As far as goes, video games have it pretty easy; It’s entirely possible to play a game from start to finish without seeing one. That could change soon, however, as Microsoft considers adding to Xbox games.
The possibility of in Xbox games
Neuwin spotted an article over at Business Insider (article behind paywall) stating that the tech giant is keen on putting ads in games. Microsoft is currently looking for companies that can help make its dream a reality.
If you’ve ever played a free game on a mobile device, the concept of “ads in games” can bring back unpleasant memories of full-screen ads that pull you away from the game. However, Microsoft doesn’t want to pull the player out of their game to show them ads.
Instead, the company wants to place in the game itself. The example given in the source article was an in-world billboard that companies can pay to display their products on. As such, it will be a relatively non-intrusive form of marketing, and some might even argue that it will increase immersion.
However, in order to serve these ads to players, Microsoft first needs games that support such a plan. As such, it is currently considering adding more games to its library that already allow for this technology, and encourages developers to think about how to integrate these ads into their games.
A potential new revenue stream for free-to-play games?
As Neowin notes, Xbox gamers are no strangers to ads. Businesses are currently able to display ads on the Xbox dashboard, and gamers seem pretty unfazed about it at the moment.
However, Neowin also mentions that it believes Microsoft will test this technology in free-to-play games. It makes a lot of sense; If the company targets paid games, players may cause an uproar about being shown ads in the content they have already paid for. This problem quickly resolves when the player hasn’t spent anything at all to play it.
And given that Microsoft doesn’t want to go down the route of hijacking gameplay to showcase marketing material, there’s a very real chance gamers won’t even realize they’re being promoted. In-game billboards that used to advertise fake companies are now branded with the real deal and can be received as naturally as a real-life billboard.
Will Microsoft add ads to Xbox games?
At the moment, Microsoft hasn’t announced that it’s going through with this plan, so it could still fail. However, if things go Microsoft’s way, it may not be long before these fake ads in video game worlds start showing you things you can actually buy.
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