Xbox’s chief strategist considers using ads to “offer more affordable alternatives” for experiences — but says “The question is not ‘Can we cram ads in everything?'” [UPDATED]
Update 6/11/26 @ 8:25 p.m. PT / 11:25 p.m. PT: Matthew Ball has responded, clarifying “that ads should be used to offer more affordable alternatives alongside today’s ad-free experiences, in the hopes more could play as a result. Similar to how Netflix and Disney+ have ad-tiers with all the same content, but at half the price or so.”
He also noted that these ads do not refer to “in-game ads.” Windows Central regrets the misunderstanding of the source interview and this update serves to rectify the error.
Original article: For a long time now, I’ve feared that sooner or later, we’re going to see game publishers start stuffing advertisements into their premium titles. It’s been a concern of mine ever since ads for Ubisoft games appeared in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey a few years ago due to a “technical error.”
My concern has only grown with the rise of less expensive ad-supported tiers across streaming services for TV and movies, along with the prevalence of increasingly aggressive in-game ads for microtransaction purchases in paid titles (looking at you, full-priced Battlefield 6).
Pretty much the last thing I want when I sit down to chill out and have fun with a game is to be marketed at like I constantly am for the rest of the day, so you can imagine how annoyed of a reaction I had to the news that Xbox’s chief strategy officer Matthew Ball is considering the implementation of in-game ads.
Speaking with The Game Business, Ball says rising development costs coupled with increasing hardware prices (thanks, AI, for the RAM crisis) have created a serious problem for game companies, and seems to believe in-game ads — implemented with careful restraint — could help solve it.
“There is a two-sided problem. The costs have gone up way too high on development, and at the same point, everyone feels terrible with prices going up on hardware or software or microtransactions. That is a challenge. It’s not good if that is the only option,” he said. “I think the best evidence comes from the [TV] streaming space. In excess of 100% of net adds in the United States for years and years have been on the ad-supported tier.”
“That has not excluded anyone from ad-free experiences. Those products are still there. They’re still popular,” Ball continued. “The question is not ‘Can we cram ads in everything?’ The question is, ‘Are there opportunities that allow the people who can’t afford, or wouldn’t try, to have an onboard to our properties and franchises?'”
Essentially, it sounds like if Xbox explores putting ads in games, it would do so by directing players to things like discounts on titles they don’t own or services they don’t use like Xbox Game Pass, rather than to any products made by anyone willing to pay for an ad slot.
It may also decide to implement an ad-supported tier of Xbox Game Pass or Xbox Cloud Gaming, providing cheaper access in exchange for requiring players to view advertisements. Notably, our sources actually confirmed a Cloud Gaming offer like this would come in 2026 towards the beginning of the year, though it’s unclear if that plan has changed or not since then.
In the end, Ball’s goal with in-game ads would be to balance outreach with revenue that would help Xbox “keep our products affordable” and “fund outstanding work from our development teams.”
“I don’t have anything to report on Microsoft’s plans. I’ve frankly not read into them despite my interest in the category,” he noted. “But it is coming from that perspective of how do we reach more people? How do we keep our products affordable? How do we make sure that we can continue to fund outstanding work from our development teams? That’s the goal. It’s not about placing an ad in front of someone so that we can sell, you know, a pizza.”
Frankly, I am staunchly against ads in games regardless of the context, and would be greatly disappointed to see Xbox go through with this in any capacity. But if it does end up happening, I suppose I’m at least glad Microsoft and Xbox don’t want to get carried away with it. That said, this slope sure does seem slippery, doesn’t it?
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