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Microsoft’s Terrifying New Patent | LG-Style ACR for Games & Software (www.youtube.com)

submitted 1 week ago by ExtremeDullard@piefed.social to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Microsoft has filed for a new patent that describes a credit system to "rent" software and games, including rate-limited rentals based on the type of use. In their examples, singleplayer costs more than training mode, but multiplayer costs more credits than both. Users can 'earn' credits by subjecting themselves to more advertisements during loading screens, round win or loss screens, and level loading screens. The patent technology can be applied at the application level, OS level, and device level, making it wide-reaching and affecting more than just Windows machines. In one instance, Microsoft explicitly names Smart TVs. This would be similar, in some ways, to ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) on LG or other Smart TVs, where the patent-pending technology could scan the screen and audio.

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[-] ell1e@leminal.space 1 points 6 days ago

Microsoft already recorded players in the past, so apparently yes, players are - in your words - dumb enough to continue to play Microsoft games (which includes Call of Duty, Elder Scrolls, and so on).

this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2026

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