Microsoft’s name has come up over the past week over some suspicious use of its warchest of cash. There are two instances, one involving Machinima, and another involving phone OEMs.
The Machinima story is more relevant to us, so let’s get to it. Machinima offered a promotion with its partners. Their partners were to get $ 3 CPM for making videos with the Xbox One in its content. There was a similar campaign held last November that offered $ 1 CPM. To be specific, it had to have 30 seconds of Xbox One game footage, it had to name the Xbox One, and it had to come with the tag XB1M13.
Now, here’s where it gets suspicious. The legal agreement behind the promotion specifies that the video cannot say anything negative about the Xbox One, AND that they aren’t allowed to reveal these terms. These terms are potentially in violation of FTC’s guidelines regarding endorsements in advertising, which requires that such videos would have disclosure for such information.
While this incident is ultimately merely small fry financially (the partners weren’t going to get that much more money), it’s obviously a violation of trust between YouTubers and their audience. Machinima and Microsoft have yet to comment on the matter.
Microsoft is also apparently doling out cash for OEMs such as Sony, Samsung, Huawei and others to use Windows Phone OS. Almost $ 2.6 billion is being paid out to these OEMs, and will be used for R&D on Windows Phones, as well as marketing and other costs. Microsoft made a comment on this story, flat out denying the amounts mentioned, and that there is anything suspicious going on.
In both cases, it would seem that Microsoft needs the support from the entities they’re doling out cash for, but it’s just worrying that they’re setting about this business in a suspicious manner.
