{"id":570557,"date":"2026-03-14T17:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future"},"modified":"2026-03-14T17:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:56:14","slug":"are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Are adverts in free-to-play console games a sadly inevitable future?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>This week on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/topics\/newscast\">Eurogamer Newscast<\/a>, we&#8217;re talking about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-is-reportedly-considering-adding-ads-to-free-to-play-games\">Microsoft<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-reportedly-considering-putting-ads-in-free-to-play-playstation-games\">Sony&#8217;s plans<\/a> to put advertising in free-to-play games. It&#8217;s a feature commonly found &#8211; and widely accepted, if not <em>enjoyed<\/em> &#8211; in free mobile titles, which now seems to be on the way to your PlayStation and Xbox.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s fair to say that few people enjoy advertising and it&#8217;s unlikely you&#8217;d opt into seeing more of it &#8211; but do Microsoft and Sony see this as a way to encourage new, smaller developers into the console space? Of course, a lot depends on how these plans are implemented &#8211; and here we chew over a few ways that could be worse than others.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, to lighten the mood, we have a chat about Amy Hennig&#8217;s return to the Star Wars universe and the sheer number of upcoming games set in the galaxy far, far away we now have to look forward to. Apex Legends developer is making three, alongside projects from Quantic Dream, Ubisoft and others. Joining me to discuss all that are Eurogamer reporters Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Ishraq Subhan!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we&#8217;re talking about Microsoft and Sony&#8217;s plans to put advertising in free-to-play games. It&#8217;s a feature commonly found &#8211; and widely accepted, if not enjoyed &#8211; in free mobile titles, which now seems to be on the way to your PlayStation and Xbox. It&#8217;s fair to say that few people enjoy advertising and it&#8217;s unlikely you&#8217;d opt into seeing more of it &#8211; but do Microsoft and Sony see this as a way to encourage new, smaller developers into the console space? Of course, a lot depends on how these plans are implemented &#8211; and here we chew over a few ways that could be worse than others. Finally, to lighten the mood, we have a chat about Amy&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":570558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[160,7180,59,44,45,60,4616],"class_list":["post-570557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-free-to-play","tag-newscast","tag-pc","tag-ps4","tag-ps5","tag-xbox-one","tag-xbox-series-x-s"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are adverts in free-to-play console games a sadly inevitable future? | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we&#039;re talking about Microsoft and Sony&#039;s plans to put advertising in free-to-play games. It&#039;s a feature commonly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are adverts in free-to-play console games a sadly inevitable future? | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we&#039;re talking about Microsoft and Sony&#039;s plans to put advertising in free-to-play games. It&#039;s a feature commonly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-14T17:56:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Are adverts in free-to-play console games a sadly inevitable future?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-14T17:56:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":203,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"free-to-play\",\"newscast\",\"PC\",\"PS4\",\"PS5\",\"Xbox One\",\"Xbox Series X\\\/S\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/\",\"name\":\"Are adverts in free-to-play console games a sadly inevitable future? | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/are-adverts-in-free-to-play-console-games-a-sadly-inevitable-future.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-14T17:56:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're talking about Microsoft and Sony's plans to put advertising in free-to-play games. 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