PS4 owners are complaining that Fortnite Season 5 has seemingly “installed itself” on the console, with their home screen menu now including the option to start playing Epic Games’ battle royale. The Fortnite icon appears even if PS4 owners haven’t downloaded the game, causing many to wonder why it’s appearing. So has Fortnite downloaded itself to your PS4?
Fortnite Season 5 ad disguises itself as a downloaded PS4 game
Fortunately, Sony isn’t now auto-downloading games to PS4 users’ libraries. The Fortnite menu icon is an ad, with it taking users to the store page to download the game.
However, this is a more intrusive ad than usual, given that it takes the appearance of a downloaded game. The ad encourages users to ‘Start’ playing Fortnite, with it appearing ahead of other games they actually have in their game libraries.
Sony has previously pushed ads to PS4 owners’ home screens, though they’re typically distinguishable from other icons. Ads for PS Now, Destiny 2, and other games or services have appeared on the menu, though they will usually indicate to the user that clicking on them will take them to the store page.
As a result, PS4 owners have complained about the Fortnite ad on Twitter:
I've never played fortnite much less downloaded it on my ps4. What is happening here? pic.twitter.com/J6tKAAPeNU
— Comma Chameleon (@brick_chainey) December 2, 2020
Wow Fortnite actually has an ad on the PS4 dashboard lol pic.twitter.com/oZFTurMIMh
— BevTheBlonde 🫶🏻🐾 (@BevTheBlonde) December 2, 2020
For real! Just booted it up to watch Mando and this was sitting on the dash. pic.twitter.com/SXJOPBiPhW
— Joshua Boyles (@joshyboyles) December 4, 2020
How to block ads on PS4 home screen
Fortunately, there is a way to prevent ads from appearing on your PS4 home screen. To do so, players must do the following:
- Go to Settings
- Go to System
- Select Automatic Downloads
- Uncheck Featured Content
PS4 owners can also individually delete the Fortnite ad icon by hovering over it, pressing the Options button, and then selecting the Delete option. This will remove the ad from your home screen, ensuring that it only includes games from your library and apps you have downloaded.
Aside from these ads, Fortnite Season 5 has been well-received, with the new Battle Pass, Mystery Rewards, and Kratos crossover skin freshening up the battle royale game.
