Meanwhile, there are not only paid games on consoles, but also free-to-play games in abundance. The latter are then financed through in-game transactions. You can buy cosmetic items for real money or, for .B, even get pay-to-win benefits if your wallet is loose. Microsoft is now said to be working on strengthening monetization options, Business Insider reports. Accordingly, there should be a central platform to place and manage advertising in Xbox gaming.
This would then make it possible for manufacturers or brands to place advertisements specifically in Xbox games. However, it is probably still unclear which technology partners you would like to work with. Anonymous sources expect reminders to enable this option for Xbox games as early as the third quarter of 2022. The advertising is not intended for paid games, but for free-to-play games.
Microsoft is currently negotiating with various ad tech providers who could take over the support. They should then help to mediate between the developers of the games and those who want to advertise. How the advertising could appear in games should be diverse. One imagines, for example, in a racing game that the paying stamps are emblazoned on the billboards away from the race tracks. There could also be certain skins of advertising partners for characters, weapons and other in-game objects – or just the classic advertising clips, which could pop up e.B. during waiting times in multiplayer lobbies.
Microsoft itself has not yet confirmed these rumors. Currently, advertising is widespread in mobile games, but rather rare in PC and console games. There are already a few options, such as placing recommendations in the Xbox dashboard, but otherwise the options are limited. Microsoft itself should not be interested in commissions at first. Rather, it is about building an attractive advertising network. The revenues are then to be divided between the developers and the marketers.
Thus, Microsoft’s agenda could be more to make the Xbox platforms more exciting for free-to-play developers. However, there is also internal skepticism, as it is expected that many core gamers could reject such a practice. That’s why they want to open the program initially only for selected brands and make sure that the advertising does not interrupt the gameplay. They also do not want to make customer data directly accessible to third parties. Otherwise, a lot of criticism would probably be expected.