PS5 users were left in horror as a recent update left full-blown advertisements on the dashboard. Many users were left panicking that Sony is now enforcing ads on their consoles with no way to deactivate them without their permission. The official statement from Sony claims it was caused by a technical error in the official news feature for PS5.
On Sunday morning, PS5 owners reported getting advertisements for games on their home screens. The social media was flooded with screenshots of everyone’s dashboard, trying to convince them to buy games which they already own through ads.
Recently, the PS5 changed their homescreen and started displaying annoying ads that can't be turned off.
— GWM (@gwrldmedia) September 30, 2024
A PlayStation product manager initially tweeted that this change was due to a bug, but that tweet has since been deleted. pic.twitter.com/BdM9Fy3OIV
The move isn’t unheard of, as Xbox also displays ads, but for the games available on its platforms. Most recently, Xbox was promoting the Shattered Space expansion for Starfield. However, the ads on PS5 were quite hilarious. Regardless of the situation, there was a huge backlash for this, with players voicing their displeasure openly.
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Sony responds to the backlash
Watching all PS5 owners with a pitchfork, PlayStation quickly responded with a follow-up update that removed the technical error along with a statement addressing the situation. As per the statement, the ads were displayed due to a bug with the news feature and have been resolved.
“A tech error with the Official News feature on the PS5 console has since been resolved, There have been no changes to the way game news is displayed on PS5,” the statement said.
However, it seems Sony cannot catch a break as the PlayStation Network is now reportedly down for Gaming and social aspects, with players unable to access online games. The company is yet to address the issue but is seemingly working on a fix for a while now.