Ads in Microsoft's Free-to-Play Games: Why?
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Ads in Microsoft's Free-to-Play Games: Why?
Microsoft has announced that they are strongly considering the option of introducing ads in their free-to-play Xbox games. Whereas the simple reason behind this is seemingly the drive for profit, many have been confused by Microsoft’s statement that they do not plan to take a cut from the gathered ad revenue.
So, what is Microsoft’s plan, does it make sense – and why would a company like Microsoft want to do it?
Who gets the ad revenue?
The biggest controversy within the proposed plan is that Microsoft stated that they do not wish to gather money from said ads. According to Business Insider, the money garnered by the ads would be given to the developers of the game in question.
In other words, Microsoft would solely serve as a platform and middleman between the developers of the game, and companies seeking to place ads on Xbox games. By doing so, Microsoft would invest money into the developers – offering them a chance to both earn money from their previous product, and to have more time and resources to develop a new one. More importantly, despite investing money into the developers, Microsoft never has to invest their own money, but rather invests the money earned through the sheer user potential their platform has.
Ads through gameplay
The second thing people focused on is the idea that ads within free-to-play games would not pop up in a traditional manner – as a banner, video, product placement or something similar. Instead of this, the proposition is that ads will be incorporated into gameplay – by becoming a part of the standard visuals within the game. This is called integrating ads into the in-game inventory and has been around for a while but has significantly increased in popularity with the growth of metaverse technologies.
What does this mean for users?
Considering that in-game inventory ads are not universally present in the gaming or entertainment realm, this novelty could significantly impact user experience. This is especially relevant as we are seeing a vast increase in technologies aimed at avoiding, preventing, or bypassing advertisements in entertainment.
The iGaming industry in particular has developed a multitude of ways to both present their own advertisements, and to simultaneously bypass ads supported by others. Companies such as New Casinos operate on the premise of ranking apps for new mobile casinos for beginners and experienced players according to how user-friendly they are. This includes how appropriate certain apps are for phone/tablet/PC use, how safe are the online payments, how often are bonuses received – but also the overall quality of gameplay that might suffer as a result of in-game ads.
Similarly, the rise of different ad blockers, the use of VPNs to avoid so many ads, the tendency to play offline just to bypass them, along with many other techniques have become an everyday reality of many – in particular those fond of mobile gaming.
Therefore, it is easy to deduce that if the quality of gameplay will suffer as a result of in-game inventory ads, no sector of gaming, nor entertainment will happily accept its entrance into the market.
Microsoft has addressed these concerns, saying that the ads would not disrupt gameplay, but would rather appear in the player’s surroundings (e.g. on billboards in the background). They have also acknowledged the possibility of ads irritating players and have vocalized that they will only include select brands to avoid said irritation. However, it is not clear how an annoying element of gameplay will be considered less annoying solely because it advertises a product one might be fond of.
In other words, when faced with the issue that in-game inventory ads will be annoying and could deter players from playing the game, Microsoft failed to provide a relevant response.
On top of this, when reviewing the quality of a certain game, and how likely they are to play it again, avid gamers take into account elements such as – is the game a cash grab in any way, as well as how incorporated are the visual elements of the game. This level of meticulous analysis and care about the platform and content they engage with is surely something that needs to be addressed by Microsoft, as it is pointing towards a potential backlash once in-game ads are introduced.
Is Microsoft setting an inevitable precedent?
Simply put – yes.
As stated earlier on, in-game ads have been a thing for over a decade, and the trend just keeps on growing with the popularization of metaverse technologies. With that in mind, Microsoft’s choice is not groundbreaking or revolutionary on its own but is solely the first instance of a systematic implementation of in-game ads.
What this means is that Microsoft is doing something that we have not previously witnessed, but if Microsoft hadn’t done it – another company would have.
However, the questions that still remain open is whether or not this practice will have positive impacts on the world of game developers, whether the extra income will encourage more companies to make their games free-to-play, and whether users will systematically reject this novelty, or grow to accept it with time.