Expect more Xbox Live ads

Gamers should expect to see more advertisements on Xbox Live in the time ahead. Microsoft announced this week that its first wave of NUads (short for "natural user-interface ads"), which rolled out during fall 2012, have been highly successful and additional investment in this space is planned.

[PirateThom]

Unbelievable...

[StrongMan]

Exaclty. People pay money to subscribe to XBL to get free features and MS gives them even MORE ads?

Like Pirate said, Unbelievable...

[iamnsuperman]

I do agree with you here. I would understand a free service with ads and you pay for the ads removal but I don't agree with this system

[AAACE5]

Everytime i hear something like this, it makes me glad i switched! Ms gets paid to run ads, gamers pay to watch ads. Investors are happy.

[007Bond]

The ads are just mostly slide pictures that will only play if you click on them, really that bothers you? OF course it does cause you have a PS avatar what a surprise.....

[Yi-Long]

... "MS can expect less gamers to pay 50 bucks for an ads-filled Xbox Live Gold subscription!"

I won't be renewing.

[Mocat]

@Yi-Long
You and me both bro

[NukaCola]

Xbox LIVE:
It doesn't add more features, it features more ads.

[ShabbaRanks]

Its retarded imo that people don't even care about this. When you buy an app for you're Android or Iphone you get an ADD FREE app. So why in the hell do I pay for XboxLive if I get all these adds on the Dashboard.

I wont lie, Sony does adds on the PSN too, but only when you're browsing on the store. Then again at lest the adds are related to gaming or movies and not about Fu**ing Oreo Cookies and Chevy's.

And speaking of Dashboard why did they change it so many times. Now its designed to fit with Kinect, but I liked the very first dashboard with the swooshing window panels and stuff. Now I just hate the thing. In all this gen MS is doing everything to keep me away from the next xbox. Bravo MS bravo !

[EVILDEAD360]

I heard that Major Nelson interview on Gamertag radio after this was anounced weeks ago and he already said there will be no 'more' ads outside of the little optional box that says 'advertisement'.

Nothing else promotes anything that is not a part of Xbox Live.

Evil

[Hands Up For Games]

Nonsense.

Adverts are everywhere! EVERYWHERE!

Take your offended arse out of here and go and sit down on the Chill Out Step and count to 10.

Adverts!? Unbelievable . . . . . Hahaha

[PirateThom]

I am not offended at the ads, just the fact it's ads on a paid service and the usual suspects will keep defending it.

[jimbobwahey]

Hahaha you mug. Bend over for Microsoft some more!

[Hands Up For Games]

Watch TV - Ads
Listen to the radio - Ads
Magazine / Newspaper - Ads
Online - Ads

If the ads that MS were using were intrusive and obstructed the way you use the dash I could understand, but the fact you have to click on these ads to activate them undermimes your concerns.

People will bne moaning about trailers at the movies next ;)

[EVILDEAD360]

I am not offended at the ads, just the fact it's ads on a paid service and the usual suspects will keep defending it.'

Bingo..none of the 'real' usual suspects are offended by ads at all. But you know why they make comments pretending they are..

Evil

[stage88]

I wouldn't expect anything less from MS.

[nukeitall]

Yet nobody here seems to know what these ads are!

Nuads are interactive ads that ONCE YOU SELECT IT then you interact with it. It just means instead of getting a video, you know get to make choices and return feedback to the advertiser.

You know what is unbelievable, that I get ads even though I pay for cable TV and they pop up in my face every 10 mins and last for at least 5 mins!

[Heisenburger]

Well, going along with your half baked analogy, this would be as if your friend not only doesn't receive advertisements but also gets his CABLE SERVICE FREE!!!!

And you are happy both paying for service and getting advertisements.

See how that works boy?

[nukeitall]

@Heisenburger:

Yeah, but his cable service ain't as good as mine. You know there are free public channels, but almost nobody watches them!

What is ironic is the vast majority of Xbox Live Gold users probably don't complain about the fee (if they did, they would have moved over to another free service), yet the PSN users complain for them.

I don't complain about people that pay extra for "brand" name products, fancy cars that loose value and so on.

"And you are happy both paying for service and getting advertisements."

I am happy for the most part with the Xbox Live Gold service, that I pay even though I have PS3 and a PC.

The fee isn't a big deal to me, but I like the community, the interface, party/cross game chat and the apps. The ads don't bother me, and I in fact get curious on some of the ads and check them out. Some of the ads have been funny, like the Chuck Norris one with WoW, while others has been interesting with ads/movie trailers for movies.

Until I feel the competition matches up, then I will continue to pay.

[Oh_Yeah]

I get my cable for free, premium channels like hbo, nfl network,showtime ect included... And it has no adds at all. Alls you need is Internet. You guys should learn how to use Google search... These things are out there... If you want to save money.

[Oh_Yeah]

@heisenburger Get a program called XMBC and a plug in called navi x. Wala free cable and more with no adds. Just make sure you have a decent Internet 20mps and up.

[LackTrue4K]

I have nothing against ads about game and game hardwear and such.
But it becomes annoying when you see ads about random stuff, like Insurance, McDonald's. Stuff that I have zero interest in!! (-_-")

[Lvl_up_gamer]

There's ads on the 360?

I don't see them. I do see a ton of ads every time I play NHL13 but none on my 360 dashboard.

[stage88]

May I suggest that you invest in a pair of eyes. You'll be amazed at the number of ads (game related still count) that litter the xbox dashboard.

[FamilyGuy]

Some people are use to and okay with ads... I'm not one of them.

I don't have cable, I just download the shows I like on my laptop and stream them to my PS3. My laptop uses firefox with the ad block+

I download songs and hardly ever listen to the radio so I pretty much never see or hear ads.

The only ads I miss are trailers for new movies but even then I occasionally visit the trailer section in the video side of the ps store or check imdb and see those.

I know my habits are far from typical so I can see why others would say this isn't a big deal but to anyone like me it would be.

I can't even knock MS for doing it though, if it makes money why stop?

[knifefight]

For Mountain Dew?
And Doritos?

[torchic]

1000 degree article inbound.

[shaun mcwayne]

If you are a gold member, I think you should be able to turn the ads off. Just my opinion.

[SnakeCQC]

who the hell would disagree?!!

[Coltrane_C]

GATES!!!

[SnakeCQC]

lol

[BanBrother]

shaun, very smart idea.

This new dashboard is already making Xbox's much slower to load, and I don't think any more ads are going to make it quicker. I'm sick of this crap tbh. I wouldn't mind as much if the dashboard wasn't so slow compared to older ones.

Plus, I can't immediately think of any paid service where you have to look at annoying ads. I know a lot of them are to do with games and promotions, but some are stupid. I don't want to pay over 9000 dollars for a CoD headset thanks....

[chukamachine]

Not really worth having a 360 if your a silver member is it.

But yes gold should be able to turn ads off.

I'm guessing platinum members will next gen.

[hazardman]

Even if you are it not like the ads are in your face, there's one lil box for ads in the right bottom part of some of the blades and you have to go and click on it for it to work. Some gamers are just looking for ways to justify their hate for the Xbox brand. If its not Kinect its Ads..

[Belking]

Just like you should be able ton turn off the ads on TV too right...lol

[LNDCalling]

Errm.. BBC (UK) everyone pays for it via their TV license.. and wouldn't you know.. NO ADS!

Ads provide revenue to broadcasters who don’t earn money directly from their viewers / listener, in a similar manner to ‘free’ IOS and Android games. Why do MS think they can get away with serving up ads on a paid service, thereby getting two revenue streams?!?!

[Hicken]

Um, no.

Since you seem to not understand, I'll break it down for you... again.

TV commercials actually PAY for the shows you watch. If a show isn't bringing the viewers, commercials aren't being seen, so the money goes away, and the show gets canceled. When you pay for cable, that money doesn't go to the production of any program you're watching... unless it's a show that's FUNDED by your cable/satellite provider. Can't think of anything that fits in that category.

On XBL, you pay for the connection to the internet you pay for. They claim that revenue goes to XBL upkeep, and they make BILLIONS from it; so why do they need ads? The purpose of the ads is to generate revenue, too.

So: unlike paying for cable or satellite- where you don't get the channels if you don't pay- paying for Live Gold gets you access to something YOU ALREADY OWN. It would be like your cable provider charging you to watch stuff you have on DVD.

And it's not enough to do that, but then they're generating revenue ON TOP of that by subjecting you to ads. I don't give a damn how unobtrusive they are.

Wanna bet they'll increase the ads and STILL raise the price of Live soon?

[EliteDave93]

Im so glad i own a PS3 right now.

[celticlonewolf]

this has already been posted once before a few weeeks back. why is it been posted again?

[Coltrane_C]

That is sad

[urwifeminder]

Not as many as n4g but plenty still come here.

[baldulf]

I own a 360 but right now I don't even feel it's of my property, with all those ads it looks like a rental thing instead.

[CatXFlash]

More ads? is that even possible.. NO! Live users should get no ads FFS they are paying. So glad I left Xbox years ago I love Nintendo and SONY with their no ads and no pay BS we already pay for the internet and Netflix why should we pay gold wtf. Your servers suck MS I always DC when watching movies and playing sometimes and never DC when playing on SONY and Nintendo.. why should we pay to use crap servers with ads? LAME!! Next gen Xbox can kiss it Nintendo and SONY all the way.

[hazardman]

Dude you are full of shit, I get more dc from psn than xbl and that been since day one. Its gotten way better on psn but don't try and say it happens more on xbl. You obviously a Sony loyalist who never had xbl.

[CC-Tron]

I'm not sure what the problem is here. Can you turn off ads on cable TV? No and that's paid for. I don't have to watch an ad to start a game or anything else. If you enjoy your PS3 so much why does this bother you?

[mcstorm]

I was just about to say the same thing. I have Sky in the UK and when you watch Live tv which I pay for it has adds. If I watch on demand it has adds. What's the big issue here really.

MS, Sony, Apple, Nintendo, Nokia, even the company people work for all all about making money. That's it. If anyone gets a chance to make an extra few £ they will take it and that's what this. Its only on the dash not in a game so what is the issue?

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Its because the gamers need something to complain about. MS is painted like "big brother" on n4g. So anything they do will be viewed as evil corporate greed even if its not a big deal and you can skip past any ad.

[baodeus]

Just think of Xbox like Darth Vader who bring balance to the force and the old regime, who has fallen off from power, want to retaliate; I mean who wouldn't want to stay in power?

So what do we have here, a whiny princess with her blood related farm boy, 2 androids with artificial intelligence and a heroic Captain with a sasquatch sidekick forming alliance to bring down the evillll..... empire to a bitter end, when they realize that they are just fighting among themselves in a big family.

[MasterCornholio]

Hmm XBOXlive is ad supported which is strange because i thought the subscriptions that Microsoft charges pays for the service.

You get what you pay for which should be an ad free service.

[CC-Tron]

Says you. Where in the contract does it say Ad free Service?

[Ashlen]

This is one of the main reasons I don't use my Xbox. Why should I have to pay at all to play my games online or do all the other things that are free everywhere else. Then on top of charging me they blast me with tons of ads. I haven't bought any new Xbox games in over 3 years and there is pretty much ZERO chance I will buy M$'s next product.

[CC-Tron]

You don't own an Xbox. Stop lying. LOL.

[Ashlen]

I wish I didn't TBH I regret the purchase. QQ

I bought it to play Street Fighter 4

[hazardman]

Now I know your lying, who buys fighters for xbox anyways!! Haha!

[jetlian]

I buy fighters for 360 but he didnt have to buy a 360 for that game now if he said doa4 that would have made sense

Anyway like said before by people a lot of things people pay for have ads. xbla still has the most content and better service. took an hour to get gow beta up on psn.

Thats to long and gow mp isnt that good. NG3 online way better

[bub16]

ads on a paying service. just great that is

[BabyTownFrolics]

don't like a service don't use it, simple as that. The only unbelievable thing is that someone would waste their time complaining about this.

while your complaining people are actually gaming. remember that when gaming was about actually playing video games and not lurking on N4G moaning about things you don't use.

[sway_z]

Time for MS to scrap Xbox Live subscriptions, online play should be free... yes keep the ads and let the ads pay for the service.

Xbox Live should be totally 'FREE' FTW!!

[dubt72]

Who cares? It doesn't force you to watch things or wait, like Hulu Plus. They're just there. I don't even really notice them.

[isyourhouseonfire]

Advertisement revenue is another reason Microsoft is able to continually enchance its online environment. As users, we benefit from this the most. Sony could learn a lesson here..

[Riderz1337]

Sony has ads it's just that the ads they use are related to Gaming/Movies/ whereas Microsoft is just randomly putting ads for McDonalds.

[NicSage]

Ads are also only in the store, where as on MS it's all over the damn thing.

[NicSage]

Hows that Peer to Peer environment treating you?
It's treating you to a 50 dollar a year bill.

[Nathaniel_Drake]

I don't understand all the defense against not having ads. It doesn't matter if it doesnt interrupt your gaming but it always is and always be the principle of the thing for Live. The service allows you to play online as long as pay to unlock it from the disc. That right there decreases the value of the service compared to PSN and Nintendo. You get party chat, cross game chat, good this increases the value but still only very little you still paying to play online with content already on the disc to unlock.

MS is not adding many things to live to increase value of having the service and justifying paying for the thing. Instead they are decreasing by adding more ads.

Why don't u stop ads you pay or add free games like PSN plus. I don't get why people are not seeing that the 360 is more of a media hub than a gaming system. They going backwards from gaming and offering less. Stop defending this practice and maybe MS will adopt a gaming mentality more than a media one. Whenever these articles pop up it is good as it makes more gamers aware and they switch so maybe MS can see this and change. I know gamers don't love to pay for a service to play and especially twice to watch Netflix. Remember when these issues pop up it's not that it disturbs your gaming its the principle of the thing and why people lash out. The small things will eventually take over the 360 and it will become less and less of a gaming system and more of a media hub.

[cyberninja]

Don't really matters to me anymore, because my 360 is on craiglist up for sale. They can flood it with ads all they want.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

Whatever.

At this point I haven't played Xbox 360 since Halo 4 and there isn't really anything that's tempting me to buy a game for it except GTA V because most of my friends own 360s. Even at that, I will never buy another year of live, maybe 3 months. Microsoft better make Xbox Live free or cut down the price by a lot.

[PooEgg]

Speaking of ads, I have noticed that I now get pop-ups when clicking on agree/disagree here at N4G. I hate pop-ups, but I really hate pop-ups that trigger when you click on something, because its sneaky and I hate sneaky advertising.

As for MS advertising, it doesn't bother me much currently, but I would rather not have in increase.

[medman]

The advertisements on xbox live are intrusive and annoying. Congratulations Microsoft. You have succeeded in fleecing gamers and advertisers alike this generation. Unless this preposterous ad bombardment ceases, it will be a PS4 only for me next gen. And considering I bought my PS3 a year and a half after my 360 this gen, that is saying something. But enough is enough. The greed of this company is disgusting.

[Max-Zorin]

Are you serious?

[legendof117]

It's a fucking advertisement!!

Jesus Christ people, do you really have nothing else to bitch about.

At least you aren't forced to watch these ads.

You have the choice to click on them.

For real.

You guys are just sad, sad people. Especially you @StrongMan. You're the most pathetic fanboy on this site. Whenever you see something Microsoft related you jump on that shit.

Grow up and PLAY THE GAMES!

This ain't politics, buddy.