Even back then people were not happy. Many felt that paying customers were treated like ad impressions. One Reddit post from 14 years ago detailed how to block Xbox Dashboard ads by rerouting DNS and blacklisting Microsoft adservers using OpenDNS.
u/Jakeasuno added that the complaints about the ads in the dashboard are not representative of the real problem: “People complaining about the ads haven’t seen the worst.” u/Zeppelin041 acknowledged that mobile gaming was huge globally, but doesn’t believe that it’s okay to promote phone-only games on a $500 console.
Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard which is the publisher of Call of Duty: Mobile. This placement is part of a wider cross-platform promotional strategy. Many Xbox players believe that ads should be relevant to the console’s experience, even though it costs upwards $599.99 after a recent $100 increase in price from its original MSRP of $499.99.
Reportedly, many Xbox users have long grumbled about ads baked into the dashboard–especially when, as per fans, Sony and Nintendo continue to offer cleaner, ad-free home screens.
In an older post, one user called the Starfield full-screen boot-up ad “awful” and questioned why promotional hardware is being pushed. Another thread mentioned Microsoft’s Xbox Insider Program which is experimenting with different ad formats. Think dashboard tiles and reward based promos baked into the homescreen.
