We’ve learned Sony will put advertisements in free-to-play games, according to a new rumor reportedly close to the company.

The new rumor comes via Business Insider, claiming Sony will put advertisements in free-to-play games as a way to help devs further monetize their F2P games.

Further, the new move to place in-game ads is reportedly to encourage the continued production of more free titles, while they previously relied on features like purchasable character skins to provide income.

The sources stated that talk of the use advertisement began shortly after PS5 launched in Fall of 2020 and comes in the wake of Microsoft purchasing adtech firm Xander last December.

It is reported that Sony is carefully selecting the adtech company that will provide the advertisement services so as to eliminate the possibility of collecting sensitive personal information-a problem that has plagued many mobile phone games.

Concerning advertisement use in games, the sources state the goal is to have in game integration that feels organic like a giant soda banner on the side of a city building, rather than having the ads function in traditional ways.

PlayStation already possesses advertisements on its console, however it is restricted to system menu and applications, an example being Hulu, that already contain them.

Microsoft is also reportedly looking to do a similar move in putting ads in free-to-play games, read more about that in our previous report here.

Although a specific date has not been provided at this point in time, the implementation of ads in games is expected to begin sometime before the close of 2022.

This is Niche Gamer Tech. In this column, we regularly cover tech and things related to the tech industry. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s tech or a story you want us to cover!