Following an interview with Rolling Stone, Microsoft executive Sarah Bond discussed different and new models Xbox has looked at, including allowing in-game ads, to the chagrin of fans.
A while back, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for game creator experience and ecosystem at Xbox, Sarah Bond, sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss Game Pass and the future of Xbox. During these talks, Bond mentioned the various new methods and models that Microsoft had talked about as possibilities for the future, and while none of them are set in stone, one of them has fans quite upset.
“We invest a lot of time in how we introduce more business model diversity; how we create more options,” said Bond during the interview. “We’ve talked about how we’re experimenting with other models, like what does it mean for advertising in games which is more prevalent in mobile – are there models of that that work well in PC and console? Are there other models where you might have timed slices of games and stuff like that?”
Running in-game ads much like EA did with UFC 4 or Warner Bros. did with Mortal Kombat 11, isn’t something that fans have been very happy about in the past, so this idea coming from talks over the future of Xbox has some ready to sell their console and move on if they decide to go this route.
“I’ll sell my Xbox the moment they start doing games with ads. Imagine being so far behind the competition and your response to that is… more ads to play from your ad-filled dashboard,” said Twitter user @SiinthAP in response to a post from prolific Xbox news commentator, Idle Sloth.
Some fans, like @Jackgamer74 on Twitter, even went so far as to quote the late Steve Jobs and his assessment of Microsoft years ago: “The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste, and what that means is – I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their products.”
While a decision like this would be incredibly controversial, simply having the talks isn’t the same as setting up a plan to implement them. A company of Microsoft’s size has to discuss all the options on the table, and models found in the mobile space are quite lucrative, but all in all, here’s to hoping in-game ads stay in the mobile space!
