Should an Xbox Live Gold Subscription Mean No Adverts?

Xbox Live has recently celebrated its 10th birthday, and there is no doubt that the service has come a long way since it was unleashed on the gaming masses in more primitive times. The ground-breaking service offered console owners an opportunity to live the worldwide multiplayer dream, but at the cost of the infamous annual subscription that seemed like a fair trade-off at the time.

The world has rapidly moved on and changed since 2002, and customers are a much more sophisticated/savvy bunch where they are used to paying a fee to avoid advertising. To charge people a fee for a premium service only to then offer nothing but advertisement is considered bad form for even the most laid-back gamer.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Yes, it should. It should also mean more stable dedicated servers for games (which is not always the case) and the occasional freebie.

But there are people who will defend Xbox Live to the bitter end no matter what.

Whatever. I've had better things to spend my money on for quite a long while.

[bubblebeam]

Agreed. The ads themselves aren't distracting, but it is the fact that I am paying for a service and have to see the ads which is annoying.

They could use that money to help devs patch broken games, instead of charging excessive fees. There needs to be more competition in gaming, so the worst offenders have to change.

[ALLWRONG]

Name one online console service more stable than Live.

[dedicatedtogamers]

More stable? I can't. As stable? PSN.

But then again, you're willfully leaving out PC gaming, which is more stable than XBL, boasts more features, and it's still free.

[nukeitall]

@dedicatedtogamers:
"But there are people who will defend Xbox Live to the bitter end no matter what. "

I think there are a LOT of people who would do that considering:

"Xbox Live Gold Subscription card sales increased more than 50 percent compared to last year's Black Friday week. Microsoft notes "incredible activity on Xbox over the weekend" with more than 14 million people on Xbox Live on Sunday alone, accounting for more than 72 million hours of use in just one day. Microsoft also said that compared to 2011, there's been a 43 percent increase in US entertainment application usage taking place on Xbox Live during the week of Black Friday."

http://n4g.com/news/1128424...

The ads don't bother me, sometimes I am interested too boot. For instance, I enjoyed the Chuck Norris World of Warcraft ad. Sometimes they have movies that I didn't know about that I might be interested in.

However, I agree with you that I would like to see dedicated servers on all games. I find the service pretty darn stable. Heck, I have been more affected by amazon cloud services then Xbox Live!

[NewZealander]

i agree there should be reduced ads, maybe not fully removed, as some ads actually link you to free avatar gear etc, there should be some balance.

i wouldn't mind so much if they only had ads for game related stuff, when it comes to cars movies and the other junk tho it kinda sucks.

[rainslacker]

Maybe they can just be given the choice to turn them off. That way, those on here who say they aren't distracting, and they do advertise things they may be interested in can still have them. Those that don't like ads can simply turn them off and not have to worry about them.

Giving the consumer choice is always a good thing.:)

[StrongMan]

Absolutely. The money MS makes from ads are far more than enough to pay for XBL but they still charge people additional money anyway. That's just plain greed. When you download a free app on your phone you get ads but when you pay for that app it gets rid of the ads. That's how that is supposed to work.

[CommonSenseGamer]

What exactly about the business Sony, MS or Nintendo are in isn't based on greed?

I pay for my satellite TV service, I still get ads with that. Its how you would like it to work not how it might work.

[Hicken]

Not a good analogy. Your cable service is a third party that provides the content. Ads pay for the TV shows. That's why you can watch the exact same show whether you have Comcast, Direct TV, or Dish Network. Remember when there wasn't cable and you STILL got ads between your TV shows?

Yeah, analogy NOT the same.

Wanna try again?

[EmperorDalek]

@Hicken:

When my family signed up for satellite TV it was promoted as being ad free because it was subscription based. Now it features ads and higher subscriptions. The analogy was fine in my opinion.

[achmetha]

Completely agree, bubble vote added. I don't mind the ads personally, but I can understand everyone else's frustration with them.

[SolidDuck]

Tv is not a fair comparison, cause all television providers have commercials. The fact that I can use steam and psn for free, without them trying to shove a ford focus and old spice down my throat like Xbox live, is what makes live seem like a joke.

[VerbalKint27]

In England, you pay a TV License to keep channels like the BBC advert free.

[iistuii]

what are you on about. That small square in the right hand corner that if you don't click on it never even makes a sound. Does it bother you that much.
As for the BBC, id rather not pay a licence at all & have adverts, I pay for Sky & id put the BBC channels in a Sky pack & if you want them you add them, if you don't want them, don't add them. No way should I be forced to pay for a tv licence, it needs sorting out.

[rainslacker]

Look at your Xbox...now look at me...now look at your xbox...now look at me.

Old Spice ftw.

[Summons75]

Yeah because promoting your products and one unnoticeable unrelated ad is a sin! Sony should do it too, go to the PS Store it's FILLED with adverts everywhere.....how dare they try and run a business, the gaming industry is a charity!

[BitbyDeath]

Showing what they are selling is not the same as 'advertising' what others are selling...

ie. Sony do not get paid to display their own items.

[rainslacker]

They probably do get paid for those front page ads from 3rd parties. But yeah, what they advertise is what's on the store and not quite the same.

[Summons75]

okay then what's the problem. Outside of that one small hardly noticeable ad in the corner all I see is advertisements for games on the XBL market place, xbl gold deals, movie sales on their marketplace and avatar items....so how exactly is that different from Sony showing games, movies and more in the PSN Store? Correct answer it's not and people are crying because they have nothing else to cry about.

[_LarZen_]

People pay for tv channels, there is commersial there. So why not on XBL?

[ALLWRONG]

Funny how the only people saying "yeah" do nothing but talk about PSN/PS3.

I buy cable and still get ads, but I would still rather have cable than free TV. You don't get The Walking Dead, South Park or Conan on network TV. You just get fantastic groundbreaking shows like 5 dancing shows, 4 I want to be a singer shows, 12 CSI's or 45 Law and Orders.

[Sephiroushin]

Doesn't matter they are charging you and in top of that they get money from ads ... When a web or online service charge you, ads must be gone ...
Or are you telling me you do not have Adblocks on your computer ?!
Pay all those channels and ads will be gone, simple ... You're paying for TV Cable to watch the channels, you're not paying the channels itself so that's why the ads ...
Also the PSN or Wii u network do the same as XBL so I don't get your comparation between Cable (referred to xbox live) and the others TV network (referred to the psn and maybe also to the Wii U network as well) ...

[Gridloc]

Something has to pay for the windows 8 fiasco...

[Bigpappy]

Windows 8 is great. M$ needed to release windows 8, ant that will become clear when all the new devices are released next year. Stay tuned.

[nevin1]

I read awhile back that MSoft entrance into the game industry costed BILLIONS. And xbox live/ads is ways to make that money back.

[SOULJER]

LOL. The guy in the picture looks alot like a formal Hitler. 2FUNNY.