Sony Could Interrupt Your Games With Ads

[Monsterfurby]

No. I don't hate ads. Put them before or after something, and I'm cool with that. I'm even fine with product placement to an extent. I tolerate commercials in TV because that's how it has always been (though I watch most shows via Netflix nowadays, so it's generally not even an issue there). I hate the idea of my gaming experience being interrupted by something totally unrelated. This just seems disrespectful to gamers and to the games. I promise I won't buy a Sony console that does this.

Being a Marketing student, I have been told that these in-between ads, especially for online/on-demand content, have already been pretty much discredited as "best practice". For a reason. Maybe Sony just doesn't read the same journals I do...

 

[Epona]

If prices become almost negligible for games and the commercials are, say, during genuine loading screens that's okay I guess. But stopping the experience so companies can plug their rubbish, no way!

You'll just see longer loading screens because longer ads = more money.

That's what I meant by *genuine* loading screens

...and I meant that's not going to happen. Like how genuine "made after the games release" DLC turned into DLC being made alongside the main game.

 

[Living Contradiction]

After all, when you buy a media player, you don't ask where the manufacturer got their GPU.

Heh. If Sony or any other company is stupid enough to try this, believe me, folks will start asking very quickly and start saying, "Y'know, I was going to buy your wonderful new product but it appears my enthusiasm has been permanently soiled now that I know that it has built-in spam which will interrupt my entertainment with pleas for money."

To paraphrase what many have said before me, if you want to advertise in game using billboards as part of the natural scenery, go nuts. If you want to put radio ads on my virtual car as I drive around the game, feel free. If you want to actually take the time to put a television ad on the TVs in the shop window as I stalk past with a shotgun and strong desire to mete out revenge on the floating electric baddie on the corner, I will applaud your ingenuity.

But don't you DARE put my game on pause and say, "Buy Flan! Fantastic Flan!" or I will send your infernal device back to the flames that spawned it.

 

[Bato]

I'd be for this if they knocked the price of their system and games down.
Because you know, Ads pay for stuff. Small sites use Ads to keep their stuff free. And I'm okay with that, hell even YouTube uses Ads to pay for server bills or something probably.

Actually, if you start showing me ads during loading screens and before I start a game, but games cost like $20-$30 I would be all for that because I can't afford entertainment these days.
But you know the system is still going to be expensive as shit, and the games will be $60 still, probably going to try and push $70 too in which I will explain to them my desire to shit in their soup and tell them to go fuck themselves.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I'm going to be paying for something that sells me stuff and makes my gameplay experience even worse than it already is?

Eat dicks sony. You were cool once... Once...

 

[DVS Storm]

I have no problem with ads if they are integrated into games, like into billboards(imo it adds immersion since cities usually have those) or if the game is free, but this is just a really, really bad idea. I think I'll steer away from the next generation of consoles or at least from PS4.

 

[Epona]

I wonder if all the people who say "I have no problem with ads if they are on loading screens" or "I have no problem with ads if they are in-game advertising (billboard, coke can, etc...)" understand the marketers will take advantage of their tolerance and before long 1/3 of the game time will be spent looking at ads. Just like the ad-ridden TV has become.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

And you probably thought it couldn't get more invasive than pre-video ads.

Theres no way this will fly anyway. Gamers are notorious these days for bending over and taking it when it comes to stuff like this (DRM, DLC, generally overpricing everything) since they're terrified of being called entitled or whatever. But this, good God. Theres just no way people will let this one go without a fight.

 

[GonzoGamer]

But people, PSN is freeeee, isn't it?
"Entitled" I've used it so much I don't know what it means anymore but I depend on it to win all my arguments so I'm just going to call you all entitled.

If prices become almost negligible for games and the commercials are, say, during genuine loading screens that's okay I guess. But stopping the experience so companies can plug their rubbish, no way!

You'll just see longer loading screens because longer ads = more money.

That's what I meant by *genuine* loading screens

...and I meant that's not going to happen. Like how genuine "made after the games release" DLC turned into DLC being made alongside the main game.

Yea, but that became accepted pretty quickly, didn't it.
They would need to patent something else to ensure loading screens last at least 30 seconds.
I don't even think I have any crappy free phone games that interrupt the game for an ad.

Every bit of news I hear about the new consoles makes me NOT want to get one. If they overestimate the loyalty of their user base again, we could see another crash and another ancient video game burial ground filled with PS4s and Xbox 720s.

 

[shrekfan246]

I wonder if they would make it pop up like in the virtual hud somewhere out of the way, like a dead space transmission. Not too big to be in the way, but big enough to make you notice. Either that or they could put in virtual billboards with ads that move. That would grab my attention enough to maybe want something. If the ads are well placed, and don't hinder gameplay, i'm all for it. But if they are loud and in the way, then i'll probably just stick to my PC and Vita.

So... you didn't read the OP then?

"According to the patent, you'll know it's happening when "the game slows down...the user knows to get ready for a commercial, the game then stops, and the commercial is played. After the commercial, the game resumes." In some instances the game "may resume by slowly starting again, which allows the user to remember where he or she was in the game.""

They're talking about literally stopping your game in the middle of you doing something like, say, making a pin-point jump to a ledge in Uncharted or trying to get the perfect snipe on somebody in Call of Duty, or surrounded by enemies in Dark Souls, so that they can show you an ad and then throw you back into the middle of what you were doing.

OT: Well, this helps further my believe that the video game industry is going to hit another massive crash any year now. Considering Nintendo still seem to be stuck in the methods of yesteryear, maybe they'll be able to pull us out of this one too, seeing as they're pretty much the only company in recent memory that haven't been acting like massive, greedy tossers.

Also, intentionally introducing lag into a game, saying nothing of a commercial following it, is a great way to royally piss off your customers. The PS3 has a lot of frame-rate issues with newer games as it is, and launch titles (assuming this would be implemented in the PS4) are typically pretty buggy and wonky too because developers are still getting the feel for the system. Don't compound the issue by introducing something that's effectively a virus.

 

[Kyr Knightbane]

I wonder if they would make it pop up like in the virtual hud somewhere out of the way, like a dead space transmission. Not too big to be in the way, but big enough to make you notice. Either that or they could put in virtual billboards with ads that move. That would grab my attention enough to maybe want something. If the ads are well placed, and don't hinder gameplay, i'm all for it. But if they are loud and in the way, then i'll probably just stick to my PC and Vita.

So... you didn't read the OP then?

"According to the patent, you'll know it's happening when "the game slows down...the user knows to get ready for a commercial, the game then stops, and the commercial is played. After the commercial, the game resumes." In some instances the game "may resume by slowly starting again, which allows the user to remember where he or she was in the game.""

They're talking about literally stopping your game in the middle of you doing something like, say, making a pin-point jump to a ledge in Uncharted or trying to get the perfect snipe on somebody in Call of Duty, or surrounded by enemies in Dark Souls, so that they can show you an ad and then throw you back into the middle of what you were doing.

OT: Well, this helps further my believe that the video game industry is going to hit another massive crash any year now. Considering Nintendo still seem to be stuck in the methods of yesteryear, maybe they'll be able to pull us out of this one too, seeing as they're pretty much the only company in recent memory that haven't been acting like massive, greedy tossers.

Also, intentionally introducing lag into a game, saying nothing of a commercial following it, is a great way to royally piss off your customers. The PS3 has a lot of frame-rate issues with newer games as it is, and launch titles (assuming this would be implemented in the PS4) are typically pretty buggy and wonky too because developers are still getting the feel for the system. Don't compound the issue by introducing something that's effectively a virus.

I was well aware of what the OP said and what the Patent details are. I was merely stating what would be tolerable in my opinion. Honestly i think this is all rumors and nonsense til the next gen is announced. Everyone is up in arms about no used games, and new DRM. I say let em try. When every company goes bankrupt for trying to force stupid nonsense on customers, then maybe we can have a say

 

[Epona]

But people, PSN is freeeee, isn't it?
"Entitled" I've used it so much I don't know what it means anymore but I depend on it to win all my arguments so I'm just going to call you all entitled.

If prices become almost negligible for games and the commercials are, say, during genuine loading screens that's okay I guess. But stopping the experience so companies can plug their rubbish, no way!

You'll just see longer loading screens because longer ads = more money.

That's what I meant by *genuine* loading screens

...and I meant that's not going to happen. Like how genuine "made after the games release" DLC turned into DLC being made alongside the main game.

Yea, but that became accepted pretty quickly, didn't it.
They would need to patent something else to ensure loading screens last at least 30 seconds.
I don't even think I have any crappy free phone games that interrupt the game for an ad.

Every bit of news I hear about the new consoles makes me NOT want to get one. If they overestimate the loyalty of their user base again, we could see another crash and another ancient video game burial ground filled with PS4s and Xbox 720s.

I don't know much about patents but a 30 second timer isn't exactly hard to program. It's a few lines of code. I am not even sure you could patent a 30 second timer.

If you want the loading bar to take 30 seconds so it appears that it's actually loading for 30 secs, that's just as easy. You use a fake loading bar the fills up 33% every 10 seconds.

I agree, right now the Nextbox looks very unappealing because I KNOW there will be as many or more ads as the 360 has (which is already over the top). If the PS4 follows the same path, well, it's either WiiU or nothing.

 

[=y]

Well, congratulations Sony. With one idea you have completely lost my interest in your next console.

Maybe I will see what the Wii U has to offer instead.

 

[shrekfan246]

I was well aware of what the OP said and what the Patent details are. I was merely stating what would be tolerable in my opinion. Honestly i think this is all rumors and nonsense til the next gen is announced. Everyone is up in arms about no used games, and new DRM. I say let em try. When every company goes bankrupt for trying to force stupid nonsense on customers, then maybe we can have a say

Fair enough. I'm not usually one to jump on to the whole speculation train, really, but it has just seemed lately that most of the big publishers and Sony/Microsoft just can't do anything to project a positive image. I don't honestly believe that Sony would do something like this, but if they did...

 

[Epona]

I was well aware of what the OP said and what the Patent details are. I was merely stating what would be tolerable in my opinion. Honestly i think this is all rumors and nonsense til the next gen is announced. Everyone is up in arms about no used games, and new DRM. I say let em try. When every company goes bankrupt for trying to force stupid nonsense on customers, then maybe we can have a say

Fair enough. I'm not usually one to jump on to the whole speculation train, really, but it has just seemed lately that most of the big publishers and Sony/Microsoft just can't do anything to project a positive image. I don't honestly believe that Sony would do something like this, but if they did...

Someone said the patent dates back to 2006. I believe Sony would have done it with the PS3 if it had sold better but as it was, they couldn't afford to piss people off (even though they have done a few other things to piss people off). I think Sony intends to use it eventually.

 

[Atmos Duality]

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

TV and internet shows, I see why that works (cable TV is fucking stupid though, and contradictory to its original premise).

Money isn't magically flying out of my pocket when I turn my TV on or watch some online show. They're fighting over ratings to pay for the cost of programming, or ad-hits from traffic. Fine. That's how they make money.

But with a game you paid for? Totally unnecessary. It's just ruining the experience (THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT OF PLAYING) you're paying for the game just randomly cuts to a commercial.

 

[getoffmycloud]

One thing everyone is missing as well is this would require an always online console so the ads can be updated over time

 

[Epona]

One thing everyone is missing as well is this would require an always online console so the ads can be updated over time

...and I am betting that you won't be able to opt-out be disconnecting from the internet.

 

[DonTsetsi]

What if I was in the middle of a multiplayer match in CoD: 7: THE FUTURE IS BROWN STILL, and I stop because I have to know how I can bulk buy Bulgarian field rats for the low price of $500 per metric tonne?

What the fuck? What do you have against Bulgaria? And field rats... Seriously??? You may not know it, but people don't like it when you insult their country.

 

[Raesvelg]

I find it highly unlikely that anyone would implement a system like that for paid games. It does, however, offer an opportunity for a company like Sony to offer free games/extended demos that are advertising supported, which is pretty much the norm in the smartphone market.