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Xbox Live Is Becoming Highway Robbery
Chad Awkerman | Nov 19, 2009 | Comments 39
A couple months ago, if you participated in the beta events for Microsoft’s new game show on Xbox Live – 1 vs. 100 – you might have noticed ads from Sprint during pseudo-commercial breaks between rounds. It interested me a bit, but I was quickly over it. So, they’re getting a little ad revenue from one ad spot, what’s the harm in that? Fast forward to today. The New York Post has a piece on Microsoft’s intention to partner with the Nielsen ratings to start tracking their Xbox Live “viewership” in a similar manner to which television programs determine their ratings. Here’s what the article had to say about Microsoft’s intentions.
The end game for Microsoft is to provide ad buyers with a standard metric — Nielsen ratings — that they can use to compare the Xbox Live in-game audience to the traditional TV marketplace.
With more and more people using Xbox Live – really, any online service – to watch movies and television shows on-demand, this seems like the natural progression for Microsoft to take. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, to be honest. Just take a quick glance through your Xbox dashboard while connected to the Internet. Paid gold and free silver accounts alike have ads popping up in various panels at various times. This is all in addition to the Sprint ads during the beta run of 1 vs. 100. So, Microsoft is looking to expand its ad revenue and try to lure television advertisers to Xbox Live and, from the sounds of it, those advertisers are rather interested in seeing some numbers. This is problematic – at least in the past – as, unlike television, there is no standard to measure those who watch various different forms of media via their gaming system. Quoted in the article, here’s what the head of advertising for Microsoft’s entertainment and devices group had to say.
This is something TV advertisers are very comfortable with. At some point, the media planner just wants to be able to compare us side-by-side.
In a way, this is a good thing. Bringing Nielsen on board for some test runs will help support the content that is provided. Along with Nielsen measuring the audience for tonight’s 1 vs. 100 season premiere, here’s some more info about the specific ad deals they’ve secured.
Sprint has signed on as the sponsor and has bought 15- and 30-second spots just like television. A handful of other advertisers have bought spots during the game. Nielsen will also measure how many people watch the ads as part of the pilot.
You still with me? It took some build-up, but here is the issue with all of this. While this is all well and good if Sony would get on the same bandwagon – their online service is provided free of charge – Microsoft charges $50 per year for an Xbox Live gold membership. In other words, they already have the funds coming in from millions of paid subscribers to support the service and profit off of it. Why do they need advertisers?
Browsing around on the Internet, you’ll see various services that are free of charge, but are supported by ads. One glance at much of the free software on Apple’s iPhone app store shows the same thing – free apps supported by ads. Then, the next step up you see the same app, possibly with some more features, and a price tag next to it. This app or service will then be ad-free. That’s just fine. For something free, I expect whoever is behind it to have some way of supporting it, such is the case with the ads.
But, if I’m paying for something, I expect that cost to go toward the maintenance and upkeep of whatever service it is, not for them to show how greedy they are an tack ads onto a paid service, as well. This is exactly where the Microsoft/Nielsen collaboration is heading. At the heart of the matter, it isn’t a bad thing that they wish to create some sort of standard for a new way of experiencing various forms of entertainment. But, what is of concern is what will happen if or when this kicks into high gear and we have to sit through three-minute commercial breaks during 1 vs. 100, which we seem to also be paying for in the form of our Xbox Live gold subscription.
Which direction will Microsoft go? Will they force paying customers to sit through various ads or will they drop the yearly fee for the Xbox Live service altogether once they have decent ad revenue coming in to match their current subscription revenue? That is the question of the day here, folks. What do you think?
Views: 182Filed Under: Editorials • Featured • XBOX 360
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After playing Madden 10 online, I am already sick of this advertising BS. I pay for my xbox live service, I pay for my internet connection, and I shelled out $60 for the game. Then I try playing online and I get plagued with advertisements on the bottom right side of my screen throughout the game. I’ve put up with multiple RRoDs, but this may just put me over the edge. Down with Miucrosoft!
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so with all this advertisements u think it would be free for live.people complain about Sony advertising in home but what people fail to realize is that is all available for purchase from Sony.i don’t remember being able to buy Mcdonalds hamburgers through live.
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@Mike: Heh, yeah. If Microsoft wants to go this route, once ad revenue can support the service as-is, I do feel that the subscription price should be done away with. Otherwise, remove ads for gold members, period.
I’m fine with the PSN and Home using ads to support the services there because it’s free…and becoming better and better all the time.
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i never did like the whole xbox thing microsoft did, ever
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What I find annoying is that in game ads are becoming more and more prevalent. NBA 2K10 had blatant Sprite ads, DJ Hero (a game that costs $140) had plenty of ads, so does anyhting EA makes. The publishers get extra revenue for putting the ads in but there is no benefit to the gamer. WE have not seena decrease in game prices or subscriptions yet we smile and take it. I am growing more and more tired of the ads in games in general.
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Your sick of the Ads?
You paid for your t.v
You paid for your cable / sat setup
Your getting ads when you watch baseball, football, basketball etc – they scroll on banners on the site of the fields, up on giant billboards around the baseball parks etc
Are you going to stop watching those sports and any shows on t.v that have ads?
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@Rich: I don’t watch ads, I either fast forward through them or watch my shows via Netflix or somewhere online at a later date.
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Be careful lad. You’ll be accused of being a PS3 fanboy in no time.
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@lol, what: Oh, I’m sure. In reality, the 360 has been my preferred console the last year or so. I still love it and most cross-platform games are purchased for it.
But, the PS3 gets some love too, in its own way.
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I just Hope it does not get out of hand to the point where we are being constantly bombarded by ads during movie streams or in pre-game lobbies. I understand that gaming is a multi-billion dollar a year industry and that companies are always looking to squeeze that extra little something in order to boost revenue. Lets just hope they keep our gaming experience in mind but history teaches to expect other wise. Thanks for listening feel free to comment =)
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Its painful but its everywhere, and if in the future that helps to provide a better service, good
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Remember this next time you pay your cable or satellite provider.
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Honestly, most of these people are Whining for 1 reason, and that reason is because it’s about Microsoft.
As Chad said, you pay for Satelitte or Cable service and you have commercials. You watch baseball or football and there are ads and billboards everywhere, but you’re not complaining.
Here’s how things seem to play out when I’m watching. Someone makes a negative comment about Microsoft and the PS3 fanboys (don’t try and act like you’re not here.) show up in droves to add their two cents which is almost 100 percent negative.
Now flip it and make a negative article about the PS3 or Sony, and once again the PS3 fanboys show up in droves, make threatening remarks about the author of the article and defend Sony til their blue in the face.
Some of these comments, like the one that says “After playing Madden 10 online, I am already sick of this advertising BS. I pay for my xbox live service, I pay for my internet connection, and I shelled out $60 for the game. Then I try playing online and I get plagued with advertisements on the bottom right side of my screen throughout the game. I’ve put up with multiple RRoDs, but this may just put me over the edge. Down with Miucrosoft!” is simply a PS3 fanboy pretending to own a 360.
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Sorry in the comment about I meant as “Rich” says not as “Chad” says.
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Someone call the “Waaaaahmbulance.” Games have in game advertising and you pay $60 for those. Cable TV has commercials and you pay for that. No one is forcing you to watch the commercials.
No one wants to play straight through without taking a break to go to the bathroom or get a snack. It gives the gameshow an authentic feel. I mean, they are giving away legitimate prizes.
Highway Robbery is an exaggerated statement and this is blown way out of proportion.
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People who say “you pay for cable but get ads…”
you dont find the actual channels do you? You pay the company who provides the box + service in order for you to watch numerous channels. those channels are funded by adverts mainly.
silly argument…
Just look at the BBC. They charge a license fee, and there isn’t a single advert on the network…
channel 4 doesn’t charge a license fee and gets revenue from adverts and other sources.
Games/xbl Gold shouldnt have adverts in them.
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Yea ads suck. And microsoft doesnt care, they get worse every year with ads.
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I’m down for the ads. Hopefully Microsoft will take the money they get and make enhance the Live features. But one thing has been bothering me lately. We have had ads in cable for so long now, ads in the internet, now ads in games/live. Whats next? Ads in our dreams!? *Shout-out to Futurama!!*
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Maybe gamers for once will actually do something instead of just whining and crying about it. CANCEL YOUR GOLD SUB! If this bothers you that much cancel it. Simple as that. Send a strong message! Typing a comment or writing a cry baby piece(although this isn’t that bad of an article) does nothing.
I’m canceling my Gold right now. Who is with me? Let’s send a message or are you just gonna sit there and pout?
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Yeah. I hate ads. Why do I have to see this crap if Im already paying the subscription fee for live. I think the PSN has it better.
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@FedUpThenJump: I agree. I still have a few months left on my subscription, but I’m highly considering not renewing…especially since one of the big selling points on me maintaining a gold membership is Netflix, and now that is available on the PS3 for no extra charge.
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I guess I will just keep being happy with PSN =)
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It funny how so many hate ads in games but why does it bother the person so much. Gamers want the games to close to real life. Go to a sporting events and all you see is ads. MS has the right to make money any way they can. They are in the business to make money. Think about this. Over the years games have got so much better. The games during the 8-bit and 16 bit games were 50 dollars. To pay 10 more dollars for games like UC2 and MW2 is a bargain. Ans those games are costing like 50+ million to make. If other companies did got give a like money to place ads in games, games might cost a whole lot more
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i will officially dye my hair pink and take up ballet lessons if M$ drop the xbox live gold subscription fee thats how confident i am they wont do it.
im really pissed about games having advertisement in them though, like what $ony has done to wipeout HD.
i mean seriously the 120 bucks im paying for my games is not enough?
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playing farcry 2 the other day online and noticed there was a billboard from bing’s search engine I just shook my head in disgust.
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just go with PS3, at least its free, i can never understand why people like to get their a$$ ripped off when there’s an alternative route. may be 2 years ago, PSN has nothing on XBL, but the table has been turned already.
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i do have a ps3 and have a psn of course but its not the same quality or experience as on xbox…..that is what you are paying for the quality of the servers and the extra stuff that you can get on psn…dont get me wrong i love playing the one game ps3 has but when it comes to talking to freinds and making fun of the stupid people i like xbox cause its not as lonely
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this is why I don’t pay for XBL
Why am I paying a premium for games that are multiplayer oriented as well. If I’m only getting the single player content out of it, online should be additional like DLC. The devs are putting a lot of time and money into features I’m not able to take advantage of, why should I be footing the bill for people who do?
Now think of it this way,
Publisher tells developer to stop focusing on Single player and tack on a multiplayer mode (like Stranglehold, Darkness, Dark Sector etc)
Now the people who enjoy the game for the Single player (about 99.9% of ppl in those games cases) have a gimped single player in order for the Publisher to fit another bullet point on the box.
If online were optional like DLC, there would be much less incentive to pull stunts like this. Heck, they can still tack on multiplayer after release like games have before.
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ugh…I just REALLY hate commercials. That;s why I canceled, YES CANCELED, my cable. TV pretty much sucks anymore anyway and I can watch movies I want and be done with it. Love my 360, but I’ve been teetering on the edge of dumping it for a PS anyway. The ads aren’t horrible right now as, like some people said, you can just ignore them, but if I have to sit through ads just to play MY game console then I may just plug back in the PS2 and call it a day. There are plenty of games out there I have yet to play for that. THAT is how much I hate commercials.
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Bill Gates is enraged and bitter due to years of torture and bullying whilst growing up. He spent years in his mom’s basement brewing up concoctions to get back at his nemesis. Finally, after stealing Steve Jobs’ ideas, he started IBM and his rampage began. The snowball effect has set and he is now the founder of a merciless monopolizing machine. Do not be fooled by his turtle looking appearance and too big nerd glasses. Bill Gates is a bitter enraged mastermind!
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“Will they force paying customers to sit through various ads?”
The answer is obviously yes. The Gold fee ain’t going away. And they will absolutely slip in as many ads as possible until they start getting backlash from it. Only then will they back off. A little.
The more anti-ad noise made about it the better. The commenters on this board who say that people who don’t like advertising on a paid service are “whining” are patently stupid and are furthermore the reason why these thing happen. Microsoft knows they can get away with it because too many people just lay back and let themselves get screwed.
Example: Premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime) do not have ads. They have promos for coming attractions and Behind the Scenes stuff, but that’s it. Are you idiots who call the author a whiner saying that Xbox Live is not on the same level? If you are, you don’t care much about your own money and are therefore merely PART OF THE PROBLEM.
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It’s called capitalism. And it works. And we will all end up with better games and service because of it.
Whether Xbox or PS3 delivers those better games and services is irrelevant. They have different online models, may the best one win.
I see no problems here. Other than a prevalent sense of entitlement amidst gamer nation.
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@Jeremy: The PSN is very quickly approaching Xbox Live’s level of quality. Of course it’s “different”, in that it is another service with different ways of doing the same thing, but what the PSN was a year or two ago it is no longer – it’s a monster ready to surpass Xbox Live if Microsoft isn’t careful.
That isn’t to say I don’t like Xbox Live – far from it. For the last year or so it has definitely been worth it to me, but the more and more the PSN adds to match or exceede Xbox Live, the less and less Xbox Live is worth it to me.
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Holy crap you guys are a bunch of whiners. I never understood the problem gamers had with advertisements in games unless it really distracted you (which never happens). Companies need to make money to you know, not go bankrupt and improve.
Is our generation really that impatient and gwumpy that they can’t wait for a few minutes or less?
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@Aaron Klein
“It’s called capitalism. And it works. And we will all end up with better games and service because of it.”
So that’s what happens with TV and radio? We get “better” programming because of commercials? FOX is somehow “better” than HBO. Get effing real.
“I see no problems here. Other than a prevalent sense of entitlement amidst gamer nation.”
If consumers don’t excercise their “sense of entitlement”, Microsoft and others certainly will. Microsoft already does so plenty enough, at the expense of consumers. Capitalism only works as it ought to if it is based on consumers being able to get a GOOD product at a FAIR price. It should NEVER be based on big companies doing all they can to get every little nickel and dime out of the consumer’s wallet. And we have every right to demand better than that. I, for one, plan to.
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I canceled my Xbox Live over a year ago and haven’t looked back. And for those who say you pay xbox live for the servers, how are those dedicated servers working for you? Hint: Xbox live uses p2p, and lots of psn games have dedicated servers. But hey, it’s your money to waste so MS can keep taking advantage of your ineptitude.
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First – I’m not a big fan of advertisements. Far from it.
I may just be echoing comments made earlier – so please forgive me if that’s the case. But a business’s job is to figure out how to maximize profits for it’s shareholders. Microsoft, Sony, Cable, Sat, you name it. The only reason these companies make products for you to purchase is because it makes them money. If it didnt make them money – they wouldn’t do it. Its that simple. Microsoft developed a service that they feel warrents a subscription – and many of us pay that subscription (similar to Cable). As they add more and more content they gradually increase their costs. In the end – as costs go up they have to chose to either increase your price, or find alternative methods to increase revenue. It’s a necessary evil in today’s world. It’s what helps fund all those wonderful games and consoles that we all enjoy.
For those of you that argue that Sony or Nintendo will never charge for their service – your simply not looking far enough down the road. At some point one of two things will happen… either Nintendo and Sony will make their online experience as streamlined and robust as Microsoft – potentially forcing Microsoft to drop the price in order to compete. OR Sony and Nintendo will spend enough money and bring their service to a level that they themselves can charge a subscription for it. Do you really want to bet on which happens first? They won’t do it this generation – no need / ability. Playstation is having a hard enough time competing. Nintendo owns the install base and makes money on every console. Fast forward to our next version of hardware and I’d be surprised if Sony and Microsoft didn’t unveil a new pricing strategy as it relates to online content. Nintendo will probably still be an enigma as they seem to still ignore online capabilities.
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BTW – I own a PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii…. they all have advantages and disadvantages.
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People keep bringing up the TV and ad’s and whatnot. I haven’t carried a cable/dish subscription in almost 5 years and I left because of inane costs and advertising. I will not think twice about dumping xBox Live if it continues down the same path. You get a paid service or an ad supported service. (I still do, at times, tune in to broadcast TV) Not both, not ever.