Microsoft mulls ads in free to play Xbox games

Microsoft is reportedly working to introduce an advertisement program for its free-to-play Xbox games, in which companies will be able to show their ads to the users. The ads, however, will not disrupt the game and would rather appear on a ‘billboard’ in a racing game. 

Under the new advertisement programme only selected brands will be able to buy ad space in these games, a report by Business Insider claimed.

Xbox is a video gaming brand developed by Microsoft and includes video games consoles, applications (games), and streaming services among others. The brand was first introduced in its home market in the US with the launch of the original Xbox console.

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A Microsoft spokesperson, however, refused to make any immediate comment on the report. “We are always looking for ways to improve the experience for players and developers but we don't have anything further to share,” said the spokesperson.  

Microsoft will not be leveraging on the data it collects from search engine Bing and other services for targeted ads on the Xbox gaming service.

In March, Microsoft had also announced that it will soon bring the Xbox feature to the Windows PC and claimed that the move is expected to decrease the loading time. This feature is now finally coming to Microsoft games, with the company announcing that the release of the software development kit for DirectStorage would be available to users.