The company anticipated that it is looking at different methods to generate income.
During an interview, Sara Bond, the vice president of Xbox experiences and ecosystem, said the company has discussed different options internally, including “limited time slots” and ad-supported games.
“We talk a lot about Game Pass because subscription is the last option we’ve come to,” he said. “You have pay-to-play, you have free-to-play, and then we introduced Game Pass.”
“We have talked about experimenting with other models, thinking about what the ads mean in games, which are more present on mobile devices. Are there models like those that could work well on PC and consoles? Are there models where you could have limited times and things like that?”
Bond’s comments alerted users, who viewed the concept of “limited times” as “paid demos.”
“Giving creators options and choice allows them to experiment and do what they want, and create more creative and immersive experiences without having to fit themselves into a mold,” concluded Bond.
It was reported last December that Microsoft was experimenting with a cheaper tier of Game Pass with ads, so something like that shouldn’t be ruled out in the coming months.
