The company is kicking off the experiment in the VR title Blaston. Facebook also says it’s working on new ad formats unique to virtual reality.
(Credit: Facebook) It was bound to happen: Facebook is going to test ads in virtual reality. On Wednesday, the company revealed it’s going to begin experimenting with the ads in the Oculus Quest title Blaston from Resolution Games. The experiment will also expand to two other unnamed developers in the coming weeks. Facebook, which develops the Oculus VR headsets, described the experiment as “a small test of in-headset ads.” As an example, the company shared a screenshot of how the ads will appear in Blaston. The result is a banner that hangs alongside an arena in the game. The ad itself promotes Jasper’s Market, a Facebook project that recommends locally sourced foods. “For now, this is a test with a few apps—once we see how this test goes and incorporate feedback from developers and the community, we’ll provide more details on when ads may become more broadly available across the Oculus Platform and in the Oculus mobile app,” the company wrote on the Oculus blog.
