Huh, we're not sure we've seen this before. We've received a number of reports stating that the What's New section of the PS4's main system menu has been taken over by adverts that autoplay as you scroll through the available content. We went to verify this ourselves and we can confirm that they do indeed exist.
After scrolling through a few items we were greeted by the Pringles ad that you can see above. It plays automatically, and the audio will cut off any music that you might be listening to. It even interrupts Spotify. As far as we can tell, you can keep scrolling, but it still attempts to play the first time that you see it.
The What's New section has always had ads -- usually for deals or games available on the PlayStation Store -- but as far as we're aware, these have never taken the form of autoplay videos with invasive audio.
It's also worth noting that we have our 'Featured Content' option disabled in order to stop advertised games being added to the home menu, so this setting clearly doesn't apply to the What's New section.
Have you stumbled across any of these ads? Avoid the clutches of marketing in the comments section below.
Comments 47
Once you pop, you just can't stop... The ad from playing.
Ugh. Sony please don’t do this to me.
Oh hell no. Oh hell no. So bad, I'll say it twice.
(and the requirement to use more than 9 characters)
Whichever inhuman monster came up with the idea of autoplay ads, should be dragged out into the street and shot.
I played today and didn't notice any ads will check later but this doesn't look good, this could also slow down the UI
@ShogunRok did it make you want to eat some pringles
@Areus Nah, sadly I don't really like Pringles.
@ShogunRok Ranch Pringles and Pizza Pringles are pretty tasty imo.
NOTHING beats Cheese Combos though!
Not really a big deal to me... because my internet is so bad that the ad doesn't play xD
Score one for bad internet... ;(
I'ma go cry in a corner if you need me.
No, I’ve not experienced this....because I never scroll through the What’s New section 🤓
Didn't know about it until I saw the article, but when I scrolled the section to see for myself, I didn't see any ads of the sort.
Must be a UK thing. For now, anyway.
@Bagshot "Oh no, they're gonna do a Singstar again!"
Haha. That's what immediately came into my head.
Still one of their worst marketing moves.
Ew, it's turning into the Xbone's UI where you have ads stuffed all over the place.
Kinda like how chocolate chips are kinda all over inside a cookie.
I think that's a bad analogy.
Bad practice. I don't use the "What's New" bit anyway but this is still wrong.
Do some market research, autoplay = anger. Sigh
Not cool, Sony.
Not cool, Sony. Not cool.
Sigh, I'll start avoiding the What's New section if I start getting those annoying ads.
Maybe we should flood Twitter with rage. No deathtreaths please.
videos have always auto played on the What's New section
not like anyone uses it anyway
@EVIL-C except "inhuman" says it all. And you'll end up wasting a human life while the monster just shows up elsewhere. Same as with fanship.
no ads (other than PS store stuff) on my UI either, but i have opted out of all third party marketing where possible.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi I thought ads meant the bad guys in destiny?
Had a quick look on mine and the Pringles ad was there but it seems I scrolled over it too quick for it to start playing. As long as that remains the same I won't be too bothered.
Proper not having that like.
Monterey Jack Doritos!
@ShogunRok You don't like Pringles? What kind of bizarre freaks are PushSquare employing these days?!? 😲
This isn't entirely unheard of. I mean, it's unusual for an ad, but if someone shares a video and you pause on it while scrolling through What's New, it will auto-play a few seconds with audio.
But yes, this isn't a good thing.
I noticed on the PS app on my phone, that you can turn off "promos and offers" under the settings -> notifications options. it's disabled for me, and I'm not seeing ads and the like either in the app or the PS4 UI.
A very Microsoft thing to do.
I dont get it, why would sony feel the need to do this? Didnt feel they made enough $$$ in 2018? Lol geez
@Flaming_Kaiser Death threats are so 2018. We should raid their headquarters on horses like the Mongolians did back in the day!
@jacobia
I know right. Whats the point?
@Octane I love the idea of some Sony execs shaking their fists and shouting ‘Damn you Mongolian hordes ‘
Just as bad as the none delete-able SingStar app on PS3 LOL
Since commenting earlier, I've just had my PS4 on and just been through my What's New feed - there's no ad at all for me. As others have mentioned, I've got the option for 3rd party communications disabled, so maybe that's the solution?
@Frigate Clearly the marketing is working.
No adds here tbh on 80 meg connection (guess vpn does work)
@nhSnork Excuse me? That outlook was obviously meant to be satirical.
@Rudy_Manchego *Mongorian
(South Park reference, right?)
@naruball Ha ha - completely right!
@EVIL-C and my outlook on fanship isn't - but, given how many confuse people and mentalities completely unironically, the point stands in both cases.
@nhSnork I had to look up this fanship term you keep using.
Given how many hearts my comment got, most users here saw the humour. I don't endorse real violence. Can we just end this now, please?
@EVIL-C "most users here"
Yeah, I miss having that kind of optimism. ¯(ツ)/¯
@nhSnork I'm Canadian, lol.
@EVIL-C man, and here I thought you just liked having maple leaves on your profile pic. 😃
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