Microsoft patents system to freeze games and inject ads during downtimes — watching commercials earns ad-free playtime credits

[u/screwdriverfan]

https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/microsoft-patents-system-to-freeze-games-and-inject-ads-during-downtimes-watching-commercials-earns-ad-free-playtime-credits

[u/19412]

It's already against Steam's storefront policy to implement ad-based revenue generation for anything that isn't a promotional event within a game. This ads-for-playtime thing would never be permitted.

[u/Someotherrandomtree → u/19412]

This is why we need to make sure Robo-Gaben happens so Steam stays the way it is

[u/Blaziken420_ → u/Someotherrandomtree]

We have to make a Mr. House out of Gaben whenever he dies

[u/TieMillenium → u/Blaziken420_]

Pretty sure Valve has been working on BCIs for a long time so that's probably already in the works.

[u/Rew0lweed_0celot → u/TieMillenium]

GABeOS

[u/AuthoritarianParsnip → u/Someotherrandomtree]

Put him on the Golden Gaben Throne

[u/StaleSpriggan → u/AuthoritarianParsnip]

Blood for the Valve god, skulls for the Gaben throne!

[u/ourlastchancefortea → u/StaleSpriggan]

And if all fails we resurrect him.

MUSTA GABEN

MUSTA GABEN

THE TIME HAS COME

AWAKEN

[u/Gimlz → u/Someotherrandomtree]

He truly will become the emperor or mankind on the throne.

[u/jntjr2005 → u/Someotherrandomtree]

Monkey paw curls

[u/GlowyStuffs → u/Someotherrandomtree]

Why would they do this knowing steam exists and all those games couldn't be released on steam ever, and generally would be disliked by all unless they had plans to assasinate Gabe? It feels like some race between Sony and Microsoft to coordinate major gaming dystopia, knowing everyone would hate them for it unless they had some plan to make it so that nobody had other options. Though gog also exists. And other stuff on PC too. Unless this was just for mobile games.

[u/lmflex → u/19412]

And people still dislike steam? Imagine if Sony or microslop ran that. It would be past garbage by now. With AI garbage. And every update would break half the games.

[u/Fracasist → u/lmflex]

That’s also why Tim Sweeney hates Steam

[u/xXDamonLordXx → u/Fracasist]

They're always pissed we choose steam and try to guilt us with how it is unfair for the poor publisher's profit... sorry "devs" despite indie devs without publishers having blown up in popularity almost exclusively because of Steam.

[u/epimetheuss → u/xXDamonLordXx]

Indie and smaller devs are crushing the supposed "AAA/AAAA" clowns that think they get to decide if players like hyper aggressive monetization strategies or not. They are also making way better games because they make games to be fun, not trap players in dark pattern BS and artificially making the game worse to force them to use the store.

[u/Emotional_Solid6538 → u/epimetheuss]

What I hate is that some indie devs get controlled by someone shitty like in case of Subnautica and Disco Elysium

[u/nuker1110 → u/lmflex]

And devs would have to pay a fee to push patches.

[u/Falanin → u/lmflex]

Oh, looking at Steam, it's easy to see how they could completely screw us over. They're a monopoly the same way Amazon, Google, or Netflix were. Trusted because they're the best.

Any venture capital or a different set of board members and they'll forget that the business model works because they're mostly ethical. Then we'll be back to getting copies of games from whatever source we can, sorting them manually, and talking about games on 3rd party sites.

[u/Dr_Valen → u/Falanin]

steam isn't a monopoly tho. People could easily migrate to gog or even god forbid epic games. Steam is only one of the PC gaming storefronts. They're the most popular because they treat consumers right but if they flipped they'll lose customers too

[u/Falanin → u/Dr_Valen]

Yes, you're seeing what I was getting at. Steam apparently holds monopoly power because they're so much more popular than their competitors...

but we could do without them if they were gone. Their position in the market is, as you also said, a product of how well they treat people compared to their competition.

[u/No-Pomegranate-69 → u/lmflex]

Extremely expensive garbage on my side

[u/goonknight6969 → u/lmflex]

I hate valve not steam as a product. I hate them because of how much gambling shit they peddle with cs2, they were also the ones who popularized loot box mechanics

[u/bickdiggles → u/19412]

How does that work when it’s the OS that’s forcing ads? I can’t imagine the OS is subject to Steam’s storefront policy 

[u/Cheet4h → u/bickdiggles]

The patent as described in the article would have to be implemented in the game engine. So the game developer would have to just not activate that feature. If they do, they violate Steam TOS.

[u/Emotional_Solid6538 → u/bickdiggles]

Steam is also trying to move to Steam OS permenantly

[u/bickdiggles → u/Emotional_Solid6538]

Have they released it officially for desktop use?

[u/Emotional_Solid6538 → u/bickdiggles]

Technically yes. The Steam Machine desktop mode is meant to be used with kbm. Tho I wouldnt say its desktop yet. Also steam has a lot of games which wont work on Linux, so they need to do smth about it before promoting Steam OS for PC I think

[u/bickdiggles → u/Emotional_Solid6538]

That makes sense. Is Steam OS limited to just running games on Steam or do games from other store fronts work as well? 

[u/Emotional_Solid6538 → u/bickdiggles]

Its Linux. You can rum wtv is cpmpatible like GOG, Epic. But apprenty gamepass dont workeven though xbox games work i think?

[u/Nausicaaah → u/19412]

Gabe Newell is 63 years old.

[u/Penetratorofflanks → u/19412]

So how does 2k get away with it?

[u/-nutz → u/Penetratorofflanks]

Not sure what you’re getting at, but afaik 2k doesn’t do anything against Steam TOS. The rules are as follows.

Supported:

Games may contain real brands, products, personalities, etc as part of gameplay, provided such portrayals are not disruptive and are appropriate within the context of the game. For example, a racing game might feature real life sponsor logos on its race cars, or a skateboard game might include characters wearing real-world brands.

Not supported:

Developers should not utilize paid advertising as a business model in their game, such as requiring players to watch or otherwise engage with advertising in order to play, or gating gameplay behind advertising.

Developers should not use advertising as a way to provide value to players, such as giving players a reward for watching or engaging with advertising in their game.

Source; steamworks documentation

[u/solarwindy → u/19412]

M$ and others are looking at streaming games. Sadly no matter how long Gabe lives, the Steam model is going to go the way of Tivo.

In 5 to 10 years (at the most) you will simply download a small client on your pc (or console) and then play your games streaming.

And a lot of people will think this is great because they no longer need to buy an expensive video card. Nvidia would rather sell M$ and others back end gpu's to run these games thsn to pesky customers like you and I.

Its probably too soon (luckily) for Elder Scrolls 6, but I could see Fallout 5 (likely another 7-8 years awsy) from being the big game they use to launch a service like this.