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The story
Among Xbox users, a feature that changes the console’s home screen background into a Call of Duty (COD) advertisement has become a hot topic. The thread starter called it a “garbage spec” (a common 5ch term for a terrible design choice) that’s “forcibly changed,” but reaction on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board was muted, with some saying it’s not causing a stir simply because Xbox is an unpopular console. Within the thread, a screenshot was posted showing that the feature can actually be toggled on or off in the console settings, splitting opinion on whether calling it “forced” is even accurate. The discussion also touched on frustration that, even after the Activision Blizzard acquisition, day-one Game Pass releases have been scaled back and almost no Xbox exclusives have come out.
What people said
Re: #3
Well, this is the Geha board after all.
Honestly it's probably just that nobody even knows about it.
Nobody made a fuss either when the PlayStation app turned yellow for a while.
Being forced to see ads for a game Xbox users mocked so much, that you now have to buy at full price anyway.
Guess it's just pressure telling you to buy it, huh?
Did Microsoft even get anything out of buying Activision Blizzard?
They bought the company but didn't even put it into day-one Game Pass, and there's no Xbox exclusive — it's just multiplatform with PS.
On top of that, they're saddled with a 10-year supply deal tying them to Nintendo as extra baggage.
None of this has done a thing to grow the Xbox install base.
If they had $60 billion to spend, they'd have been better off making 120 AAA games at a $500 million budget each and locking up developers worldwide instead.
It's not "forced" at all, I'm telling you — it's literally just an option you can toggle.
Still a garbage spec though, lol.
Is it on by default though?
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Microsoft completed its roughly $68 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023, but the background to this thread is frustration that Xbox exclusives have barely materialized since then, with Call of Duty itself continuing to be released as a multiplatform title, including on PlayStation. There’s also the matter of “day one,” the practice of adding new releases to Game Pass on their launch date — in recent years, fewer titles have qualified for this, which fed into the sense of being forced to see nothing but an ad in return. On the other hand, within the thread a screenshot was presented showing that the home-screen background change in question can actually be switched on and off in the console settings, raising the possibility that the thread title’s claim of it being “forced” doesn’t match reality. This discrepancy isn’t definitively resolved in the thread itself, and since the settings menu’s behavior could vary by model or update, readers should keep in mind the point raised that this may be a toggleable feature rather than something forced.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “[Sad News] Xbox Forcibly Changes Home Background to COD, But Nobody Cares Because It’s an Unpopular Console“.
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