Political ad campaigns may be coming to your home console soon. In a recent report by the Washington Post, gamers may start to see campaign ads being displayed on their dashboard. The report indicates that, Microsoft representatives were spotted handing out materials to be promoted throughout the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C. Popular services like Xbox Live and Skype were among the few that were seen as possible additions to advertise campaigns, in addition to Television and the Internet. These ads would, essentially, run based on your location and demographic on Xbox Live as soon as you load up the dashboard. This would be in conjunction to popular promotions seen already within home screen.
The reasoning behind this is to reach out to young potential voters, who, traditionally aren’t as politically involved as older generations. They can be a crucial factor in increasing voter turnout, during the terms in between presidencies. Normally, voter turnout is very low when it comes to local and state politics. Congressional races for the House of Representatives pale in comparison to the race for President. The hope is to get young gamers more involved with politics and their local politicians. This isn’t the first time political campaigns were mentioned in video games. During Barack Obama presidential race for his first term in 2008, Microsoft had him on various Electronic Arts games to sponsor his candidacy for president. In 2012, Microsoft had President Obama signed on Xbox Live to feature his reelection campaigns.
Presently, there is no plan to include these commercials in the immediate future. However, with the growing debate of video games and politics developing on Capitol Hill, gamers may want to pay close attention to the next politician that may soon be publicized on their home console. Will they support video games or will they try to censor them as seen in other parts of the world?What you think of Microsoft bringing political coverage to their game consoles?