- Xbox CSO Matthew Ball thinks the company could use ad-supported products to fight rising costs.
- According to Ball, the goal of such a service would be to keep things affordable and reach more players.
- Hence, the company could lower costs while funding its development teams.
In a bid to restore Xbox to its glory days, Asha Sharma has made several changes, such as bringing back exclusives to the platform and reducing the cost of services like Game Pass, leading to a boost in revenue.
However, Xbox still has a long way to go before it can return to profitability, and the CEO has echoed this sentiment multiple times. Now, according to CSO Matthew Ball, the company could try looking at in-game ads to fight rising development costs.
Why it matters: Once gaming gets infested with ads, it will be a slippery slope to seeing ads in almost all of the big AAA titles.
While talking to Game Business in a new interview, Matthew Ball floated the idea that Xbox could use in-game ads to fight off the surge in prices caused by the AI boom. When asked how the company could lower costs and reach more consumers, the strategy lead said the best evidence comes from streaming and Netflix.
The question is not ‘Can we cram ads in everything?’ The question is, ‘Are there opportunities that allow the people who can’t afford, or wouldn’t try, to have an onboard to our properties and franchises?’
Ball explained that the concept behind this move wouldn’t be to cram ads into everything, but instead to make cheaper ad-supported products that would allow consumers who can’t afford premium prices to join the Xbox ecosystem.
The CSO further clarified that the end goal of this strategy would be keeping products affordable while also funding the work the development teams at Xbox are doing. Hence, the gaming giant could bring in more players to the ecosystem with ad-supported products while solving two major issues.
Reports about a free and ad-supported tier of Xbox Cloud Gaming have been coming out since last year, with a reliable insider saying in early 2026 that this service could launch soon. However, it only seems like an idea so far, and we will have to wait and see if the company actually implements it.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devotedly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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