Microsoft's dystopian new advertising idea sounds like a nightmare for gamers. Advertisers now have their sights on the gaming world, with tech giants predicting growth in cloud gaming. The company behind Xbox has filed a patent for an ad-supported gaming concept that would see players forced to watch adverts before they can continue playing a game. This model would grant temporary access to games, with credits allowing play for a give length of time or up until a certain point in the game. After that, players would have to sit through an advert to earn more credits to be able to continue the game. Ads could appear after boss fights, cutscenes, quests and multiplayer rounds. The system would seek to identify natural breaks that could serve to divide the game into playable blocks, while ads themselves could be video, audio or static.

The document suggests that the system could work both on locally installed games and streamed games across PC, consoles, smartphones, smart TVs and headsets. Players could also be shown a notification or countdown to alert them to an upcoming ad and allowing them to watch it early if they choose. In-game events would determine when the ads are served, and credits might last 15, 30 or 60 minutes or up until a certain point of progress in a game, such as the end of a level or after three multiplayer matches.

Spotted by TechSpot, the filing was uploaded by the US Patent and Trademark Office on 3 September. The document suggests that the system could work both on locally installed games and streamed games across PC, consoles, smartphones, smart TVs and headsets. The ads themselves could be video, audio or static, while credits might last 15, 30 or 60 minutes or up until a certain point of progress in a game, such as the end of a level or after three multiplayer matches. The system would seek to identify natural breaks that could serve to divide the game into playable blocks.

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