Microsoft has filed a patent titled "Contextually Aware Management of Interactive Software Application Access." The official description of the system itself reads:
"A content management system may suspend a user's interaction with the interactive software application based on the promoted content trigger event." (Emphasis mine)
"A content management system may present the promoted audiovisual content to the user."
"A content management system may establish a credit … the credit delays suspension of the user's interaction."
Even though the patent has been filed, there is no proof that such technology will ever be officially rolled out and implemented, and even if it is, we already know the kind of reaction it would provoke. Put in the simplest terms, displaying "promoted audiovisual content" means serving ads that would then grant you credits, which you could later use to secure more ad-free playtime.
Such moves are hardly surprising for Microsoft, especially considering they recently capped playtime on Xbox Cloud Gaming to just 15 hours per month—and that is with Game Pass Ultimate. Breaking that down into daily play, it comes out to a mere half an hour a day, which is genuinely too little; after all, it is easy to imagine players turning to cloud gaming as an appealing alternative amidst the current economic climate and skyrocketing component prices.
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