It would appear that Sony's forced an ad for its streaming PlayStation Now service onto PlayStation 4 home menus. Upon booting up your console, you may find the advert just sitting there on your system's main hub, exclaiming that it's a free trial.
Of course, this isn't the first time that ads have appeared in this way. Late last year, a Destiny 2 ad wormed its way onto the menu and PS4 owners weren't especially happy about it.
However, it seems as though this PS Now ad actually bypasses the 'disable featured content' option that users can enable. We know this because all of us here at Push Square have this option ticked, yet we still got the PS Now ad.
We wrote a guide on how to stop unwanted ads from appearing on your PS4, but for whatever reason, this PS Now ad doesn't give a damn. Fortunately, you can still just delete it by hovering over it and hitting the options button before clicking 'delete'.
Have you found this ad on your PS4? Try not to go ballistic in the comments section below.
Comments 58
This is how wars start.
Uh oh... come on Sony, don't ruin all the good will you built up with the news you delivered over the last week. I hope Firmware v5.50 has a 'Don't ever bother me with ads EVER AGAIN' toggle somewhere in it.
Really not that big an issue.
@daveofduncan agreed especially seeing as you can just delete it and besides the XB1 dash is full of ads and no one complains
If you tolerate this, then your children will be next 😉
@General_Spiller - Nice Manics reference there...
Anyhoo...Not THAT big an issue but surely this is what the store is for?
Even when you highlight a game and push "down" to see more info, there can be the odd ad there, from the same company, promoting another IP. Thats seems quite reasonable.
I;m assuming they are just seeing what the reaction is by promoting something of their own... Can see why some may be annoyed but personally, cant say im fussed...
I saw it deleted it and moved on with my life.
... let's hope this isn't the start of the decline of PS now that Kaz isn't at the helm... this is how it started with the 360... the removal of their weekly shows, and original experiences like 1 vs 100 (which was amazing), and the slow creep of adverts onto the dashboard cluttering everything... this coupled with the 25% price hike and Vita / PS3 game drops on PS+, it feels like a little bit of history repeating... :/ (especially as the service is a rip-off too...) I thought (foolishly) they might have integrated it into PS+, to give consumers a bit more for their money...
@daveofduncan True ( goes back to hunting Nergigante)
@MadAussieBloke Lol, 'BRING OUT YER DEAD'
@daveofduncan I know huh. I mean it's like complaining that the radio station you are listening too has commerical breaks, yeah it can be annoying especially when you want to listen to music but you move on there's hardly an issue.
The same thing here just delete it and move on hard an issue to get work up over. I hard say this but must be a really slow news day if there's article about this.
Whoop de damn do
Eh, not that big of a deal. You can just delete and there ya go.
But of course, this is the internet, the home of overreactions.
A true 1st world problem, see it, delete it. Done
I wish I could delete Sing Star from my PS3 menu
Thankfully, not every gamer overreacts. Good to see some level headed people.
I doubt I'd see an ad for a service not supported in my account region, and I don't care for Now since it lost Vita support (RP doesn't seem to run any apps that stream content themselves)... but I don't picture myself raging about it even in theory. Perhaps I'd get frustrated if it greeted me upon connecting for weeks, but free trials don't usually last all that long either. XD
@OneManDroid They won't be making a profit on PS Now if they just put it in with Plus. Also Now isn't available in every country so fracturing the Plus service like that isn't smart either. The price hike was to lineup with other country's prices. And the removal of PS3 and Vita games was something many were calling out for anyway, so it's hardly a sign that Sony is in decline. Also it's just an AD.
Also people should see it as an opportunity to try the service out for free and see what they think.
Yep. It was on mine until I pressed options - delete.
@FullbringIchigo oh yeah, and it used to be Xbox charged for online and nobody complained, either. I certainly don't need to spend any of my limited gaming time deleting fraking commercials.
I just finish playing my ps4 right this minutes (finishing knack 1), I don't see any ads on my homescreen. Not a problem for me if I can delete it like destiny 2 ads.
@Tasuki Radio content is free, you don't pay the radio station, anyone with a receiver has access to it. The PS4 however isn't. You already paid for the system (and the games, and maybe the service too), so seeing ads on it (even though you've disabled it) is a bit rubbish. It's like paying full price for a game and then it asks you to pay more... oh wait, that's already a thing too...
Pushing playstation now before it becomes part of of a higher priced ps plus...
@Yowza Yeah 2 seconds is terrible. I took more time to post something here. 😀 😉
@Octane 😱😱😱😱😱
It's gotten to a point where I don't even think about ads anymore, just delete them. Haven't seen this one yet but if it does pop up and if PS Now is actually free for a time I may finally give the service a try. Getting around to trying Xbox Game Pass soon too, which from what I've seen seems to be the far better service. Finally time to give both a fair look though as this is the future.
@OneManDroid Well Kaz left SIE/PlayStation in 2011.
@Octane Ok comparing the PS Advert to my comaparision of a radio buying the system is a bad example as you have to pay for the radio as well. Maybe a better comaprison would be cable TV. You pay for that yet you still get commericals.
I just feel people make to big of a deal out of nothing.
That's annoying. And I'll have to check the 'disable featured content' option later, not sure if I ever disabled it.
seriously not an issue - it's one tile that can be deleted - unlike another platform. However, you all know that Crap Gamer on YT is going to make a video on this tonight and make out that it's the end of the world and "Xbox Won" - as usual...
Not a big deal. Just shut if off.
I saw it, I deleted it and continued to play a game i.e I didn't do what some cry babies do online and start moaning about EVERY LITTLE THING(how do these people cope with REAL life problems, God knows)
@GravyThief Arrghh that Singstar icon used to drive me bananas! It always sat proudly at the top of the icon list too so you couldn't ignore it or move it, let alone delete it!
Anyway what annoys me about these things is the fact that they are unwarranted and unwanted (most of the time). It is effectively spam which we cry foul over by email, post etc yet somehow company's are fine to pull these tricks.
Yes of course you can delete it but the point is I shouldn't have to. If an option WE HAVE SELECTED is supposed to stop unsolicited contact then we have opted to not accept it. Forcing it on us anyway is not good.
Still at least this can be deleted unlike Singstar on PS3!
.... I wonder what type of person it takes to not truly be mad at something yet come online and start ranting about how horrible it is...
They put a small square on your dashboard (that you can delete) letting you know about a free trial to a service they own... This is faux outrage and you should all be ashamed of yourselves.
@Tasuki Not really, since a radio or TV is nothing more than a receiver. You still need a TV to play the PS4. TV (the minimum) is free where I live, but you get ads in return. You pay for the PS4 and its content, so expecting ads on top of it is a bit silly.
Anyway, the main issue is that they give you the option to disable ads, but it clearly doesn't work.
@Splints ....until it turns into something worse. How bout an ad before your game plays? Or before your trophy list loads?
It's only 15 seconds, right?
Eff that. They have ads all over the store already (which completely ruined the store on PS3 cuz it lags like crazy), they have ads when you pull down on a game for more info. They have ads in the "what's new" tab.
When is it ok to be annoyed about it? When it bothers you, personally? Cool, let me know when.
@Gamer83 As somebody who has tried PS Now and Xbox Game Pass they really aren't the same thing at all, it's like comparing Zelda Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn. No wait scratch that, I'm playing H:ZD now and they are much more similar.
PS Now is still a streaming service where the game gets played on their servers and basically only uses your system to put it on a monitor. Not sure how much lag has improved the past year or so but some games were literally unplayable slideshows, at least on my PS3. Game Pass is like PS+, you pay a monthly fee and DOWNLOAD the entire game and run it on your system.
On the flip side, PS+ was on PS3, PC and PS4, I think Game Pass is only on X1, maybe playable on PC if you already have it on X1 but I don't think it' son PC alone. So besides more hardware platforms I think PS Now has a wider variety of games. Though that may have changed too.
So in my mind the summary goes something like this - PS Now is a service to rent and play PS3 games on your PS4 and PC at way too high of a price to stream games, Game Pass is a service to rent 360 and X1 games downloaded to your X1. So in my head PS4 Now is about past games, Game Pass is about current games.
That's not 100% accurate, but they are more different than same in my head.
@Yowza so you are saying you are preemptively mad? Makes sense. Dont forget to beat your wife tonight before she cheats on you.
Also, The ps4 store doesn't have ads (besides showing you games) and games don't have ads under them. Unless you are counting them showing you ad-ons or streams of that game...
Do you get mad at your local game shop for having a poster advertising a new game? Of course not. Stop being rediculous.
They should rename it to disable ads for services in the black. Not like MS lets you run from their dash ads even if you pay for gold, but at least they're upfront about it.
The Singstar one is still on PS3. I remember that poor lady trying to defend it from hordes of angry Playstationeers.
@Yowza wow, out comes the name calling... Must have hit a nerve...
Okay chicken little lets hold back the world is ending rhetoric for something that actually is upsetting.
There is a 100% difference between the dashboard and the store. Both of your complaints are about the store. In an article about the dashboard.
You know what? come to think of it I have never bought a movie from the playstation store. How dare they have a menu i have to ignore on their app that I freely use without cost to me to download games that I want instead of going to the store (because stores don't have featured content, flyers, or advertisements). And you know what else? I am hella mad that they have the gull to suggest other games I may like! Who the hell do they think they are! This is absolute madness and needs to stop before its too late!!! Should we start a petition? Whats our next step? Please oh leader of the playstation resistance, lead us to glory!
@Splints next step is being complacent and making false comparisons because you don't personally have the foresight to understand companies will push things as far as they can.
Of course there's a difference between dashboard and store. Who said there isn't? There are ads on both now, though.
Also, I don't remember being able to buy a slim Jim or anything like that from the psn store. But I've seen ads for them there.
I don't care that you don't know what you're talking about. Enjoy the blissful ignorance.
Think it's acceptable to take a week off work to play red dead with the free 7 day trial before number 2 comes out?!
It’s ok saying....it’s just one ad.
But when you specifically turn off that feature for them to just bypass it then it’s easy to see how far it will go.
@rjejr
Yeah, they certainly sound different, I haven't used either one though so want to have some experience with both before giving an opinion either way. I will say from what I know, if I were going to pay for one it would be Game Pass without hesitation. It's a great deal and getting Crackdown 3 with it is an added bonus. That's been on my most-wanted list since it was announced and was a reason I bought an Xbox One.
I don't mind a Sony PS4 product. If I ever see something outside a PlayStation product I will be jumping on the CRAZY TRAIN in a instant!!
@FullbringIchigo
I didn't complain, I just stopped gaming completely on xbox due to the ads. During the 2010 world cup there were 2 obnoxious flash ads on 360, one for fish fingers and the other for pet insurance. After a few days of this I switched off the xbox and moved to gaming on Sony systems exclusively ever since, true story.
Well that sucks, but it hasn't happened to me so I kinda don't care honestly.
@rjejr @Gamer83 for me Gamepass is by far the better (and much cheaper) service with higher quality and newer titles plus all future first party games at launch, this probably being the biggest selling point. With PS now visual quality isn't great and you have added input lag due to streaming, with gamepass I can play Gear 4 in full 4K HDR on my X and now Rise of The Tomb Raider in the same manner on my actual console all with no issues. Granted many older titles are on PS now but when you consider that I bought about 6 of such games for a tenner and simply popped the disc in the Xbox to play them and once again at higher quality than was possible it's not much of a selling point.
I've only recently bought an Xbox One X having not played since the early 360 days so at the moment I have quite a lot of games to play without actually having to buy any thanks to gamepass
If you haven't tried it give it ago while it's free, the only bad point for me is the price if it was £6/7 a month I'd probably have it, the games I've streamed have all worked great (RDR, The Arkham Games, GOW3, Uncharted 2 are the big budget ones I've tried and all worked great)
@Shigurui i'll be honest i'm not sure how bad the ads got on 360 as mine died THE 3RD ONE TOO so i never bothered getting a new one but they were quite obnoxious even then
as for the PSNow add i understand that Sony would want to make everyone aware of the PSNow service so it was no big deal, it was just there and all you have to do is delete, just a few seconds and it's gone so i don't know why people are making such a fuss after all it's not like Sony had it there permanently stuck at the front of your XMB to greet you every time you turn on the system "COUGH" Singstar "COUGH"
I didn’t want ads so I ticked the box ages ago, now I see a add?! Just shows how much control we have to a console which is connected to the internet
This ad didnt show up on My PS4. I have the featured content option set to off. Maybe it was a UK specific ad?
@Yowza Let's watch the name calling and insults please. It's ok if you don't agree with another user it's not ok to call them names and insult them.
Thanks for understanding
@daveofduncan agreed. Talking of complaining about ads, people should check the ads on Xbox One, even for those who pay for Gold.
@Deadlyblack I don't think its anywhere near overreactions.
A lot of consideration goes into my choice of console, and not force feeding me ads is one of the reasons that I choose Sony over Microsoft.
Don't mind the ad but having selected it to check it out I couldn't close it without restarting PS4
I now have it on my app bar
As someone who just got PS Now I had no clue what it was made me think my subscription had failed some how
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