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The Ugly, Profitable Details About Xbox Live Advertising
An anonymous reader writes "In an editorial at Penny Arcade, Ben Kuchera writes about how Microsoft's subscription-based Xbox Live platform has become an advertising cash cow — to the detriment of users who already pay for the service. Quoting: 'People who don't play video games would be forgiven if they turned on an Xbox 360 and didn't realize it was a device used to primarily play games. The first screen you see on the Xbox 360 Dashboard is often a mixture of ads for all sorts of goods and services, and many times games are in the minority of ad slots. The latest redesign increased the ad space that can be sold to advertisers, and that in turn increased this problem. Let's be clear, it is a problem. Game discovery is terrible in the current design of Xbox Live, and the usability of a system that used to be about games is suffering in order for Microsoft to make money on ads. Sadly, this issue isn't going away: Ad sales simply bring in too much money to ignore, and revenue is growing. ... I contacted Microsoft and asked how much advertising revenue impacted the profitability of the Xbox 360. "We don't share this information publicly but we can tell you that, since 2010, the advertising business has grown 142%," I was told.'"
With Xbox Live you pay to receive ads. With PSN, you don't pay a dime and still get online gaming.
While I'm acting smug as a PS3 owner, who doesn't have to put up with Microsoft's bullshit, I have to wonder just how much longer Sony's offering will last.
So what is exactly is suffering for gaming? Has the hardware been gimped? Can you not just pop a game in and play it? The XBox is being slotted as a media platform, not just a gaming platform and it seems to be doing that rather well, just look at the sales. Just because it's not the uber-hardcore gaming machine you're expecting does not make it bad. If you really want that go build a PC. But as long as it plays games and you still have access to game content, all while providing additional entertainment and media options, I fail to see the issue.
To be honest, I use mine mainly for Netflix and other media related options. Occasionally I do play a game, so it fits perfectly for me. It's no longer just a "gaming console".
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"And may your days be long upon the earth."
I'm annoyed by the idea of ads, but in reality I don't think the ads get in the way at all.
If you start your system with a game in it, press the "a" button and the game goes. To browse the game library, press down and hit "a."
It's not like you have to sit through a commercial, it doesn't even take up screen space that would be better used elsewhere. It's basically a non-factor.
XBLA games that get popular get popular through positive reviews, word-of-mouth, and advertising. Not because people are randomly browsing through streamlined XBox menus and decide to take a chance.
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Not to point out the rotting dead fish in the middle of the room, but this is exactly what happened with cable TV, and yet there is no real outrage on that front any more. I'm not saying it's the right thing...or even "acceptable" but customers seem to never balk at ads, and content streamers never turn down a revenue stream. It feels almost inevitable.
There are ads that load in when you connect to PSN. However, most of those ads are for games/videos you can download from PSN.
Same thing goes for Xbox Live. I'm an XBL user and I didn't really notice the change that much, because it's no different than what Google is doing with Android Market and what Apple does with its iOS and Mac App Stores.
It's completely different.
Apple and Google relegate their advertising to their app stores - you know, a special place specifically designed for you to go and buy stuff? It would be the same thing, if every time you turned on your Android or iDevice, you were smacked upside the head with ad after ad, but that's not the case.
Also worth noting, Apple and Google don't charge you for the privilege.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The thing is, the default setting if you have a disc (XBL gold or not) is for that disc to play. If that disc has multiplayer and you're logged into XBL, multiplayer just works -- you're not force fed advertisements at any time. Messages are primarily sent through the little Xbox-button menu which is usable both in and out of game. Achievements can be browsed this way as well, and friends can also be searched this way. No ads there either.
The point I'm trying to make is the Xbox Live landing page is typically for users who are looking for something else. It's not all that different than Google Play (I used the outdated name earlier) or App Store if you really think about user behavior. You pretend to spend $200-300 on a phone (in reality it's thousands over two years) and when you're looking for content, you're first shown featured content -- not a bland search screen or category listing. The console's core purpose of being a gaming device is no more compromised by the Xbox landing page than smartphones are by their respective market pages. I mean, it sucks that you can't go and put your Arcade games/indie games/netflix/whatever on the landing page, but I don't remember ever being able to.
If Silver members see the ads/featuring then it's really not all that bad. You can buy $1000 worth of content on the App Store and the featured content isn't going to change.
Not that anyone's claimed this, but I'm not a M$ employee, just an amateur devil's advocate.
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