Xbox users are pretty peeved about the constant advertisements showing up on the consoles. Xbox is one of the biggest platforms for gaming in the world. Not only is it PlayStation’s direct rival, but it has stretched beyond the boundaries of a single machine. Xbox has become a platform outside of just hardware, stretching to people who don’t even own a console. You can play Xbox games on your PC, your smart phone, a TV, and more. Microsoft has tried to make its presence as accessible as possible, especially with things like Xbox Game Pass. However, for those that are still playing through a console, there can be some downsides.
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Xbox users have noticed that there’s a ton of advertising on the platform as of late. Xbox has had advertising on its dashboard since the early days of the Xbox 360. Of course, there are ads for games, but you can also find ads for things like movies, TV shows, and even non-entertainment products. It’s usually kept pretty small and out of the way, only taking up a small portion of the screen and it’s generally inoffensive. However, fans have been getting really frustrated as sometimes it’s impossible to miss. Xbox sometimes puts a full screen ad on users’ screens when they turn on their console to promote a brand new game like Call of Duty, one of its events, or something else. You can close it without having to watch anything and it generally doesn’t appear more than once, but the invasive nature of it has angered some users.
The latest example came around the time of this week’s Xbox Developer Direct, which showcased games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. When fans turned on their consoles, they were greeted with a huge, blinding ad to watch the showcase. Some noted this was annoying to receive given they paid hundreds of dollars for the console and pay for subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass.
As of right now, there’s no known way to opt out of this. Given this continues to bother people, Xbox may stop doing this or at the very least add a setting to turn them off. Some players have noted they don’t mind the ads, especially since some people aren’t connected to social media and would otherwise miss these events. It’s also a friendly reminder for when a big new game releases if you aren’t keeping track of its release date. Either way, it’s pretty divisive.
