Microsoft plans to bring interactive ads to Xbox Live within the year but Major Nelson says users don't need to worry about a "huge influx of ads" cluttering up the dashboard.
Microsoft revealed its plan to bring Silverlight-based ads to the Xbox Live service yesterday, part of an effort to enable advertisers to create campaigns across four different platforms - television, mobile phones, desktops and Surface - without having to "re-purpose" for each one. "Silverlight-powered media on Xbox will have the same appearance as ads seen on a Web browser," according to a MediaPost report. "Think technology that competes with Flash, only supported by 6 million Silverlight developers worldwide who now have the option to tap a variety of Microsoft tools and technologies and develop marketing campaigns for Xbox."
"We are just starting to scratch the surface of what's possible," said Sean Alexander, director of Microsoft's Advertising Business Group. "As a marketer, your job is to build an emotional connection with the brand, no matter the platform."
Despite Alexander's enthusiasm, many Xbox Live users are less than thrilled at the prospect of the service being swamped with obtrusive ads. But Larry Hryb, the Xbox Live director of programming better known as Major Nelson, said there's nothing to worry about, assuring people on his blog that Microsoft isn't going to bury gamers with advertising.
"I need to let you know that you don't need to worry about a huge influx of ads across the dashboard," he wrote. "One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the Live community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we've done with some of the NXE slots in the past."
"No one on the team wants to turn the dashboard into something that looks like like Shibuya Crossing," he added. "That's just not good for anyone."
Many users responding to Hryb's post remained unhappy about the prospect of the ads, however, suggesting that while they might be appropriate for people on the free Silver level of service, Xbox Live Gold members shouldn't have to put up with any advertising at all.
Found out yesterday, or the day before. Honestly I couldn't care about the ads. Sometimes they are informative and I'll at least have a chance of finding something new that skipped my radar.
I thought they already kinda had ads on Xbox Live for games, films and music.
Hopefully this will mean Xbox Live would go cheaper though if they get money from advertising... not likely though. As said in the article more likely than that would be Silver get ads and Gold don't.
They won't affect me though as I don't go on the dashboard much but games.
Woah, hold up there a second. Aren't we paying for Xbox Live already? Did Microsoft suddenly think "Huh, I don't think we're quite cashing in enough on this!"?
Come on, we already pay for Gold. Now we need to hear about how we could really use another controller? Or how about some other products? No. We already put up with paying fifty dollars a year for online gaming, while the other console owners do it for free. Screw you, Microsoft.
Eruanno: Woah, hold up there a second. Aren't we paying for Xbox Live already? Did Microsoft suddenly think "Huh, I don't think we're quite cashing in enough on this!"?
Gold members are paying, but Silver members are still downloading hosted items like videos and demos and content. Microsoft doesn't charge the developers for that, so they need to get the money from somewhere. Advertisements is a great way to do it, so long as they aren't akin to popups.
So it's basically paying to get advertisments shoved in your face? Giving Microsoft money for them to make more money? I thought a huge point in most "pay for more content!" stuff was to get rid of the damn advertisments, not have them pop up regardless. You shouldn't have to deal with that, no matter how negligable or minor it is.
And don't you dare tell me I'm being a fanboy here (you know who you are....you!), Qore has advertisments in some of it's segments and it really gets annoying. And yet I still pay for it........shit...
Okay so they now have advertisement revenue... will it make it cheaper for us? If not I think that is what people will be annoyed about, I know I would be. Heck, maybe people havent even thought about it that way yet.
I find this humorous. The whole reason we got the piece of shit called the NXE (which has always ran slower than the old dashboard) was to clean up the screen and fix the issues caused by ads in the last dashboard. So now we get the ads we used to have with a less efficient UI to maneuver with.
Eruanno: Woah, hold up there a second. Aren't we paying for Xbox Live already? Did Microsoft suddenly think "Huh, I don't think we're quite cashing in enough on this!"?
I thought that, I expected Sony to be doing this before Microsoft, seeing as how I pay nothing for PSNetwork, I wouldnt mind if they had some advertising on the store and XMB. Then again, Microsoft is still a business and anything they can do to increase revenue will be done.
Eruanno: Woah, hold up there a second. Aren't we paying for Xbox Live already? Did Microsoft suddenly think "Huh, I don't think we're quite cashing in enough on this!"?
Gold members are paying, but Silver members are still downloading hosted items like videos and demos and content. Microsoft doesn't charge the developers for that, so they need to get the money from somewhere. Advertisements is a great way to do it, so long as they aren't akin to popups.
That's a load of bullhonkey, and you know it. "Microsoft doesn't charge the developers for that, so they need the money from somewhere"? Seriously? There's like, what, 25 million Gold Subscribers or something? Multiply that by 5, do you really think they're short on money? That's not counting all the Marketplace stuff that I'm sure people buy all the time as well as a bunch of other stuff. Besides, do you really want to pay for something that should be removed when you pay for it anyway? You're paying them to get more money, what sense does that make?
And if you want to get technical, trailers, demos, and the like are advertisments so charge away (not saying I like it, but meh, I don't have to pay for it)
I get the same kind of giggles when people say "VALVe needs money!" crap when arguing about the L4D2 stuff. I think STEAM sort of comforts them, don't you think?
MasterStratus: We already put up with paying fifty dollars a month for online gaming, while the other console owners do it for free.
Well you're getting screwed then. I pay 50 bucks for 13 months.
Sorry, my bad. I meant year. But either way, we're paying while other people don't.
We're also getting a better internet service then compared to the PS3. I often hear of online matches just breaking apart for no reason on the PS3.
And that doesn't happen on Xbox Live? It sure happens to me a lot. And it's not my internet, my laptop and various other things work fine. Don't get me wrong, I love my Xbox. I'm just saying that we put up with paying, then we get ads to pay for more stuff. I just hope they don't make "Xbox Platinum, now with less ads than Gold!"
MasterStratus: We already put up with paying fifty dollars a month for online gaming, while the other console owners do it for free.
Well you're getting screwed then. I pay 50 bucks for 13 months.
Sorry, my bad. I meant year. But either way, we're paying while other people don't.
We're also getting a better internet service then compared to the PS3. I often hear of online matches just breaking apart for no reason on the PS3.
And that doesn't happen on Xbox Live? It sure happens to me a lot. And it's not my internet, my laptop and various other things work fine. Don't get me wrong, I love my Xbox. I'm just saying that we put up with paying, then we get ads to pay for more stuff. I just hope they don't make "Xbox Platinum, now with less ads than Gold!"
It happens to you? Really? I've been playing on my Xbox360 for a year or two now and I've never had that problem.
Fair enough I suppose. Although the ads can be a good thing as well. They sometimes are informative, which is always a good thing.
MasterStratus: We already put up with paying fifty dollars a month for online gaming, while the other console owners do it for free.
Well you're getting screwed then. I pay 50 bucks for 13 months.
Sorry, my bad. I meant year. But either way, we're paying while other people don't.
We're also getting a better internet service then compared to the PS3. I often hear of online matches just breaking apart for no reason on the PS3.
And that doesn't happen on Xbox Live? It sure happens to me a lot. And it's not my internet, my laptop and various other things work fine. Don't get me wrong, I love my Xbox. I'm just saying that we put up with paying, then we get ads to pay for more stuff. I just hope they don't make "Xbox Platinum, now with less ads than Gold!"
It happens to you? Really? I've been playing on my Xbox360 for a year or two now and I've never had that problem.
Fair enough I suppose. Although the ads can be a good thing as well. They sometimes are informative, which is always a good thing.
I suppose the ads could be good. I'm just being pessimistic and assuming that they'll be for things like DLC for games you don't have, or the newest color of wireless controller. Oh well. We'll just have to live with it.
Jumplion: That's a load of bullhonkey, and you know it. "Microsoft doesn't charge the developers for that, so they need the money from somewhere"? Seriously? There's like, what, 25 million Gold Subscribers or something? Multiply that by 5, do you really think they're short on money? That's not counting all the Marketplace stuff that I'm sure people buy all the time as well as a bunch of other stuff. Besides, do you really want to pay for something that should be removed when you pay for it anyway? You're paying them to get more money, what sense does that make?
And if you want to get technical, trailers, demos, and the like are advertisments so charge away (not saying I like it, but meh, I don't have to pay for it)
Oh come on, Jumplion.
Where, pray tell, did you get the gold member numbers? A recent Escapist Article I read (Whose link I can't find, my bad) said the numbers were around 7 million, with far more 'silver' members (Which is free, as a reminder). They download demos, and videos, and themes, and all these other things that are being hosted at no cost to developers and creators. Who is paying for that hosting? You want to see how much it costs to run servers to host that many people downloading this much stuff per year?
Besides, there are already ads on XLB, and they are extremely easy to ignore. So who cares? It's like an ad on the bus you're riding on, or on the billboard on the side of the road. Who cares? Just ignore it. It's not jumping in your face. It's just sitting there.
Ads already clutter the dashboard on any list of options other then friends and my xbox. Even the games section of the guide button menus has a constant ad on the bottom. WTH Microsoft? LIVE should be free to begin with, and now you want to enhance the ads even more without giving us jack shit?
quack35: Oh well, they're just ads. Can't see it bothering me.
Quoted for the freaking truth.
But I must admit, it's pretty funny to watch all of these whiny douchebags that want all of these privileges etc. etc. Heck, this could maybe even make Gold cheaper or something.
What the hell is this? I pay $50 a year for a service thats peer to peer, no dedicated servers, that i cant talk to several of my friends on for some reason, and now they put ads on it?
firedfns13: What the hell is this? I pay $50 a year for a service that's peer to peer, no dedicated servers, that i cant talk to several of my friends on for some reason, and now they put ads on it?
This was inevitable, you had to have known that. Its just another way Microsoft can make a buck and there's no way in hell they're going to turn that down. That said, it does suck but if Microsoft gives the live community something back i.e. Microsoft points or something, I might be OK with it.
Ads Coming to Xbox Live
Microsoft plans to bring interactive ads to Xbox Live within the year but Major Nelson says users don't need to worry about a "huge influx of ads" cluttering up the dashboard.
Microsoft revealed its plan to bring Silverlight-based ads to the Xbox Live service yesterday, part of an effort to enable advertisers to create campaigns across four different platforms - television, mobile phones, desktops and Surface - without having to "re-purpose" for each one. "Silverlight-powered media on Xbox will have the same appearance as ads seen on a Web browser," according to a MediaPost report. "Think technology that competes with Flash, only supported by 6 million Silverlight developers worldwide who now have the option to tap a variety of Microsoft tools and technologies and develop marketing campaigns for Xbox."
"We are just starting to scratch the surface of what's possible," said Sean Alexander, director of Microsoft's Advertising Business Group. "As a marketer, your job is to build an emotional connection with the brand, no matter the platform."
Despite Alexander's enthusiasm, many Xbox Live users are less than thrilled at the prospect of the service being swamped with obtrusive ads. But Larry Hryb, the Xbox Live director of programming better known as Major Nelson, said there's nothing to worry about, assuring people on his blog that Microsoft isn't going to bury gamers with advertising.
"I need to let you know that you don't need to worry about a huge influx of ads across the dashboard," he wrote. "One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the Live community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we've done with some of the NXE slots in the past."
"No one on the team wants to turn the dashboard into something that looks like like Shibuya Crossing," he added. "That's just not good for anyone."
Many users responding to Hryb's post remained unhappy about the prospect of the ads, however, suggesting that while they might be appropriate for people on the free Silver level of service, Xbox Live Gold members shouldn't have to put up with any advertising at all.
via: GamesIndustry
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