153 points

Normally, I think gamers overreact a bit when it comes to ads on Xbox… but this time, this full screen ad when you boot up the system should not be allowed.

Wonder what genius exec had that brilliant idea. Stupid.

permalink
report
reply
36 points

You say “stupid”, but I’m kind of worried it’ll have a positive impact in their sales, making these types of ads the new standard… I hope not, but my expectations are getting worse and worse

permalink
report
parent
reply
26 points

That this exists at all means it is a new standard ad format they are testing out. They didn’t program in a new ad format just for Activision.

So unless there’s enough of a pushback that they can it, you’ll be periodically seeing similar boot up ads for other games and maybe even things like McDonald’s down the road.

permalink
report
parent
reply
20 points

Any sort of ad on a luxury item you’ve already paid for should be cause for concern for the future. Sony does have ads, but they are hidden in menus and are static text ads, not video ads (yet).

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points
*

Wait…this is a thing now!?! I switched to PC, so I wouldn’t know…Crazy.

permalink
report
parent
reply
33 points

Click the Win11 search bar…

permalink
report
parent
reply
60 points

PC ≠ Windows

-Your local linux evangelist

permalink
report
parent
reply
20 points

That’s bad, but at the very least, Windows can be customized to hide all that crap. Some options are up front, some require a lot more digging, but it can be de-advertised. Xbox is way more locked down.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

I’ve never seen an ad on Windows 10 or 11. Been using 11 for over a year at this point. The start menu just has my pinned apps and recent files.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

I take it you haven’t used Windows 11 yet, The start menu is basically all advertisements.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

You can turn them all off though

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

I have, but there aren’t any unskippable ads at startup.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Classic Microsoft.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

It was almost certainly multiple execs, from multiple companies, with Activision being the first partner for a new ad format team Xbox was rolling out but had discussed in advance with multiple agency partners.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

I thought there’s no way… when you boot up!? Sure enough. “the ad in question pops up when players boot up their Xbox”

Wow

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Personally, I’d like to thank Microsoft. They’ve been making it easy to not regret getting a PS5 and not really even considering the xbox option that strongly. Between the series S needing to handle it for it to be allowed on the series X and now full screen ads, it’s like Sony is the only one that realizes there’s still competition going on.

I’d also like to thank people who still buy Xboxes anyways for giving Sony a reason to not turn the enshitification up to an 11 because it’s probably more of a difference in confidence than principles.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

They also recently announced that all unlicesenced third party accessories will cease to work with the Xbox as of a couple days ago.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Wtf?

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Yeah, plenty of things that have made me glad to not have one. Has there been anything positive about Xbox in the news lately? That isn’t kinda a backhand compliment, like BG3 being available on it soon while it launched everywhere else a while ago now?

permalink
report
parent
reply
60 points

Meanwhile, over on Reddit, several members of the Xbox community have labelled this marketing stunt “vomit inducing” and “unacceptable”.

People still on Reddit want someone to take their complaints seriously? Empirically speaking, they will accept this.

permalink
report
reply
27 points

People still on Reddit want someone to take their complaints seriously? Empirically speaking, they will accept this.

Nah, it’s more than the communities on places like Reddit and lemmy/kbin are so small and unimportant relative to the overall consumer market that you can pretty much ignore them completely.

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

Yep, that’s more significant for sure. People on any online forum are a loud minority.

It is a cheap dig, but I just found it funny that people who have demonstrated with (lack of) action that they do in fact not care enough to change their habits use a term like “unacceptable”.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

They are the same people who complain when a news story alerts them to the fact that facebook is collecting their data. They whine about how the govt should do something about this egregious act, and then share that with all their facebook friends.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Picture related will never not sum up internet boycotts.

permalink
report
parent
reply
54 points

Entertainment industry as a whole is about to relearn some painful lessons about customer satisfaction. Every day there’s a new reason to hoist the black flag on predatory capitalism.

permalink
report
reply
13 points

eh, will it affect their profit? or will it direct enough people to the New Microsoft Game Out Now! that it’s worth annoying everyone else.

the only painful lesson is if they lose money, which they probably won’t.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

If nothing else, I’m with you ✊ Lemmy has done wonders for me finding alternatives for everything.

I’m looking forward to getting a Steam Deck, and my next home computer is gonna be Linux-based for sure ❤️

The crowd may not follow us, but there are plenty of us who are happy not playing everyone else’s shitty game.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

I’m with you, I was on the fence for either an xbox or steam deck. I’m now firmly on the steam deck side.

Unfortunately it won’t make a difference, and odds are they actually gain from this.

permalink
report
parent
reply
32 points
*

This kind of thing is the reason I’ve started moving completely away from Microsoft platforms, including Windows. Microsoft is getting more and more invasive and aggressive pushing advertising onto people in their own private spaces, and that is unacceptable.

Since I’m a PC gamer first and foremost, I don’t use XBox… and after this, I won’t. Ever. This was just MS dipping their toes in to see if they could get away with it.

Thankfully, with Valve continuing to rapidly improve Proton, just about any Windows game runs on Linux now with very little elbow grease. No Microsoft necessary.

permalink
report
reply
5 points

with Valve continuing to rapidly improve Proton, just about any Windows game runs on Linux now

I hope this is actually true, or becomes true. The only reason I’m on Windows is for gaming.

Heck even my Bitwig DAW runs on Linux.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

it’s to the point that even pirated games generally Just Work if you run them via steam, it’s magic

permalink
report
parent
reply
31 points

Windows 10 gave me a notification telling me to buy Starfield the other day. fuck off

permalink
report
reply
12 points

You should probably disable it if you don’t want to see it. My windows 10 hasn’t advertised to me in any way ever.

Yeah, it sucks that by default it’s all enabled, but it’s nice that we at least have the option to fully disable all of it. And I haven’t had to reg edit or anything. All the settings are reachable in the operating system itself. If you can’t find it all, there are plenty of guides.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

I must be good at ignoring them, because this is the first I’ve gotten one and read it.

I didn’t know there was an opt out process.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Games

!games@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Weekly Threads:

What Are You Playing?

The Weekly Discussion Topic

Rules:

  1. Submissions have to be related to games

  2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

  3. No excessive self-promotion

  4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

  5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

  6. No linking to piracy

More information about the community rules can be found here.

Community stats

  • 9.2K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.7K

    Posts

  • 79K

    Comments