Sony has filed a patent for showing extra material in "picture-in-picture" (PiP) during loading, matchmaking, and other breaks.
Instead of a frozen loading image, players might be offered:
- gameplay tips
- plot summaries
- tutorial videos
- mini-games
- streams and user-generated content
We made loading faster thanks to the SSD, and now we will purposely show you content while you wait.
Most people in the community expect this to turn into ad space sooner or later — hardly a surprising takeaway.
A patent isn't a guarantee that this will land in a shipped product; lots of ideas stop at paperwork. Still, the concept has rubbed many players the wrong way, especially with ongoing grumbles about PlayStation monetization (e.g., microtransactions and paid extras). I get why folks are annoyed — speeding up load times only to fill the gap with stuff you didn't ask for feels like a step in the wrong direction.