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Microsoft has begun trialling a new "ad-supported" tier of its cloud streaming service, allowing owners of digital Xbox games the opportunity to stream them for one hour after watching an ad or ads. It's a similar model to the cheaper tiers of video streaming apps like Netflix or Amazon Prime.
The announcement on Xbox Wire is written defensively and underscores the fact that this is a "test" and "optional" feature, rather than being a way for Microsoft to add ads to existing subscription tiers. "The core game experience is unchanged", says the post. "Players can choose other ways to play at any time."
Microsoft also underscores the fact that they have a high bar of quality for ads, ensuring that they are relevant, and that they should never interrupt gameplay.
At present, the trial is only open to Xbox Insiders. If you're interested in giving it a go, you can enrol in the Xbox Insider app on Xbox consoles or Windows. Once signed up, you can stream Xbox games on devices from phones, TVs and tablets to consoles (including Xbox One) and PCs.
The public widening of the cloud gaming service to free customers might coincide with the release of Microsoft's unannounced cloud gaming controller, which we reported on back in May.
It'll be interesting to see if the format of this ad-supported option changes over time as the test continues - or indeed if Xbox chooses to make this a public offering. There's plenty of variables to play around with in terms of ad length and number, session length, game limits and so on.
With the next Xbox console, Project Helix, planned to be a premium offering that serves as a hybrid between traditional consoles and PCs, it's no surprise that Microsoft is investigating alternative ways of monetising its player base.
Likewise, the Xbox division recently announced 3200 layoffs, 1600 of which are to happen over the next two years, so this programme clearly plays into that renewed focus on profitability.
[source news.xbox.com]
Comments 8
How many people in their core audience have been asking for this? Nobody is probably close to the right answer. How many people have been asking for this outside of the core audience? Probably some people, but those individuals would also probably not have all that much to spend in general. I could see this being a move to make if you already have market saturation, but Microsoft is far from that achievement right now.
This doesn't seem like anything sinister, but the more you think about it, the dumber of an idea this is. This is the start of some really dumb ideas from Microsoft on how to monetize the Xbox IP. Mark my words.
Good if you've a cheaper/older console and don't have the time or money to sub. i can see this working for some.
Not complaining about it, As we all know people who would benefit from it.
@Someguyperson At the moment, Dumb ideas seem to be the only plentiful things console manufacturers have.
Just feels like another weird corpo move. The thing that worries me is cracking the door open to put ads in games.
IMO - if you own a game, you shouldn’t see ads. Then again, you don’t really own a digital game, do you?
Adverts in games sounds like the worst gaming idea ever. As stated above, this does then open the door for adverts in games, which is a terrible precedent. This is another glaring example of why physical media is critically important.
@Someguyperson Why this negativity? I know enough people who‘d like to play a bit FC, a bit CoD, a bit 007 First Light, but wouldn’t spend a 400, 500, 600 euros just for the required piece of hardware. An easy-to-use and affordable controller in combination with a free app on their existing TV would be great for them. And they would accept regular adverts.
@Max_the_German Going after the most cost-sensitive part of the market means going after the lowest margins per customer. Doing that means that you simply need to reduce costs as much as possible, which means investing as little as possible (cutting more heads & studios) in a race to the absolute bottom. Not only that, but their current streaming solution isn't nearly as good as the competition, so you're already starting on the back foot. Do you really not think Nvidia could eat Microsoft's lunch when it comes to this? It's not a battle they could win.
What are Microsoft's strengths? They have/had a bunch of talented and popular developers. If the actually managed everything effectively, they would be able to schedule out several marquee games a year with lots more nice games that have a chance of becoming a hit to fill out the annual portfolio. Just look at Nintendo - they have a great, sustainable business because they have a formula to make their games a valued item and they aren't in a race to the bottom to simply try and chance numbers that simply aren't there. Nintendo has a great release cadence to keep their audience interested and happy with their purchases.
Absolutely nothing in these announcements would make the faithful Xbox player invest more in the ecosystem. Microsoft is just chasing a bunch of people who might stop in for a little bit of revenue and then bounce off quite quickly, while Nintendo is ensuring the people who invest the most money into the ecosystem are kept happy and have lots of value for their purchases.
@Someguyperson If the cloud infrastructure is cheap enough to operate, I don’t see a reason not to target ALSO the more casual gamers. Nobody is taking away anything from the core gamers. But the casual gamers COULD also buy „core games“ and get more and more invested into gaming. If you put the bar too high with a heavy upfront investment like a 500 euros console or an 1500 euros PC, you won’t expand the group of core gamers, who buy (and therefore support) the same games as you and me.
And Xbox stands for easy-to-use console gaming, without conplex PC configuration and other uncomfortable stuff. The brands Nvidia and Steam don’t transport this message to casual gamers as good as Xbox does.
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