Reports have appeared online stating that Xbox is considering implementing in-game advertising to make its products more accessible to users and maintain funding for game studios. However, Xbox's Director of Strategic Development, Matthew Ball, stated that such an interpretation of his words is inaccurate.
According to him, at the time of the interview, he had only been working at Xbox for ten days and did not voice any plans or official position of the corporation.
Ball emphasized that he was speaking exclusively about the possibility of more affordable service options with advertising alongside traditional paid ad-free offerings. As an example, he cited Netflix and Disney+ subscriptions, where users can choose a cheaper plan with ad inserts while retaining access to the same content.
The executive also specifically noted that in-game advertising was not mentioned at all in the interview. Thus, the published reports that Xbox allegedly plans to show ads directly in games to fund development and keep prices affordable are based on a misinterpretation of his words.