A new update for the PlayStation 5 has caused ads to replace various game art that players are unable to turn off.
Many players have seen a lot more ads on their home screens recently that typically do not appear where they were seen. In a quick response, PlayStation said that this was a bug of an existing feature.
PlayStation 5 Update Bug
The issue comes as every PlayStation 5 game features a custom, hi-rez background image that will appear whenever players hover over that game's page on the home menu.
But players started to notice that this particular art was replaced with ads from a publisher news feed.
PlayStation senior product manager Daniel Hiatt posted no X urging players to not panic amid the situation. While he said the issue was a bug, he did not detail why it was actually happening or when it would get fixed, according to Games Radar.
This also comes as earlier this month, the PlayStation 5 got its new "welcome hub" as part of a recent firmware update. Many players believe that this is, in some way, tied to the recent ads bug.
Many players reported seeing particularly confusing ads such as MP1st showing one for the upcoming Lego Horizon Adventures. This takes up the background when selecting Horizon Zero Dawn. It makes it look like you can play a game that has not yet been released.
What many people find most annoying is that the latest news that the PlayStation 5 consoles are pulling from is significantly out of date. This could result in some confusion among players, IGN said.
Non-Stop Ads
An example of this is Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales showing an advertisement for the "coming soon" movie theater release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This comes despite the film coming out in June 2023.
Additionally, the bug also causes NBA 2K25 to showcase an ad for the game's early access, which was released a month ago.
What makes the entire situation weirder is that some games do not use the new advertising system. Two examples of this are Astro Bot and Yakuza Kiwami 2.
The issue has caused many PlayStation 5 users to take to social media to voice out their frustration with the bug.
One said that they paid $600 for a console and $80 for a game as well as $30 per month for a subscription only to see ads all the time, according to Game Spot.
