Oh God.

 

[justnotcricket]

I can't imagine game developers being terribly pleased with this idea either, unless they're getting a cut from Sony's ad revenue. I mean, how much less likely would you be to purchase a game when you knew the action was going to be randomly interrupted with ads, even when it's the console maker's fault, not the developer's?

This is an amazingly stupid idea from a consumer perspective. I can see how it makes sense to Sony, however. As other have said, I'm fine with this for games that are free. I don't expect studios to put out games worth playing on a zero dollar budget. However, if this is implemented in games that they will undoubtedly still have fleeced me for, I will be singularly unimpressed.

I do most of my gaming on a Playstation. If they implement this in future machines, I certainly won't be investing in one. The next console generation can go on without me. However, I think it's important to not let one's blood pressure get too high over something that hasn't actually happened yet.

 

[Ninjat_126]

I'm only good with this if I get everything free. And even then, I'm just not going to complain as loudly.

On the bright side, Sony could have a patent on the technology and not use it, preventing anyone else from using it. If you're really, really optimistic.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

I'm pretty sure the people involved in this aren't actually human beings, but are closer to amorphous blobs that feed on money. They clearly have no idea how the human mind works.

I mean for fuuuuuuu[small]uuuuuuuu[/small][sub]uuuuuuuu[/sub][HEADING=3]BUY NEW AWESOME BRAND SODA TODAY!!! AWESOME BRAND SODA: IT'S FUCKIN' AWESOME!!!![/HEADING][sub]uuuuuuu[/sub][small]uuuuuuuuu[/small]uuuuuuuck's sake, I...Wait, what just happened? Where was I?

 

[CleverCover]

Nope, this would send me into a frothing rage. If an add had popped up while I was first playing ME3, I would have screamed. And then destroyed my room. I already barely tolerate losing screens and do my very best to ignore ads in regular life. Something like this would make me go out of my way to not purchase the product.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

If you sell me the console really cheap and give me free games (including AAA games) sure, I might can deal.

They'd start out free, then become 5 bucks and so on and so forth.

So I'd suggest just not being ok with it so you don't lose what is available now.

Me personally? I'm 100% with clever in game marketing, like my hero drinking pepsi. I even liked that not-so-subtle sprite game on the Sega.

Just don't have actual ads break gameplay.

Shit most games are in the real world, we are all subjected to SO much marketing everyday that they could do it without breaking immersion.

I must question: Who the FUCK would willingly put up with this shit in a product they PAID FOR?

Everyone who buys movies and tv shows >_>.

The ads on those things get longer and longer, and it becomes trickier and trickier to skip the intro nonsense.

Probably why I rarely ever buy any of that stuff anymore.

Yeah, but those ads are all at the beginning, totally separate from the actual content. Sony wants to actually interrupt your content at random intervals. I'd say that's a pretty significant difference.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

No. This is not OK and I will not buy into it. Once again: it probably doesn't matter since I haven't bought Sony...anything in a few years. Like else said though: if half of the negative rumors about next gen consoles are true then I'm opting out. Wii-U still sounds good to me though so there's that.

 

[dalek sec]

Well then Sony, I guess you don't want me to buy your next game console.... dumbasses.

If this actually goes through either the other two compaines will follow along or crack open the bubbly as one of their rival's goes down in flames.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Watch, some guy will hack the thing to not only remove the ad but also manage to convert the ROM into RAM and used it as extra cache space.

This is interesting but I'd imagine the massive backlash from consumers would probably make them think twice if they did it stupidly.

 

[BelfastSpartan]

Ads mid game as it seems to be making out in the original article would be a deal breaker!

Ads instead of a loading screen, as long as they were short or weren't too loud/interfering/in your face or advertising stupid out of place products would be bearable but only if there was a benefit for the buyer/user like as suggested seriously discounted/free consoles and games.

 

[Terramax]

If this does happen, you can bet that hackers are going to find a way of overriding it, and I'll be in the queue for that said hack.

 

[ScruffyMcBalls]

Ads mid game as it seems to be making out in the original article would be a deal breaker!

Ads instead of a loading screen, as long as they were short or weren't too loud/interfering/in your face or advertising stupid out of place products would be bearable but only if there was a benefit for the buyer/user like as suggested seriously discounted/free consoles and games.

Yeah, this was what I was thinking while reading the article. Replacing loading screens with applicable ads that make sense for the demographic of the game seems like a good compromise for a reduction in hardware and software costs (I'd expect at least 40-60% to make it an attractive deal for consumers like myself).
But really, does anyone actually expect this to go ahead? I mean, we flipped our shit -rightly so- when Mass Effect 3's ending was pissed about with and that was just one controversy contained within one game and one fanbase. I can almost taste the backlash from here if this ever gets announced. Now, I've given Sony flak before, but not even they are that stone dead stupid. Are they?

This only further reinforces my decision to buy a Wii-U over any of the other next generation consoles.

 

[SuperNova221]

If this was implemented in F2P (as in actual F2P, not freemium) games then that's pretty ok. There's a fair amount of media out there already that uses advetisements as a substitute to paying for it and that's an acceptable compromise. I'm not a huge fan of actually interrupting games to put in ads though, when you open up the game or close it that's acceptable enough. Maybe even in loading screens. But interuppting gameplay? Eh, not great.

 

[Mysterious Druid]

Thank God I'm jumping ship to PC as soon as I finish my build.

 

[OniaPL]

And the PC gaming master race emerges victorious, once the filthy console peons are destroyed by their master's greed...

 

[Azmael Silverlance]

Thats retarded. I dont think it will go as planned. Im playing and totally immersed in my game and then get my game stopped out of my control and wishes to watch some commercial that most likely will have NOTHING in common with what im doing at that moment .. .. that is jsut so many ways of wrong. My console my game and then i get forced into things No-NO!

Only way i can see advertisement working is on actual in-game billboards for games like GTA or WoW or something. But it has to be somehow related to the game in order not to break the feel too much.

I remember Deus Ex was going to have real world ads in its in-game billboards guess that never happened.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Cool if the game was free, otherwise no sale. Or a router level block to adserver address.

 

[jklinders]

Yet another example of anti-consumerism from Sony. I'm actually a little astonished that their customer base has not completely fled from them yet.

I hope this wakes a few more folks up and keeps them from buying into their next gen console. None of the consoles are great but Sony exemplifies an attitude towards their customers that states that they can fuck them anytime they want to.

Anyway, buy their crap if you want, but don't complain when they start messing around with you.

 

[Jabberwock King]

Spoiler: I feel this to be an appropriate response.

Fuck Sony...haaaaard...