Ad supported gaming console?

[DaltonM]

My idea is for a gaming box that's subsidized in price by ads. Like Amazon's fire tablets and phones. 

It would be a modest 4k gaming machine that requires an internet connection. It would be 4th console player in my mind, capturing AAA third party games. The Atari box kind of got me thinking of it.

Its online play and features would be free, and the main draw of the system is a free game a week and free DLC (season pass/expansions) for every game on the system.

But the catch is: ADs. In between games of CoD you're shown a short video ad in the loading screen. 
At the start of The Witcher 3 you watch a 30s ad once, and then see banner ads in the menus.
Perhaps even an ad every 5 hours no matter what too. 

I know what you're thinking, why don't I just play offline to get rid of ads? It would have to disable all DLC and perhaps make the games only available to the user who bought them.


So is free online service and DLC convincing enough to have commercials in your games?

[Guest]

Eh I'd probably rather pay 60 a year since I hate ads with a passion

[vanished]

I can't see people tolerating it personally.  I can even imagine kids laughing at their friend who has one instead of just getting an xbox

[SquintyG33Rs]

I think it's viable enough and budget conscious people would definitely go this route. but it would need cross platform to be more available first. so as not to ostracize different player bases and make it a more appealing options since players will still be able to game with their friends

[Mira Yurizaki]

The problem is that the customers are given a lifetime supply of those ads. Most reviewers that I came across regarding say the Kindle with Offers isn't worth not saving the extra $50 or whatever, because you're stuck with those ads forever (or until you pay the "I don't want ads" fee).

 

You'd basically have to make the cost so low that it would be worth someone to live with it for say 3-4 years. If you're slashing the cost of the console or the games by say... 20%, then I don't think that's worth it. I paid Best Buy $35 for a two year membership thing that includes 20% off new games and it basically paid for itself on my third transaction.

 

Though maybe this might appeal to someone who's extremely budget conscious, but I'm also under the impression if you cannot afford the extra say $50 from a $400 machine (so you're really paying $350) or even say $12 from a $60 game, I don't think you should be spending that kind of money at the moment.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Didn't the OUYA try that and fail miserably? (or whatever it ended up being called)

[Burnedice25]

8 hours ago, DaltonM said:

My idea is for a gaming box that's subsidized in price by ads. Like Amazon's fire tablets and phones. 

It would be a modest 4k gaming machine that requires an internet connection. It would be 4th console player in my mind, capturing AAA third party games. The Atari box kind of got me thinking of it.

Its online play and features would be free, and the main draw of the system is a free game a week and free DLC (season pass/expansions) for every game on the system.

But the catch is: ADs. In between games of CoD you're shown a short video ad in the loading screen. 
At the start of The Witcher 3 you watch a 30s ad once, and then see banner ads in the menus.
Perhaps even an ad every 5 hours no matter what too. 

I know what you're thinking, why don't I just play offline to get rid of ads? It would have to disable all DLC and perhaps make the games only available to the user who bought them.


So is free online service and DLC convincing enough to have commercials in your games?

maybe have a paid option to disable the ads (and good luck getting any AAA game studios to support free DLC.)

[Mira Yurizaki]

2 hours ago, revsilverspine said:

Didn't the OUYA try that and fail miserably? (or whatever it ended up being called)

No.

 

But you might be thinking of the Gizmondo.

[FrankV]

From a business point of view, I don't see this working quite as well. The idea has been tried before for internet service offerings and other services. 

 

The problem with the concept from a business point of view is most would end up being low incoming users such as young kids or money strapped college students. They don't have the disposable incoming to buy a console so why bother spending money to advertise to that audience. The larger disposable incoming audience would be on more traditional platforms and therefore advertising platforms they'd see -- youtube, TV, internet -- is more effective to convert ad-viewers to customers. That is, after all, the intention.

 

Don't get me wrong, it might work for a bit of time but it'd die off. Ad supported games on mobile phones is a better concept for this. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

27 minutes ago, FrankV said:

-snip.-

Basically, ad-support only makes sense if the content is free.

 

(I guess that's both a question and a statement)

[PlayStation 2]

So the Xbox One?

[tatte]

Just here to confirm: I wouldn't touch something like this. 

[Tiz]

With all the respect... Everyone says that when questioning. No, seriously, everybody. But at the end of the day, how many of us have floatplane? Youtube red? Is not only here, people always say they'd prefer something without ads... but then you have to pay, and most people prefer free average stuff rather than premium fewer stuff.

[Mira Yurizaki]

19 hours ago, Tiz said:

With all the respect... Everyone says that when questioning. No, seriously, everybody. But at the end of the day, how many of us have floatplane? Youtube red? Is not only here, people always say they'd prefer something without ads... but then you have to pay, and most people prefer free average stuff rather than premium fewer stuff.

It's because those are subscription based products. I.e. they require constant payment. So either you can constantly pay or have ads.

 

The idea OP is presenting seems to be more like buying the Kindle With Offers vs not. You're saving $20 (which is about 15% of the original price) to have ads delivered to your device.

[agentxisepic]

All I have to say is. You should not have to pay for online already. None the less start interrupting single player games with ads. That seems stupid. Real stupid.