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People are going to inevitably hate on this because... well it's ads. But in my opinion, having an ad-supported tier is actually a good thing. It makes gaming

People are going to inevitably hate on this because... well it's ads. But in my opinion, having an ad-supported tier is actually a good thing. It makes gaming more accessible to people who can't afford/don't want to purchase expensive gaming PCs. Plus, it adds competition with nvidia's geforce streaming service (which is already ad-supported).

AlexandrB 1y ago
That's just the first-order effects. Ads inevitably corrupt the mediums they exist in. The canonical/obvious example is cliffhangers before ad breaks in shows intended for broadcast TV. I don't think it's a coincidence that the era of "prestige TV" started on HBO and other ad-free networks that were not constrained by making room for ad spots in their scripts. We'll see how ads will warp gaming as ad-based monetization proliferates, but given that it's an interactive medium it could be very intrusive.
- brendoelfrendo 1y ago
  I feel like the obvious analogue is to ad-supported platforms like YouTube and how convoluted self-censorship strategies are necessary to stay monetized. If you're an indie dev and you were hoping to get your next game on GamePass, but you can't afford to miss out on the ad-supported tier, do you start changing your game to make it more appealing to advertisers?
- jerf 1y ago
  I'm not sure it can warp it any farther than gambling loot box and gacha mechanics already have. I'm not just being ambiently sarcastic, I'm being quite serious, outright gambling strikes me as being a more potent force on the game by quite a bit than advertising would be.
xinayder 1y ago
Wait until it has a 30ms input latency and 480p resolution. That's not accessible, that's just enshittification. Like Google has done with YouTube: you can no longer watch HD videos if you don't have Premium. You can select 720p or 1080p, but the video won't be HD.
- gruez 1y ago
  >Wait until it has a 30ms input latency and 480p resolution. That's not accessible, that's just enshittification. I'm sure many would take 30ms input latency and 408p over no games at all, or whatever games are available on the xbox 360 or whatever. Moreover nobody is forcing you to play the shitty version, there's always the option to not play, same as before. >Like Google has done with YouTube: you can no longer watch HD videos if you don't have Premium. You can select 720p or 1080p, but the video won't be HD. It objectively is HD because it meets the requisite resolution. It might not meet the bitrate that you'd like, but arbitrarily calling something as not "HD" because its bitrate isn't high enough is misleading, and leads to weird conclusions. Is netflix "not 4K" because it's not the same bitrate as a blu-ray? Is a blu-ray not 4K because it's not using jpeg encoded frames that movie theater projectors use?
  - Telaneo 1y ago
    > I'm sure many would take 30ms input latency and 408p over no games at all, Or they could pirate some games, or borrow a friend's Steam library with Steam family, and get a much better experience than enshittified Game Pass would be. That's a lot better than no games, and unless you're desperate for Call of Duty 69: Unicorn Madness, probably the better bet. Unless they somehow only have an Xbox Series X and no PC, but that seems like an odd choice for someone without the money to buy games wholesale or pay for Game Pass.
jawilson2 1y ago
You KNOW that next, the current top tier will have "limited ads" added (at $30/mo), and they will add an ad-free tier at $35-40/mo.

AlexandrB 1y ago

That's just the first-order effects. Ads inevitably corrupt the mediums they exist in. The canonical/obvious example is cliffhangers before ad breaks in shows intended for broadcast TV. I don't think it's a coincidence that the era of "prestige TV" started on HBO and other ad-free networks that were not constrained by making room for ad spots in their scripts. We'll see how ads will warp gaming as ad-based monetization proliferates, but given that it's an interactive medium it could be very intrusive.

brendoelfrendo 1y ago
I feel like the obvious analogue is to ad-supported platforms like YouTube and how convoluted self-censorship strategies are necessary to stay monetized. If you're an indie dev and you were hoping to get your next game on GamePass, but you can't afford to miss out on the ad-supported tier, do you start changing your game to make it more appealing to advertisers?
jerf 1y ago
I'm not sure it can warp it any farther than gambling loot box and gacha mechanics already have. I'm not just being ambiently sarcastic, I'm being quite serious, outright gambling strikes me as being a more potent force on the game by quite a bit than advertising would be.

xinayder 1y ago

Wait until it has a 30ms input latency and 480p resolution. That's not accessible, that's just enshittification. Like Google has done with YouTube: you can no longer watch HD videos if you don't have Premium. You can select 720p or 1080p, but the video won't be HD.

gruez 1y ago
>Wait until it has a 30ms input latency and 480p resolution. That's not accessible, that's just enshittification. I'm sure many would take 30ms input latency and 408p over no games at all, or whatever games are available on the xbox 360 or whatever. Moreover nobody is forcing you to play the shitty version, there's always the option to not play, same as before. >Like Google has done with YouTube: you can no longer watch HD videos if you don't have Premium. You can select 720p or 1080p, but the video won't be HD. It objectively is HD because it meets the requisite resolution. It might not meet the bitrate that you'd like, but arbitrarily calling something as not "HD" because its bitrate isn't high enough is misleading, and leads to weird conclusions. Is netflix "not 4K" because it's not the same bitrate as a blu-ray? Is a blu-ray not 4K because it's not using jpeg encoded frames that movie theater projectors use?
- Telaneo 1y ago
  > I'm sure many would take 30ms input latency and 408p over no games at all, Or they could pirate some games, or borrow a friend's Steam library with Steam family, and get a much better experience than enshittified Game Pass would be. That's a lot better than no games, and unless you're desperate for Call of Duty 69: Unicorn Madness, probably the better bet. Unless they somehow only have an Xbox Series X and no PC, but that seems like an odd choice for someone without the money to buy games wholesale or pay for Game Pass.

jawilson2 1y ago

You KNOW that next, the current top tier will have "limited ads" added (at $30/mo), and they will add an ad-free tier at $35-40/mo.