Ads up, games down: The ugly, profitable details about Xbox Live advertising

Xbox Live is the online platform for the Xbox 360 that allows people to play against each other online, chat across games, and manage their friend list. Xbox Live is also a for-pay service, costing around $5 a month depending on where and how you purchased your subscription. Microsoft has successfully created a service that offers much of what other services like the PlayStation Network and Steam give away for free, but the company didn’t stop there. The other way Xbox Live is being monetized is the sale of advertising.

[Emilio_Estevez]

Wow, they are raking in the dollars from those advertisers. I work for a media company and those #'s are insane. I mean off your rocker, strait in the looney bin, do not pass go, do not collect $200 insane.

The more these companies pay for it the more it will go up too.

[darthv72]

maybe its me but....
I do not see these ads as being a bad thing. You can find some interesting stuff you probably didnt think about at first when you went to sign into live. Not to mention that I know where everything is.

Give me a cable remote and tell me to find a specific tv program amongst the hundreds of channels WITHOUT knowing the exact channel number.....now that is navigating.

Bottom line is the ads are nothing like what we see on tv. You have to actually stop on them (if they are video based) to see/hear what they are about. All of the other ads (well...most of them) are all relating to content available through Live.

Like the ad for breaking bad season 1-4 at 50% off...yeah that is available in the marketplace. Oh go figure....advertising things that are available to buy WITHIN the very service you are using. What a concept.

Im just glad you arent subjected to watching mandatory ads before playing your games like movies do when you buy them. In this business of making $$$ it comes down to who is willing to pay more. The consumer or the advertiser. Just look at the insane prices companies pay for a 30 second spot during the super bowl.

Now that is something I actually watch AND enjoy watching the ads.

[ApplEaglElephant]

Ahhh good old Xbox fanboys
Always trying to make a bad thing into good one.

Paying to get advertisement is now a good thing? and comparing it to TV?? Are you for reals?

Takes fanboy defense to another level. Trying to turn around so hard. I bet you will argue that RROD is a good thing too cause it makes u spend more money and boosts economy. LOL

[ChunkyLover53]

I wonder how many will actually read the article instead of post something about the Xbox 360 lacking games due to the title on this article?

There is a full section for games on the dash, I do hope the forthcoming update lets you arrange things a bit better like this thread suggests. http://opa-ages.com/forums/...

That being said, I pretty much know where I'm going when I turn on my Xbox 360, I'm in the loop when there is an arcade game releasing. I am usually about to either play a game or use a service. Its fairly easy, and the ads don't bother me. Ads are everywhere, I mean literally everywhere, yet everyone tries to make such a huge deal out of the ones on the friggen Xbox Live dash. Yes you pay for XBL, but there are tons of ads in things you pay for, cable, satellite, phones, movies, EVERYTHING.

[Erudito87]

this is evil i really doubt im going to renew my xbl membership

[Dlacy13g]

If you think its evil.. then by all means dont renew your membership. Vote with you wallet. While your at it... stop going to the movies since they force you to watch 20 min of previews, stop watching TV, stop going to websites like N4G that have ads all over. Just stop allowing companies to try and advertise to you...just read a book... don't listen to the radio while doing so either.... forget driving down the street too...

Advertising isnt evil.. for F*ck sake its just advertising, not a Satanic ritual.

[Erudito87]

if im paying why should i be subjected to it? its just greed!!! at the cinema it can be avoided and its not annoying, as i like watching movie previews. with sky plus you can record programs for later and skip through all the shitty adverts!

[Minato-Namikaze]

This is just sad

[TwistyTrev]

"You get what pay for"

[maniacmayhem]

“Currently, you have to navigate past Home ... Social ... TV ... Video ... and finally to Games."

I agree, as a long time 360 user I do find this a tad problematic and annoying. In my opinion it should be Home, then Games or better yet the user should customize their tabs themselves.

"I asked Microsoft about the inability to find games..."

You really have to be completely illiterate to not find games on the 360. The windows and tabs may be a little whelming at first due to the nature of not knowing how to navigate. But it only takes minutes even less to get around and find everything you need.

[Dlacy13g]

umm.. what about "guide button" then games blade.... boom you are there are you not?

[maniacmayhem]

And then there is this. Good look out.

[MacDonagh]

I'm not a fan of the dashboard; so I just use the blades.

Honestly though. Games have taken a backseat to apps and ads. It's an utter chore to go through the game marketplace.

[cstyle]

No, you just have to be smarter than the equipment you are working with. Nothing wrong with the marketplace.

[MacDonagh]

If that slight was aimed at me; you need to work harder on your delivery.

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[Grimhammer00]

It isn't MS I'm mad at. They are a huge corp which will bleed consumers dry without remorse. That's good buisness when you trick your loyalists into thinking its a steal! Lol

No, MS are smart. My tears are saved for the sheeple. I jump ship years ago. Roughly around the time Kinect started its first forage into destroying my box.

And no. It's not the amount. $4 a month is nothing. But, on principle - as a consumer unwilling to allow this sort of garbage from happening to me....I quit MS.

I will not get 720. I will not support MS game division.

I can still hear the echod of fanbots stating the LIVE cash will go towards killer 1st party exclusives. Lol

[ChunkyLover53]

Just curious what your plan will be once Sony and Nintendo announce pay to play models during the next generation?

People here are so insecure and hypocritical its gotten to the point where its not even funny. You attack Microsoft because they went after the casual market with Kinect and were successful, while Sony went after the casual market with Move and were not successful.

Console makers tend to shift gears a bit towards the end of a consoles life, Sony has done it in the past with the PS1 and PS2 and are trying to with the PS3 as well. Wonderbook, LBP Kart Racing, PlayStation All Stars ect... Those aren't exactly the "hardcore" titles Sony fans have been slapping their chests over, are they?

Don't feel sorry for Microsoft gamer's, we all know what we are getting. I feel sorry for the blind Sony loyalists that ignore the things Sony has done this generation. Taking away feature after feature, selling us "HD remakes" to games we've already bought. Not securing their online, but they have done a good job of fooling people into digital formats, with this new cloud service and PSN+, it probably wont be long until everything will be digital with Sony.

Lets not forget they also have online passes for all of their first party games, so while they haven't dumped used games just yet, they are headed in that direction...but lets all just suckle on the Sony teat a little bit longer, Microsoft is just oh so horrible...blah, cry, whine....

I bet most of the people here at N4G has hated on Cloud gaming at some point, but when Sony buys out a Cloud company, the tune changes pretty quick...lol

[jessupj]

Don't feel sorry for us. We have plenty of games to play with lots of free dedicate servers and don't have to pay someone the privilege of using our own bandwidth.

I do feel sorry for you, however. All fanboys are annoying, but at least Sony fanboys have legitimate things to brag about, but I just can't comprehend why anyone would defend MS so blindly when they don't give you any exclusives and force you to pay to use online among lots of other things I could mention. Just boggles my mind.

[Servbot]

Glad I stopped paying. Their business model is nothing but corporate greed that relies on the ignorance of consumers.

[jessupj]

Unfortunately there's too many ignorant people out there that let MS get away with this.

I'd love to see how many people would keep their gold membership if MS allowed silver accounts to access the online portion of their games.

My guess is not many.

[Skateboard]

I don't understand the cheering for a company making money off things that have nothing to do with games, pathetic. Microsoft can make all the money in the world it ain't gonna change the fact you're getting gimped.

[dcbronco]

These silly "articles" are just trying to get hits. There is a panel for every category on Live. If you're looking for a game you go to the games panel Find the indie or whatever panel. And then the new releases panel. If you check weekly or daily, you will have no problem finding the new games. Same for every other category. If it's a older game, you can look alphabetically or by genre. It's not rocket science. MS is doing no less than any other company. Nobody is advertising every single game on the front page for a week. Or at all. Most don't get articles. Or reviews, let alone previews. It a BS argument.

Articles like this attract the support of the same kind of nuts the Tea Party does. And if you look around a realize nuts are your base. You need to re-think your arguments.

[Grimhammer00]

Eactly.

Fanboys talk about MS success like it equates to better gaming for them.

Ahhh....sinking in now isn't it.

I don't want any pay to play. If Sony goes this route....I'd very likely go WiiU (even though it's a gen behind and full of gimmick).

If all three went p2p...I'd be forced. Then I'd go back to Sony. And forever hate on MS for bringing p2p into my console life. Lol

Ads, subs.....like I said earlier....great for MS, horrible for gamers.

I do think that gamers go where their friends are. And that's going to always motivate....and now that MS has ya, they no they can abuse that.

[dcbronco]

I don't have a disorder that compels me to click on that single ad in the right corner. I ignore it 99% of the time. And while MS success doesn't necessarily equate to better games for me, it does equate to me being sure the maker of my console will be around in the next ten years. Sony's missteps over the last six or seven years have done the opposite. I'm sure that is sinking in at Sony.

[ApolloTheBoss]

You know what I do? If I really need to play multiplayer, (For Halo only) I just let my membership expire and wait until I see $2 for 2 months or 1 free month on my profile. You save alot of money that way. I'll never pay full price for Gold again.