As I expected, a large group of gamers were rather receptive to having an ad-supported version of the Xbox Live Gold service. In Joystiq’s poll as many as 42% of the respondants looked at an ad-supported version favorably.
Nearly half (46%) of Xbox 360-owning poll respondents would opt for an ad-supported version of Xbox Live if it were available. Of gamers who were willing to view ads in exchange for free access to Xbox Live, 40% of them were not previously subscribers to Xbox Live, suggesting that Microsoft could considerably expand the ranks of gamers who use Xbox Live if the company were to offer a free version of the service.