You have to be careful what you're reading on days like this! If you hadn't clocked it yet, today is April Fools' Day, and therefore we're seeing loads and loads of fake stories doing the rounds on the likes of social media.
One that's been getting a lot of attention actually relates to Xbox. The folks over at Insider Gaming posted a story this morning about something called "Xbox Game Pass Flex", and to give them credit, it actually seems pretty convincing at first glance. It jokes about Xbox introducing a free tier of Game Pass that replaces loading screens with unskippable full-screen ads, with the ability to earn "Ad Tokens" by playing longer to skip certain ads.
"Xbox has just unveiled Game Pass Flex, a free service that leans on the extensive library and digital streaming power of the Xbox ecosystem to bring a selection of the platform’s top titles to players on a budget. The only caveat is that Game Pass Flex takes traditional loading screens and replaces them with full-screen ads."
Some people in the comments of that Twitter post have pointed out that, although they realise it's an April Fools' Joke, it also feels like the kind of thing that might come true in the future. It does seem to have fooled a few people as well!
Who knows what the future could hold, but with suggestions that Asha Sharma might be interested in introducing a lower-priced tier for Xbox Game Pass in the future, introducing ads would be one way of making that possible.
The question is whether you're willing to face the wrath of people who really don't want to see that kind of thing on their Xbox consoles (or any other device), and given Sharma's focus on returning to Xbox's roots, we don't see it happening anytime soon. Then again, who knows what's being planned inside of Xbox HQ!