It seems like 2023 has been an intriguing news year so far for good and bad reasons. While 2023 has mainly been a positive year for the gaming world it seems like Microsoft has been in the news a lot lately for somewhat controversial reasons. We recently learned not too along ago that the European Union has recently approved of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard of $68.7 billon which took place last year. Microsoft’s purchase of Activision-Blizzard had initially upset many gamers because it would take away the ability for them to play future installments of Call of Duty on Sony’s PlayStation 5 console. However, Microsoft has recently cleared the air about the future of the Call of Duty franchise and has insisted that future installments will be available on the PS5 for next couple of years but not forever. While the news regarding Microsoft’s multi-billion purchase of Activision-Blizzard is great news for Xbox Series X owners; they will most likely be unhappy if Microsoft started including commercial ads within video games in the future. It was reported by Comicbook.com that ads running within video games was something that was talked about by Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President.
While its uncertain whether or not ads would be included in free-to-play video games versus regular games purchased in retail many Xbox Series X owners are against the idea altogether. Recently, Nintendo has faced backlash regarding the inclusion of loot boxes in Mario Kart: World Tour which is free to play video game on mobile devices. It seems like gaming corporations are constantly doing more things to turn more people off to video games while getting themselves in hot water in the process. The average price of the Xbox Series X is around $499 and the general believe is that console owners should not be subjected to commercial adds during their gaming experience. But since Microsoft is pushing more towards cloud based gaming and streaming the idea of ads being apart of the Xbox Series X gaming experience is one that could potentially be inevitable. It has been revealed that Xbox has been experimenting with the likes of Game Pass in relation to time slices with games with ads. The Xbox Game Pass is expensive enough as it currently stands and including ads for something that customers have already paid for would be infuriating. If anything ads being included in Xbox Series X video games could possibly turn more casual gamers to Microsoft’s competitors Sony and Nintendo in relation to purchasing consoles.
Gaming Hearts Collection 