Sony is filing for a patent for a new technology. One that relates not to any specific game, but to how gaming media can be used to influence players.

The US Patent and Trademark Office makes all filed patents, copyrights, and trademarks open as public information. By paying attention to patents filed by video game companies, gamers can get an idea of what new innovations those companies might release in the future. For example, EA has patented technology relating to esports sponsors, that might be implemented in future esports matches held by the company.

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Sony has recently filed a patent for what it calls "Advertising Impression Determination." This patent was for a technology that would be used to examine how often the player of a game was exposed to in-game advertisements. This isn't the first time a company is patenting a technology related advertisements in games;  EA has also patented a technology for forcing ads on the player during loading screens. Sony's patent would measure if the in-game ad was obscured; for example, an in-game billboard partially covered by a tree, and how long the player viewed it.

According to the text of the patent: "The video game industry is quickly becoming one of the last bastions of captive audience advertising. That is, the player of a video game often offers their undivided attention to the video game environment... Video games, therefore, offer the opportunity for placing ads before a captive and extremely attentive audience." It talks about how valuable targeted ads and being able to get ad impressions is to the advertising industry. No mention was given as to how this technology might improve the gaming experience for the player.

Advertisements have been a part of the gaming landscape for a while now; NBA 2K20 and NBA2K21 have them, as do several other sports games. Some players think that ads tend to reduce immersion and take players out of the game. Critics say it isn't fun to be forced to watch ads during loading screens, especially if they're unskippable and make the player wait even after loading is finished.

It's fair to say that ads make good money for the developers and publishers. They're one of many ways that developers try and get more money from consumers, along with practices such as releasing multiple editions of a game, restricting the sale of used games, selling unfinished games at full price, in-game gambling mechanics, cutting content out of games to sell as DLC, and advertising microtransactions to children. When a developer sells ad space in a game, it is able to make money off of the player; the advertiser is the customer, and the player is the product.

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Source: USPTO