Xbox’s chief financial officer, Tim Stuart, has revealed that Microsoft could offer users in regions that aren’t necessarily “console-first” the chance to “watch 30 seconds of an ad and then get two hours of game streaming.”Last month during the Wells Fargo TMT Summit, Stuart said that Microsoft wants Xbox Game Pass on “every screen,” including competing platforms like PlayStation and Nintendo — something which Xbox boss Phil Spencer later denied. What looks to have been missed from the summit, but spotted by TweakTown, is Stuart’s comments about free access to Xbox Cloud Gaming.”For models like Africa, or India, Southeast Asia, maybe places that aren’t console-first, you can say, ‘hey, do you want to watch 30 seconds of an ad and then get two hours of game streaming?'” Stuart said. “Africa is, you know, 50% of the population is 23 years old or younger with a growing disposable income base, all with cell phones and mobile devices, not a lot of high-end disposable income, generally-speaking.”So we can go in with our own business models and say… there’s millions and millions of gamers we would never have been able to address there, and now we can go in with our business models.”Mobile games have been using ads for monetization for years now, and with Microsoft’s work on the Xbox mobile store, it makes sense that it has been considering similar ad-based models for its own services. Currently, Xbox Cloud Gaming is locked behind the premium Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier, which costs $16.99 / £12.99 / €14.99 a month, which isn’t an affordable subscription for many players, especially with rising living costs.As reported by Windows Central, Microsoft has already surveyed players about the possibility of watching ads in exchange for Xbox Game Pass time. Additionally, snippets of code from the Xbox OS found by security researcher Title_OS mentioned systems that could provide Xbox Game Pass access on an “Earned Time” basis via 15-minute blocks.We’ll have to wait and see if the ad-based model ever rolls out, but you can be sure that we’ll let you know if and when it’s announced. It will also be interesting to see if it’s limited to select markets or made available to all regions supported by Xbox Cloud Gaming.Speaking of the subscription service, Microsoft adds the puzzle adventure game Tin Hearts to Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming today.
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