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Microsoft will provide more TV-like advertisements through XBox Live

KageMaru

Member
This has to be the biggest spin I have ever read. Yes, they have payed for development of titles and yes they have promoted them via commercials. Just because you avoid that information, doesn't mean you're right.

This has turned into a pure troll thread now where MS is the only greedy corporation that rips off their customers while forcing ads down their throat, only to abandon them for the casual market.
 

Jac_Solar

Member
Do what? Are you sure that it's not the content providers who are wanting ads in their streaming service?

I'm quite sure the conversation has degraded to a point where no one has actually read the article. All they see are "LIVE + ADS! BETTER START RAGING!"

I'm not raging, I'm just disappointed. I expected them to treat their customers better -- perhaps they'll offer some sort of toggle for ads/streams with ads for paying customers.
 

EGM1966

Member
Because in principle I don't agree with a) putting services that should be free to access behind a paywall that adds nothing and b) putting services with their own fee behind a paywall that adds nothing I've quit Gold.

It is still the best service, although PSN isn't that bad now, and the fee for MS paywall is pretty much peanuts really, but I just feel the current configuration of Live isn't anything I believe makes sense in terms of what is withheld from Silver or imposed on Gold.
 
I can't believe people are defending ads. I'm not at all surprised at those who are however. There's Some colours being nailed to the mast in this thread...

Personally, I prefer the Steam/PSN/Apple approach where I only see ads when I'm in the store.

For anyone to defend ads is just unreal. That being said I have no problem with peeps saying they don't mind them, or are not bothered by them... But to defend them? Unreal.
 

KageMaru

Member
What's interesting and amusing is this discussion may be pointless next gen if Sony offers a better system and online service for free, and people jump ship, which is something I would do. Or on the flip side, if Sony starts charging for their service next gen.
 

Dave Long

Banned
Paying for Gold should mean no ads for me.

People love ads though. It's stupid. "Please, tell me about more things I can buy!" Fuck that!
 
Paying for Gold should mean no ads for me.

People love ads though. It's stupid. "Please, tell me about more things I can buy!" Fuck that!

I don't understand, you hate it when a service tells you something you might like is available or that there's a sale on, etc.
 
I can't believe people are defending ads. I'm not at all surprised at those who are however. There's Some colours being nailed to the mast in this thread...

Personally, I prefer the Steam/PSN/Apple approach where I only see ads when I'm in the store.

For anyone to defend ads is just unreal. That being said I have no problem with peeps saying they don't mind them, or are not bothered by them... But to defend them? Unreal.

by "defending" them i am sure you mean accepting that they are a critical part of a capitalist/commercial economy, and MS is a part of that economy tasked with generating income for it's investors and to keep people employed. somewhere at some point an ad or a PR release or some kind of marketing helped you decide how to spend your money, and though every little ad on XBL may not help you it does for someone, which helps sell another widget or thing.

it is stupid to pretend that internet bitching will make advertising go away. frankly maybe if sony were a little better at advertisements they would be looking at billion-dollar losses on the year. There will always be ads on XBL because they deem them to work. It is unrelated to whether the service comes with a $5/mo subscription.
 
Good for Microsoft for being opportunistic. Bad for gamers who actually think 15-second ads replace $60 subscription fees.
Great point. There I was all this time asking myself "When is Microsoft going to start getting opportunistic?". Good to see they finally got the memo.
 
I don't understand, you hate it when a service tells you something you might like is available or that there's a sale on, etc.

That's called advertising and yes, people hate them. People use VCR's and DVR's to skip commercials when they can and they use adblockers on the internet.

Seriously, do you work for an ad agency?
 
That's called advertising and yes, people hate them. People use VCR's and DVR's to skip commercials when they can and they use adblockers on the internet.

Seriously, do you work for an ad agency?

But you encounter ads every day, almost everywhere. Do those who hate them that much simply not leave the house? Do they tear down these ads on the subway, etc?

The hate for ads simply makes no sense.

Won't dignify your last comment with an answer, either debate the point or don't bother quoting me.
 

Eusis

Member
I don't understand, you hate it when a service tells you something you might like is available or that there's a sale on, etc.
I hate how it can crowd out core functionality... And now that I think about it, a lot of the stuff could've been consolidated to one page had it not been for the advertising. At least I don't have to actively move away from an initial panel devoted ENTIRELY to advertising what's on XBL (or just advertising period) now.
 

Dave Long

Banned
But you encounter ads every day, almost everywhere. Do those who hate them that much simply not leave the house? Do they tear down these ads on the subway, etc?

The hate for ads simply makes no sense.

Won't dignify your last comment with an answer, either debate the point or don't bother quoting me.
I wasn't put on earth to consume ads. When I want to play videogames on my videogame console, I don't want to have advertising thrown in my face. There's no need for it.

Why do you love them so much? What excites you about advertising?
 

coldfoot

Banned
The first is easy to prove from MS PR. Last year the ratio of Live/Total was 35M/55M. Now it's 40M/66M

The gold ratio is harder to show because Microsoft stopped releasing numbers a couple years ago. There was a leaked document that showed it going from 60%->56%->50%, but let me see I can find it.
Edit - here it is:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2009/02/22/just-over-half-of-xbox-live-subscribers-pay-to-play/
Shows it go from 60%->56%

And later on, Dennis Durkin said half of Xbox Live members are gold in 2010.
Since then, we have not heard any news from MS on the Live Gold/Silver breakdown. However they did say that now they make more money from the store than subscriptions.
 
But you encounter ads every day, almost everywhere. Do those who hate them that much simply not leave the house? Do they tear down these ads on the subway, etc?

The hate for ads simply makes no sense.

Won't dignify your last comment with an answer, either debate the point or don't bother quoting me.

Yes, we encounter ads everywhere. When it is enough? You really don't fuckin' understand that we are tired of them even though you acknowledge they are everywhere? No, I don't damage property that isn't mine. What a stupid question.

Telling me you won't dignify my comment with an answer, is an answer in itself.
 
I wasn't put on earth to consume ads. When I want to play videogames on my videogame console, I don't want to have advertising thrown in my face. There's no need for it.

Why do you love them so much? What excites you about advertising?

you have advertising thrown in your face. constantly.
 
That's called advertising and yes, people hate them. People use VCR's and DVR's to skip commercials when they can and they use adblockers on the internet.

How should they promote content on the service? I often end up trying demo's and buying DLC because it's on sale and presented to me. I much prefer that than having to keep tabs on different sites and forums to ensure I'm aware of content and promotions. That's an inefficient use of my time. Perhaps not the case for you.
 

Eusis

Member
How should they promote content on the service? I often end up trying demo's and buying DLC because it's on sale and presented to me. I much prefer that than having to keep tabs on different sites and forums to ensure I'm aware of content and promotions. That's an inefficient use of my time. Perhaps not the case for you.
When they got into the store it's definitely fair game, they could have a panel like spotlight that the system doesn't fucking default to, and if nothing else they could simply cut out the stuff irrelevant to stuff Microsoft can sell like McDonalds and to a lesser degree (YOU CAN PLAY IT ON WINDOWS) World of Warcraft.
 
The first is easy to prove from MS PR. Last year the ratio of Live/Total was 35M/55M. Now it's 40M/66M

The gold ratio is harder to show because Microsoft stopped releasing numbers a couple years ago. There was a leaked document that showed it going from 60%->56%->50%, but let me see I can find it.

So the userbase increased, but gold subscribers didn't. Yeah...I'd sure like to see this leaked doc.
 

statham

Member
I wasn't put on earth to consume ads. When I want to play videogames on my videogame console, I don't want to have advertising thrown in my face. There's no need for it.

Why do you love them so much? What excites you about advertising?

because they don't bother me, ads revenue to MS, and I can jump into any game as fast as PS3. nobody is holding your eyes open to stare at these ads for 30 seconds. click on quickplay, select game and play. its not like youtube or movies where they make you sit through a trailer(which I don't mind) or youtube(commercial) do mind before starting the application.
 

Eusis

Member
I do have to admit, defaulting to Spotlight bothered me far, FAR more than this does. Only now am I bugged more since I realized they could've kept more of the core functionality on a single page had it not been for advertising. Still, the main thing I want out of a console (default to "Play the game", and ability to look elsewhere if it doesn't autoboot) is satisfied with this. By defaulting to Spotlight it gave the FEELING that I had to go through advertising first just to get to my game, even if it really is better than, say, watching the opening to a TV show then waiting on another commercial break before actually watching the show.
 
When they got into the store it's definitely fair game, they could have a panel like spotlight that the system doesn't fucking default to, and if nothing else they could simply cut out the stuff irrelevant to stuff Microsoft can sell like McDonalds and to a lesser degree (YOU CAN PLAY IT ON WINDOWS) World of Warcraft.
That's where it should be yes, in the store, I don't think I will ever be that blind of content on a service, that I need it all over the home screen and dash, I know about the content fine on every other device like IOS and PSN where it's kept to the marketplace.
 
I wasn't put on earth to consume ads. When I want to play videogames on my videogame console, I don't want to have advertising thrown in my face. There's no need for it.

Why do you love them so much? What excites you about advertising?

That doesn't take away from my point. Ads bombard you almost every minute of your waking life, you literally cannot get away from them unless you lock yourself in doors and don't watch TV, don't listen to the radio, don't go on the net and don't read magazines.

I disagree that there's no need for them, how else are companies, etc supposed to let people know about their products?

Yes, we encounter ads everywhere. When it is enough? You really don't fuckin' understand that we are tired of them even though you acknowledge they are everywhere? No, I don't damage property that isn't mine. What a stupid question.

Telling me you won't dignify my comment with an answer, is an answer in itself.

Never is enough, that's the entire point. Ads are here to stay, get used to them. You'll enjoy life a lot more once you do.

you have advertising thrown in your face. constantly.

Exactly. The way some people talk about ads, you'd think they were shut ins who don't watch tv, listen to the radio or pretty much do anything.
 

Dave Long

Banned
Get out a cartridge based system from the past and play some games on it. You'll wonder what the fuck you're doing waiting around for all the bullshit that gets in your way of playing modern games.

I truly do weep for the future generations because apparently they love advertising and brands so much that they don't have any clue what life was like without it.
 
How should they promote content on the service? I often end up trying demo's and buying DLC because it's on sale and presented to me. I much prefer that than having to keep tabs on different sites and forums to ensure I'm aware of content and promotions. That's an inefficient use of my time. Perhaps not the case for you.

It's ineffecient for you to look at gaming news on the internet but you're ok with looking at 20 ads to see 1 item you find interesting? Sorry, that doesn't make sense.

To answer your question though, advertise in the store. You want to look at ads, you go to the store. Simple.
 
Never is enough, that's the entire point. Ads are here to stay, get used to them. You'll enjoy life a lot more once you do.


That's a pretty weak response, I was expecting more. Oh well, you continue to bathe in ads (do you sing to ads like they did in Demolition Man) and I will continue to do what I can to avoid them.
 

coldfoot

Banned
That doesn't take away from my point. Ads bombard you almost every minute of your waking life, you literally cannot get away from them unless you lock yourself in doors and don't watch TV, don't listen to the radio, don't go on the net and don't read magazines.
I turn on my TV and choose the Netflix app on the TV. I watch all the video I want without being subjected to any ads whatsoever. I also don't pay anything other than the Netflix subscription. I see ads on regular TV, but that's OK since it's FREE. I don't pay for cable.

I am not greeted by ads when I view my Windows (soon to be OSX)/iOS desktop to open an application, but only when I am in an app or browser visiting a website. Websites can have ads since you don't pay to access them in the first place, and they are ONLY displayed when you're visiting them.
 

see5harp

Member
It's ineffecient for you to look at gaming news on the internet but you're ok with looking at 20 ads to see 1 item you find interesting? Sorry, that doesn't make sense.

To answer your question though, advertise in the store. You want to look at ads, you go to the store. Simple.

When MS starts playing ads before and between games then I think many who are okay with the current dashboard will change their stance like they did with Wipeout HD. No one cares about Uncharted Subway T-shirts or Scion Motorstorm because the ads aren't intrusive. When the ads on the dashboard become intrusive to the gaming experience on 360, I will be a little more vocal in my displeasure.

EDIT: if they start playing ads in Netflix and HBO then I'd also be a little peeved, but I would think ads there are up to the content providers or require their approval.
 
Get out a cartridge based system from the past and play some games on it. You'll wonder what the fuck you're doing waiting around for all the bullshit that gets in your way of playing modern games.

I truly do weep for the future generations because apparently they love advertising and brands so much that they don't have any clue what life was like without it.

Wat?

Games boot just as quickly on my 360/PS3 as they did on my Megadrive or SNES.

Accepting that ads are a big part of our lives and will never go away isn't loving them, it's accepting and moving on and not getting riled up over something you can never, ever hope to change.

when this becomes commonplace, it's time to start bitching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX4f9zts6JM
 

Dave Long

Banned
That doesn't take away from my point. Ads bombard you almost every minute of your waking life, you literally cannot get away from them unless you lock yourself in doors and don't watch TV, don't listen to the radio, don't go on the net and don't read magazines.

I disagree that there's no need for them, how else are companies, etc supposed to let people know about their products?



Never is enough, that's the entire point. Ads are here to stay, get used to them. You'll enjoy life a lot more once you do.



Exactly. The way some people talk about ads, you'd think they were shut ins who don't watch tv, listen to the radio or pretty much do anything.
You're just broken, pal. It's as simple as that. I'll never enjoy life more because of ads. I don't have to accept them no matter how many times you say it. You don't have to be a shut in to hate advertising or have no need for it in your life.

The person who asked above was right to ask. You clearly have an agenda you're pushing in this thread.
 
That's a pretty weak response, I was expecting more. Oh well, you continue to bathe in ads (do you sing to ads like they did in Demolition Man) and I will continue to do what I can to avoid them.

I wish you a happy and long life as a shut in. Don't forget to get at least 15mins of sun a day to keep your immune system in check.

I turn on my TV and choose the Netflix app on the TV. I watch all the video I want without being subjected to any ads whatsoever. I also don't pay anything other than the Netflix subscription. I see ads on regular TV, but that's OK since it's FREE. I don't pay for cable.

I am not greeted by ads when I view my Windows (soon to be OSX)/iOS desktop to open an application, but only when I am in an app or browser visiting a website. Websites can have ads since you don't pay to access them in the first place, and they are ONLY displayed when you're visiting them.

Still waiting on that doc.
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
No one cares about Uncharted Subway T-shirts or Scion Motorstorm because the ads aren't intrusive. When the ads on the dashboard become intrusive to the gaming experience on 360, I will be a little more vocal in my displeasure.

Well Scion bought me the game, so they can put their dumb car on the splash screen all they want. When are the XBL advertisers going to pay our gold fee?
 

statham

Member
Get out a cartridge based system from the past and play some games on it. You'll wonder what the fuck you're doing waiting around for all the bullshit that gets in your way of playing modern games.

I truly do weep for the future generations because apparently they love advertising and brands so much that they don't have any clue what life was like without it.
ads serious business.

hopefully avengers does great with no ads. wonder how many click on movie trailers 'out of enjoyment to see a new trailer of a awesome movie' feel like this ad is a doom for future generations?
 
Wat?

Games boot just as quickly on my 360/PS3 as they did on my Megadrive or SNES.

Accepting that ads are a big part of our lives and will never go away isn't loving them, it's accepting and moving on and not getting riled up over something you can never, ever hope to change.

when this becomes commonplace, it's time to start bitching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX4f9zts6JM

I wish you a happy and long life as a shut in. Don't forget to get at least 15mins of sun a day to keep your immune system in check.

If you were simply accepting of them and MOVING ON, you wouldn't be here defending them. Besides, if we took that advice marketers would put ads on our cars because we would be accepting. You just don't understand that pushing back is required if you don't want marketers to go even crazier than they already are.

I don't need to be shut in to avoid many ads. For example, the more ads I see on the 360, the less it will get used. I don't watch TV at all, if I want to watch something I'll watch Netflix or I'll rent it. If my rental has ads, I'll use the skip button. Easy stuff but I won't PAY anyone to advertise to me.
 
You're just broken, pal. It's as simple as that. I'll never enjoy life more because of ads. I don't have to accept them no matter how many times you say it. You don't have to be a shut in to hate advertising or have no need for it in your life.

The person who asked above was right to ask. You clearly have an agenda you're pushing in this thread.

An agenda? Fill me in, bro. I'm all ears.

Accepting ads are here to stay isn't being broken, it's accepting an inevitability. One you might not like and one you'll try to fight, but it's futile.

Everything you love will eventually have ads. Netflix, Amazon, Lovefilm, games, movies, mobiles, etc. They are going to become more intrusive, more annoying, more in your face. The only genuine way to avoid them will be to become a shut in.

This is an inevitability, it's one that no-one can change and it's better to accept that it's going to happen than get upset over it.
 

CamHostage

Member
Because in principle I don't agree with a) putting services that should be free to access behind a paywall that adds nothing and b) putting services with their own fee behind a paywall that adds nothing I've quit Gold.

I'm still kind of the other way on paywalls... everything I get free, I still suspect it. I use it like crazy anyway, of course, and I balk at paying for something that could be had free (especially software, no clue why digital=free to me and everybody else on the planet as if no work or investment went into it, but I still feel less insulted paying for ice than I do software.)

I'm just not fully invested in the free product approach for whatever reason, and always have in the back of my mind that somehow I'll be suckered to pay later even if it's obvious it'll never happen. (And in the case of websites and adware, to a tiny degree I known I am paying for it with my ad impressions but it's only every so often I feel cogent at all about the cumulative effects, like some product is in stores and I've never bought it before but think, "Oh, that came out... wait, why do I know what that is??") I know I'm just shy of a conspiracy-fueled freak-out where I drink my own urine and rage against the government, but I kind of like that the little glimmer is still ringing in the back of my brain when I use something for free.
 

Mr_Zombie

Member
when this becomes commonplace, it's time to start bitching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX4f9zts6JM

It's funny that in one post you states that we should accept ads because "you can never, even hope to change", and then you states that when some other type of ads becomes commonplace "it's time to start bitching". Why should we accept one type of ads and not accept the others, then? After all, "how else are companies, etc supposed to let people know about their products"?
 

Marco1

Member
I can understand the anger here. I live in the UK and my cable company SKY ask for a monthly sub yet they still have ads every 15 fucking minutes. Even shows like top gear on the DAVE channel get cut so that the one hour show can accommodate 4 ad breaks yet the original show on BBC2 does not, I pay an annual tv license so that I don't get ad breaks on the original showing of top gear.
MS take a yearly sub for gold so at least restrict the ads to silver if need be. I don't see how the revenue generated by ads will improve live if the users already pay a sub.
It comes down to one thing, money just like Murdoch and his bloody empire.
 

coldfoot

Banned
February 22, 2009.

I'm speechless.

Latest data point is "half" from Dennis Durkin in 2010.
so it went from 60% to 50% 2007-2010.
We don't know what happened after 2010, but MS would certainly advertise if they got 20 million paying gold members if they reached that number.
 

see5harp

Member
Well Scion bought me the game, so they can put their dumb car on the splash screen all they want. When are the XBL advertisers going to pay our gold fee?

It's a revenue stream for MS that has not manifested itself in gaming as of right now. 15 second ad spots in some of the apps would piss me off but it's not the end of the world. I'm perfectly fine with the way the core gaming functions work.

EDIT: and by the way, don't get so defensive, I'm saying that promos if unobtrusive do not bother me. I love Motorstorm RC.
 
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