Microsoft could start trading ad views for “timed slices of games”
Enlarge / An example of the kinds of ads that showed up on the Xbox One dashboard. Soon those could expand to include video ads in exchange for gameplay time. (credit: Microsoft)
Since its launch in 2017, Microsoft has convinced over 25 million people to pay a monthly subscription fee to access a substantial library of Xbox Game Pass titles. For those not as interested in a monthly subscription, though, Microsoft is now floating a potential model where players could view an ad in exchange for a short period of game time.
The nod toward potential ad-supported game time comes from Xbox Corporate VP for Game Creator Experience and Ecosystem Sarah Bond, who told Rolling Stone UK that she's constantly looking to "introduce more business model diversity" for game developers.
"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?" Bond said. "Are there other models where you might have timed slices of games and stuff like that?"