Avid gamers were caught off guard earlier this week when they logged in to find a surprise redesign of their dashboards: many games now feature a dynamic wallpaper that incorporates art from each respective title, transforming the familiar layout into a visually stunning showcase for beloved franchises. They observed substitutes opted to set full-screen promotional visuals featuring the sport or its associated sales as dynamic backgrounds. Adverts for the game had often become stale and disconnected from the player’s interests, especially since they typically already owned the game in question.
Sony’s PlayStation quickly addressed the issue with a patch update, reassuring customers that it was an isolated bug rather than a deliberate shift in marketing strategy. Notwithstanding the likelihood of mistakes, this move also offers a fascinating window into how gamers might react if PlayStation were to implement such a drastic change. For sure, they weren’t comfortable. While some criticized the inability to opt-out of advertisements on the PS5, others felt that a specific mechanism was lacking to circumvent this feature despite the console’s settings allowing for ad visibility. The notion that some customers claimed these lavish promotional images discouraged them from exploring the full capabilities of their PS5 consoles.
The second-largest issue was that advertisements and information presented in the new show were unrelated and often outdated by several months. Customers noticed the issue was particularly problematic when playing older video games, as promotional posts might inadvertently contain spoilers or seem laughably out of touch due to their age. While many customers had a strong reaction to this change, they were largely united in their sentiment: they did not want intrusive ads cluttering their dashboard spaces. It’s possible that despite being a bug, the issue could have unintended benefits if PlayStation were to deliberately deploy full-screen sprint ads in the future.
While I’ll likely still catch up on August’s game releases before focusing on October’s offerings, such as the highly anticipated Silent Hill 2 Remake, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which are set to hit shelves soon. As the spooky season officially begins, I decided to test my mettle with Zoochosis, a chilling indie horror game that surfaced online.
The GamesBeat Subsequent is finally here! The GB Subsequent is the preeminent event for product leaders and managers in the gaming industry. Join us on October 28th and 29th as you connect with fellow leaders and renowned speakers, including Matthew Bromberg (CEO of Unity), Amy Hennig (Co-President of Skydance Interactive), Laura Naviaux Sturr (General Manager, Operations at Amazon Games), Amir Satvat (Enterprise Growth Director at Tencent), and many more esteemed industry professionals. Please ensure that you have reviewed the complete speaker checklist and.
What to play this week
- Till Daybreak Remastered
- Throne and Liberty
- NHL 25
- Starfield: Shattered House
- What secrets lie hidden in the Rain Code?
- Steel: Hellsinger VR
- Zoochosis
- What’s the challenge?
- Sword Artwork On-line: Fractured Daydream
- Kill Knight
- What’s the Big Idea, Bikini Bottom?! Join SpongeBob and his trusty sidekick, Patrick Star, as they embark on a wild adventure in…
- MLB The Show 24 (Xbox Game Pass)
- Open Roads (Xbox Sport Cross)
- Sifu (Xbox Sport Cross)
- WWE 2K24 (PlayStation Plus Important)
- Lifeless House (PlayStation Plus Important)
- Doki Doki Literature Membership Plus! (PlayStation Plus Important)
- Alien Isolation (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Mortal Shell (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Nightfall (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Perish (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Tormented Souls (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Amid Evil (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Valfaris (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Doomblade (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Monster Harvest (Amazon Luna Prime)
- Bear and Breakfast (GeForce Now)
- Monster Jam Showdown (GeForce Now)
- TerraTech Worlds (GeForce Now)
- NBA 2K25: A Court Classic on Apple Arcade
