Trying to escape the increasingly dystopian real world with a jaunt into the virtual one? A new system patented by Microsoft might make that easier said than done.
Recently, Microsoft published a brand-new patent application for an “ad credit” system meant to seamlessly pump paid promotional material into video games. That’s according to Respawn First, which noted that the system would rely on signals relayed by the game engine to choose opportune times to serve gamers in-game commercials.
These would vary from game-to-game, but generally encompass pre-existing events like boss fights, loading screens, and transitions out of cutscenes. When the system receives a positive signal, it stops the game in its tracks to serve either a video ad or static image, which also resets a timer counting down until the system goes back on the hunt for another in-game signal.
“In non-interactive audiovisual content such periodic breaks can be placed at a variety of predictable times in the content without adversely affecting the user experience,” the Microsoft patent declares. “However, interactive software applications which stream interactive audiovisual content can provide a more varied user experience and predicting when to suspend interaction and present promoted audiovisual content can be challenging.”
Called “Contextually Aware Management of Interactive Software Application Access,” it isn’t known if Microsoft has begun rolling it out to games, or if it even plans to.
Overall, it appears geared toward free-to-play games on the Xbox and PC, Respawn notes — though given the slow creep of publisher-driven mechanisms like microtransactions, it may be just a matter of time before the context-aware ad system makes its way to paid titles as well.
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