Xbox's Strategy Chief is painting in-game ads as the next big move in games
Longtime video game analyst Matthew Ball published a report in 2026 arguing that in-game ad placements would become the norm to make gaming more affordable for everyone. Fast-forward a few months, and Ball, now the chief strategy officer of Xbox as of late May 2026, still believes that in-game ads can help make gaming consoles or PC gaming less expensive.
In his earlier “State of Video Gaming in 2026” report published this year, he argued that in-game ad placements in console and PC titles are largely untapped revenue sources that the video game industry needs to adopt as traditional sales and revenue growth decline over time. Now that he’s reporting directly to Xbox’s new CEO, Asha Sharma, he’s still sticking to his perspective.
Matthew Ball sat down at The Game Business Live event on June 8 to discuss the current landscape of big-budget gaming, including the financial problems and social woes that plague the video game industry. He explained, “There is a two-sided problem. The costs have gone up way too high on development, and at the same point, everyone feels terrible with prices going up on hardware or software, or microtransactions. That is a challenge. It’s not good if that is the only option.”
He shifted the conversation to streaming to get his point across, as it is the clearest real-world example that ad-supported tiers can expand access without killing premium options. Ball continued:
“In excess of 100% of net adds in the United States for years and years have been on the ad-supported tier. That has not excluded anyone from ad-free experiences. Those products are still there. They’re still popular.”
What Ball is trying to say is that it’s not about whether any type of ad can be shoved into every game. It’s about whether smart placements could give more people a way into franchises they might otherwise skip.
This is somewhat similar to a move pulled by Techland to advertise and market Dying Light: The Beast, adding billboards for the mainline sequel to the zombie parkour survival game in its prior game, Dying Light 2: Stay Human. However, even this type of ad placement has received mixed reactions, with some loving the immersion while others express disdain.
Without digressing further, Ball continued, “The question is, are there opportunities that allow the people who can’t afford, or wouldn’t try, to have an onboard to our properties and franchises?”
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