• MeekerThanBeaker@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Normally, I think gamers overreact a bit when it comes to ads on Xbox… but this time, this full screen ad when you boot up the system should not be allowed.

    Wonder what genius exec had that brilliant idea. Stupid.

    • AlolanYoda@mander.xyz
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      1 year ago

      You say “stupid”, but I’m kind of worried it’ll have a positive impact in their sales, making these types of ads the new standard… I hope not, but my expectations are getting worse and worse

      • kromem@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That this exists at all means it is a new standard ad format they are testing out. They didn’t program in a new ad format just for Activision.

        So unless there’s enough of a pushback that they can it, you’ll be periodically seeing similar boot up ads for other games and maybe even things like McDonald’s down the road.

    • thesprongler@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Any sort of ad on a luxury item you’ve already paid for should be cause for concern for the future. Sony does have ads, but they are hidden in menus and are static text ads, not video ads (yet).

        • radix@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That’s bad, but at the very least, Windows can be customized to hide all that crap. Some options are up front, some require a lot more digging, but it can be de-advertised. Xbox is way more locked down.

          • beefcat@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The first thing I do on any new Windows install is turn web results off in search. This resolves the exact problem people are constantly complaining about.

        • konalt@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’ve never seen an ad on Windows 10 or 11. Been using 11 for over a year at this point. The start menu just has my pinned apps and recent files.

      • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I take it you haven’t used Windows 11 yet, The start menu is basically all advertisements.

          • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I shouldn’t have to. And if I do it should all be toggles in one place. Not scattered and hidden throughout control panel, settings, and the terminal.

            • beefcat@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You shouldn’t have to, but it’s also something that you only have to do once and takes less than 30 seconds.

              It’s a minor annoyance but people act like microsoft crashed an suv into their living room and killed their cat.

              • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                It does not take 30 seconds, it takes up to five minutes. Some of these changes also get reverted with specific updates and suddenly you’re seeing ads again.

                • beefcat@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  I’ve never had this change reverted in an update.

                  And it does not take 5 minutes, I can do it in less than 30 seconds. It’s a single key in the registry.

    • rip_art_bell@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I thought there’s no way… when you boot up!? Sure enough. “the ad in question pops up when players boot up their Xbox”

      Wow

    • kromem@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It was almost certainly multiple execs, from multiple companies, with Activision being the first partner for a new ad format team Xbox was rolling out but had discussed in advance with multiple agency partners.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Personally, I’d like to thank Microsoft. They’ve been making it easy to not regret getting a PS5 and not really even considering the xbox option that strongly. Between the series S needing to handle it for it to be allowed on the series X and now full screen ads, it’s like Sony is the only one that realizes there’s still competition going on.

      I’d also like to thank people who still buy Xboxes anyways for giving Sony a reason to not turn the enshitification up to an 11 because it’s probably more of a difference in confidence than principles.

      • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        They also recently announced that all unlicesenced third party accessories will cease to work with the Xbox as of a couple days ago.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, plenty of things that have made me glad to not have one. Has there been anything positive about Xbox in the news lately? That isn’t kinda a backhand compliment, like BG3 being available on it soon while it launched everywhere else a while ago now?

  • Deestan@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Meanwhile, over on Reddit, several members of the Xbox community have labelled this marketing stunt “vomit inducing” and “unacceptable”.

    People still on Reddit want someone to take their complaints seriously? Empirically speaking, they will accept this.

    • Goronmon@kbin.socialOP
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      1 year ago

      People still on Reddit want someone to take their complaints seriously? Empirically speaking, they will accept this.

      Nah, it’s more than the communities on places like Reddit and lemmy/kbin are so small and unimportant relative to the overall consumer market that you can pretty much ignore them completely.

      • Deestan@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yep, that’s more significant for sure. People on any online forum are a loud minority.

        It is a cheap dig, but I just found it funny that people who have demonstrated with (lack of) action that they do in fact not care enough to change their habits use a term like “unacceptable”.

        • FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          They are the same people who complain when a news story alerts them to the fact that facebook is collecting their data. They whine about how the govt should do something about this egregious act, and then share that with all their facebook friends.

          • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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            1 year ago

            and of course they refuse to engage in politics and vote for people who want to restrict advertisements.

            fucking vote, people

  • Audrey0nne@leminal.space
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    1 year ago

    Entertainment industry as a whole is about to relearn some painful lessons about customer satisfaction. Every day there’s a new reason to hoist the black flag on predatory capitalism.

    • echo64@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      eh, will it affect their profit? or will it direct enough people to the New Microsoft Game Out Now! that it’s worth annoying everyone else.

      the only painful lesson is if they lose money, which they probably won’t.

      • MamboGator@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Just speaking for myself, I bought a PS5 mainly because it’s where I can play Demon’s Souls but after Microsoft bought Activision I figured I would inevitably end up buying a Series X as well. Seeing stuff like this means I’ll probably never buy an Xbox again, regardless of what exclusives they’ve managed to acquire.

        I know I’m not representative of everyone, but I hope there are enough others like me to make their invasive advertising push very unprofitable for Microsoft.

        • IndiBrony@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          If nothing else, I’m with you ✊ Lemmy has done wonders for me finding alternatives for everything.

          I’m looking forward to getting a Steam Deck, and my next home computer is gonna be Linux-based for sure ❤️

          The crowd may not follow us, but there are plenty of us who are happy not playing everyone else’s shitty game.

        • XbSuper@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’m with you, I was on the fence for either an xbox or steam deck. I’m now firmly on the steam deck side.

          Unfortunately it won’t make a difference, and odds are they actually gain from this.

  • Veraxus@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    This kind of thing is the reason I’ve started moving completely away from Microsoft platforms, including Windows. Microsoft is getting more and more invasive and aggressive pushing advertising onto people in their own private spaces, and that is unacceptable.

    Since I’m a PC gamer first and foremost, I don’t use XBox… and after this, I won’t. Ever. This was just MS dipping their toes in to see if they could get away with it.

    Thankfully, with Valve continuing to rapidly improve Proton, just about any Windows game runs on Linux now with very little elbow grease. No Microsoft necessary.

    • rip_art_bell@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      with Valve continuing to rapidly improve Proton, just about any Windows game runs on Linux now

      I hope this is actually true, or becomes true. The only reason I’m on Windows is for gaming.

      Heck even my Bitwig DAW runs on Linux.

  • boomer478@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I’ve had a Day 1 edition Xbox One that I’ve used nearly every day since release. Admittedly, not great for games, but it’s been an absolute powerhouse of a media center for me. Twitch, youtube, plex, any streaming service, and a blu ray. If for some reason I can’t stream something to it, I can plug in my chromecast or laptop, and with passthrough, it’s literally all I’ve needed in my living room for the past 10 years.

    For the first time yesterday I very honestly considered boxing it up and getting rid of it after booting it up and getting this forced full screen ad before getting to my homepage. Fuck this shit.

    • MamboGator@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I had pretty much the same experience. I loved using my Xbox One as an entertainment centre, but the most recent dashboard update made me never want to turn it on again.

    • slazer2au@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You shouldn’t consider it. You should do it. But too bad M$ already has the money so they won’t care of you flog the unit off second hand.

  • paraphrand@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Windows 10 gave me a notification telling me to buy Starfield the other day. fuck off

    • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You should probably disable it if you don’t want to see it. My windows 10 hasn’t advertised to me in any way ever.

      Yeah, it sucks that by default it’s all enabled, but it’s nice that we at least have the option to fully disable all of it. And I haven’t had to reg edit or anything. All the settings are reachable in the operating system itself. If you can’t find it all, there are plenty of guides.

      • paraphrand@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I must be good at ignoring them, because this is the first I’ve gotten one and read it.

        I didn’t know there was an opt out process.

  • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That must be the positive change to the industry the takeover was promised to bring.

  • Squizzy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    We need legislation to protect from ad placement. It should not be the case that advertisers can get to you on your premium devices in places they could not to begin with.

    Manufacturers should have to outline in their launch and marketing material where ads are going to be posted and after that they cannot expand it.

    I remember the PS4 having a load of bullshit apps waiting to be downloaded too, I bought the most expensive version you sell, how am I to escape ads if not through that.