Is Microsoft Going To Be Putting Ads In Free-To-Play Games?

There may soon be ads in free-to-play Microsoft games. According to sources that spoke with Insider, Microsoft is reportedly developing a program that will let brands showcase advertisements in free-to-play Xbox games. Sources familiar with this situation told Insider that these new types of advertisements are not expected to disrupt gameplay.

At this time, Microsoft has not yet detailed how it plans to implement this new form of advertising. With that being said, Insider explained that the company does not want to make fans “irate” with these types of ads. On top of that, Microsoft will work on building a private marketplace to let only select brands advertise within this program.

Despite these changes, sources said that Microsoft doesn’t plan on taking a cut of these ad revenues. Instead, they will allow developers and advertisers to share the funds. Additionally, sources said that Microsoft will not use the collected data from other services to create targeted ads for this program.

The Verge described a good example of this advertising as an ad that would appear on a billboard in a free-to-play racing game.

Nothing has been officially confirmed yet about this advertising plan. However, sources that spoke to Insider said that Xbox could start putting ads in its free-to-play games as early as “the third quarter of this year.”

The Profit‘s Take:

This could be an industry-changing move. I’m shocked nobody suggested that this could be a slippery slope that we should NOT be going down. Yes… today, as it’s described, this is a win-win. It may start with ads just on loading screens. After that, ads will be on every building in a game’s virtual environment. Then, we’ll see ads on every in-game item. Eventually, every asset in a free-to-play game will feature an embedded advertisement. Soon we will have ads placed in full-priced games. There is a clear slippery slope here. This type of thing is much more widely accepted in mobile games. It’s possible that bringing this type of advertising to console games leads to a player revolt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge capitalist and businessman… but, is nothing sacred anymore? I can already see a future where WoW goes free-to-play, and I have to pick up a Pepsi instead of a potion to heal myself. It feels like we’re damning an entire generation to a future of video games LITTERED with ads if we let Microsoft take this first step. Companies putting ads on buildings in games like COD or CS:GO ruins the immersion. Why would a burned-out building in the middle of a war-torn country have a pristine, unblemished Pepsi ad on it? That just doesn’t make sense. People are GOING to cross the line with this form of advertising, and it will lead to a lot of backlash early on.

(All information was provided by The Verge)