PlayStation fans aren’t very happy after a recent PS5 update added ads with games. It’s long been a criticism of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S that Microsoft floods the dashboard — the home screen — with ads that can’t be ignored or removed. In fact, ads on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have been getting worse, and now sometimes take over your entire screen when the console is booted up. Since the release of the PS5, this has been a foreign problem for PlayStation fans, but it looks like this is changing.ย
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Earlier this month, PlayStation released a new PS5 update complete with what it called the new “Welcome Hub,” a revamp of the PS5 dashboard. And at the time, PS5 users were able to effectively remove all advertising widgets on the console to have a more tailored experience not ruined with Sony and partners trying to sell you stuff.ย
Since then though, PlayStation fans have noticed a change on the PS5 dashboard, complete with more ads, removing any good grace the change above earned. Whether deliberate or the result of a glitch, remains to be seem. The chances of it being the the latter are slim.ย
As some PlayStation fans have begun to point out, now PS5 games on the dashboard will load ads in the background. And there is no way to remove these ads. What’s odd though, is the new effect seems to be specific to certain games, while some users are reporting nothing changed at all. That said, below you can see some examples of the change, courtesy of X user Alfredobofa:
“Imagine you’re a first time user of PS5 this holiday season and you go from PS4 themes to this,” writes one comment. “This level of enshittification must be studied.” Another comment adds: “This is an objectively terrible change.”
It has been suggested by a few PlayStation fans this only occurs when users highlight games that have “official news” related to them, which would explain why only some PS5 games have this. However, this has not been confirmed.ย
At the moment of publishing, PlayStation has not commented on this situation or the developing backlash. We don’t suspect this will change at this point, but if it does, we will be sure update the story accordingly.ย
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