Ads Coming to Xbox Live

[MasterStratus]

We already put up with paying fifty dollars a month for online gaming, while the other console owners do it for free.

Well you're getting screwed then. I pay 50 bucks for 13 months.

Sorry, my bad.
I meant year.
But either way, we're paying while other people don't.

We're also getting a better internet service then compared to the PS3. I often hear of online matches just breaking apart for no reason on the PS3.

And that doesn't happen on Xbox Live?
It sure happens to me a lot.
And it's not my internet, my laptop and various other things work fine.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Xbox.
I'm just saying that we put up with paying, then we get ads to pay for more stuff.
I just hope they don't make "Xbox Platinum, now with less ads than Gold!"

It happens to you? Really? I've been playing on my Xbox360 for a year or two now and I've never had that problem.

Fair enough I suppose. Although the ads can be a good thing as well. They sometimes are informative, which is always a good thing.

I suppose the ads could be good.
I'm just being pessimistic and assuming that they'll be for things like DLC for games you don't have, or the newest color of wireless controller.
Oh well.
We'll just have to live with it.

 

[Strategia]

THIS JUST IN - Sun came up this morning. Details to follow.

Seriously, this is even less surprising than the end of Revenge of the Sith.

 

[Pirce]

You want to put ads on Live? Awesome! Make it free.

 

[Baby Tea]

That's a load of bullhonkey, and you know it. "Microsoft doesn't charge the developers for that, so they need the money from somewhere"? Seriously? There's like, what, 25 million Gold Subscribers or something? Multiply that by 5, do you really think they're short on money? That's not counting all the Marketplace stuff that I'm sure people buy all the time as well as a bunch of other stuff. Besides, do you really want to pay for something that should be removed when you pay for it anyway? You're paying them to get more money, what sense does that make?

And if you want to get technical, trailers, demos, and the like are advertisments so charge away (not saying I like it, but meh, I don't have to pay for it)

Oh come on, Jumplion.

Where, pray tell, did you get the gold member numbers?
A recent Escapist Article I read (Whose link I can't find, my bad) said the numbers were around 7 million, with far more 'silver' members (Which is free, as a reminder). They download demos, and videos, and themes, and all these other things that are being hosted at no cost to developers and creators. Who is paying for that hosting?
You want to see how much it costs to run servers to host that many people downloading this much stuff per year?

Besides, there are already ads on XLB, and they are extremely easy to ignore. So who cares? It's like an ad on the bus you're riding on, or on the billboard on the side of the road. Who cares? Just ignore it. It's not jumping in your face. It's just sitting there.

 

[letsnoobtehpwns]

Great. I play Xbox to get away from the ads on TV! This is just another reason why I should get a PS3.

 

[Gamer137]

Ads already clutter the dashboard on any list of options other then friends and my xbox. Even the games section of the guide button menus has a constant ad on the bottom. WTH Microsoft? LIVE should be free to begin with, and now you want to enhance the ads even more without giving us jack shit?

 

[Gunner 51]

You want to put ads on Live? Awesome! Make it free.

I think that's a very good idea.

 

[quack35]

Oh well, they're just ads. Can't see it bothering me.

 

[Blanks]

i thought Xbox live already had ads...

 

[firedfns13]

What the hell is this? I pay $50 a year for a service thats peer to peer, no dedicated servers, that i cant talk to several of my friends on for some reason, and now they put ads on it?

 

[Angron]

i dont care about ads, but we actually have to pay to see ads?

its just another reason on my list i wont be renewing the live account

 

[Drakulla]

What the hell is this? I pay $50 a year for a service that's peer to peer, no dedicated servers, that i cant talk to several of my friends on for some reason, and now they put ads on it?

This was inevitable, you had to have known that. Its just another way Microsoft can make a buck and there's no way in hell they're going to turn that down. That said, it does suck but if Microsoft gives the live community something back i.e. Microsoft points or something, I might be OK with it.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

It's not like we already pay to fucking use this, now we have to pay to look at adverts.

 

[Kiutu]

Gold members better not have to see them, or get a large discount, or even make XBL free then. When people say "Make XBL free" I respond with "Money makes them keep it good" but if they add Ads, then THAT is their money, so then they should not be making us pay. I hate getting jipped like that. A online community website (Gaiaonline) backstabbed us with their greed in a similar way too. The place is now full of sponsored adds, and they now expect you to pay for anything decent. I do not go on there anymore.

 

[Jumplion]

Oh come on, Jumplion.

Where, pray tell, did you get the gold member numbers?
A recent Escapist Article I read (Whose link I can't find, my bad) said the numbers were around 7 million, with far more 'silver' members (Which is free, as a reminder). They download demos, and videos, and themes, and all these other things that are being hosted at no cost to developers and creators. Who is paying for that hosting?
You want to see how much it costs to run servers to host that many people downloading this much stuff per year?

Besides, there are already ads on XLB, and they are extremely easy to ignore. So who cares? It's like an ad on the bus you're riding on, or on the billboard on the side of the road. Who cares? Just ignore it. It's not jumping in your face. It's just sitting there.

Eh, I read before that there was something around 20 million Gold members, though I may have misinterpreted Microsoft's statistics.

It's more of the principle of the matter rather than the matter of the principle (I think I just made up a new saying! Sweet!). Most if not all of the time you pay premium for things that normal non-paying people don't get. This includes exclusive content, early access, no ads ect... Many many sites do this, pay for more content, less ads, blah blah blah.

You're paying for what is supposed to be a premium service. Sure, an out of the way ad isn't much, but you shouldn't be paying to have advertisments shoved in your face regardless of how it's implemented.

And don't think for a second I'm being a fanboy here, Qore episodes on PSN (It's like a bunch of exclusive interviews and such) have one or two unskipable advertisments when you go to one of the sections, and it quickly gets annoying. Though I can't remember if the last one I downloaded had ads since I bought the anual subscription, but whatever!

 

[Baby Tea]

Eh, I read before that there was something around 20 million Gold members, though I may have misinterpreted Microsoft's statistics.

It's more of the principle of the matter rather than the matter of the principle (I think I just made up a new saying! Sweet!). Most if not all of the time you pay premium for things that normal non-paying people don't get. This includes exclusive content, early access, no ads ect... Many many sites do this, pay for more content, less ads, blah blah blah.

You're paying for what is supposed to be a premium service. Sure, an out of the way ad isn't much, but you shouldn't be paying to have advertisments shoved in your face regardless of how it's implemented.

And don't think for a second I'm being a fanboy here, Qore episodes on PSN (It's like a bunch of exclusive interviews and such) have one or two unskipable advertisments when you go to one of the sections, and it quickly gets annoying. Though I can't remember if the last one I downloaded had ads since I bought the anual subscription, but whatever!

But you are getting a service! You get early access to certain demos (Or exclusive access in some cases), early access to certain DLC, and you get to play online. There is your premium services.

Where is the rule written that if you pay for something, you shouldn't get ads?
Probably in the same book that says 'life is fair'.

I pay to fly, ride a bus, eat a meal at a restaurant, drive my car, watch my TV, surf the internet, read a magazine, and even read a book, and there are ads for all of those. This isn't a deal breaking or revolt-inducing thing Microsoft is doing here. It's another source of revenue for a business who wants to, gasp, make money. That's the point of every business.

If they start making them like popups ads (Press X to skip this ad and load the next level), then I'd get annoyed. But if they are just a little item on the XBL dashboard that I can fly past, or a small logo in the top corner as I'm on the dashboard, then why do I care?

Come on Jump, this is sounding a little fanboyish to me. You're better then that.

 

[Jumplion]

But you are getting a service! You get early access to certain demos (Or exclusive access in some cases), early access to certain DLC, and you get to play online. There is your premium services.

Where is the rule written that if you pay for something, you shouldn't get ads?
Probably in the same book that says 'life is fair'.

I pay to fly, ride a bus, eat a meal at a restaurant, drive my car, watch my TV, surf the internet, read a magazine, and even read a book, and there are ads for all of those. This isn't a deal breaking or revolt-inducing thing Microsoft is doing here. It's another source of revenue for a business who wants to, gasp, make money. That's the point of every business.

If they start making them like popups ads (Press X to skip this ad and load the next level), then I'd get annoyed. But if they are just a little item on the XBL dashboard that I can fly past, or a small logo in the top corner as I'm on the dashboard, then why do I care?

Come on Jump, this is sounding a little fanboyish to me. You're better then that.

Hey, I already established that I wasn't trying to be a fanboy here god damnit! Sony does this to, ironically only in the pay to use Qore thing as far as I know. Sometimes on the Playstation Store there's some "Verizon Special!" or something showing a special offer for a game or two because of a collaberation or something.

If you pay for a private jet, you don't get advertisments. It's called a "commercial" airline for a reason. And even then, there are some pre-flight services that offer premium stuff and alot of the booklets in the seat in front of you is just self-promoting stuff. And even then, those advertisments are hardly put in your face and easily ignorable if noticable at all.
Riding a bus, I'll give you that.
Driving your car, unless you turn on your radio, you don't have advertisments unless you're talking about billboards.
TV, well, there are many channels that offer advertisment-free broadcasting as well as other things (Pay-Per-View maybe? I never used that)
The internet, there are a plethorea of websites that offer pay-to-recieve content as well as no ads. IGN, DeviantArt, and Webs.com do this right off the top of my head and I am sure I could think up more.
Read a magazine; depends on what magazine and how many ads
A book....really? Where would ads be on a book beside the publishing company, in which case that's just self-promotion.

I said it before, it's more the principle of the matter rather than the matter of the principle. Microsoft gets money from advertisments and money from Gold membership. Gold Members (obsceure Austin Power's reference FTW!) pay for exclusive content, early access, and online. They should not have to pay for an ad to be shoved in their face, something that gets them money anyway, however big it may be. I'm sure many people would pay for LIVE if it meant no ads, more than you'd think, either way Microsoft gets money and it seems like a better way to move people to gold membership however silly it may seem.