Having found itself once again at the heart of a PR maelstrom yesterday, Microsoft has distanced itself about reports regarding Xbox One’s advertising platform.
MCV reported yesterday that Xbox marketing boss Yusuf Mehdi told a marketing summit audience that Xbox One would offer advertising partners “a huge new trove of data about what's going on in living rooms”.
But now Microsoft has told AllThingsD that the AdvertisingAge report “was based on a misinterpretation” and that Mehdi was in fact discussing the potential SmartGlass offers to advertising partners.
“Just as Xbox SmartGlass allows companion mobile experiences that are synchronous to what is being watched on TV, advertisers could create new experiences unifying their content across devices,” Microsoft claims. “The quote from Yusuf in Ad Age is not in relation to Kinect.
“We have a long-standing commitment to your privacy and will not target ads to you based on any data Kinect collects unless you choose to allow us to do so.”
Microsoft added that it is “actively seeking a correction” to the original story.