Microsoft secretly paying Youtubers for positive reviews about Xbox One

[Zerviscos]

Totalbiscuit talks about it,

As does Ars Technica and The Wall Street Journal.
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No Microsoft...Staph.


Sad Microsoft is sad....
Remember when they tried to pay third-party developers not to show games on PS4 at E3 2013.

[BT]

Is there an estimate on how many idiots have taken part in this?

[Tengukami]

Not that I don't think YouTube is a peerless and irreproachable news source, but is there by any chance a non-YouTube source for this allegation?

[Serela]

The video's description has a few links to other websites with articles on it

[Tengukami]

The video's description has a few links to other websites with articles on it

I'll just take the liberty of adding those to the OP.

e: Done. Also wow. It's like Microsoft, bored with its own monopoly, is deliberately trying to torpedo themselves just to see what would happen.

[Think Komachi with a Rifle]

By the sounds of it this is an FTC violation (it's exactly like one of the examples given in their guidebook) and is illegal across Europe as well.
if it's an ad or uses a product provided by the company, it must be clearly indicated that is so.
This applies all the way down to things like single tweets.

[Hello Purvis]

On the other hand, has Microsoft ever actually been subject to the law?

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

e: Done. Also wow. It's like Microsoft, bored with its own monopoly, is deliberately trying to torpedo themselves just to see what would happen.

Haven't they been doing this since Vista?

Anyway, I can't say I'm particularly surprised by this. Companies have been finding ways to shape public opinion of their products since forever, and I generally rely on direct word-of-mouth for gaming opinions these days anyway.

[NekoNekoRex]

On the other hand, has Microsoft ever actually been subject to the law?

They've been sued by the US for being a monopoly before, yeah, but only for Internet Explorer (which is a laughingstock among most internet denizens anyway)

Although I think you'll find that the technology industry is relatively Laissez-faire regardless. Bad for monopolies, good for progress

Microsoft has pretty stiff competition in games with Sony and Nintendo anyway, and somewhat-less-stiff competition with Apple and Linux in the OS wars.

[Think Komachi with a Rifle]

They've been sued by the US for being a monopoly before, yeah, but only for Internet Explorer (which is a laughingstock among most internet denizens anyway)

The EU have sued them repeatedly for bundling IE with Windows.
That was a suit due to the monopoly with windows, not IE; misusing it to shove the crappy browser down our throats.

MSs OS competition is mostly android. Phones and tablets ARE PCs now, more so than netbooks ever managed. There's still the bigger monopoly of MS office and Outlook to deal with though.

[NekoNekoRex]

The EU have sued them repeatedly for bundling IE with Windows.
That was a suit due to the monopoly with windows, not IE; misusing it to shove the crappy browser down our throats.

MSs OS competition is mostly android. Phones and tablets ARE PCs now, more so than netbooks ever managed. There's still the bigger monopoly of MS office and Outlook to deal with though.

I wholeheartedly disagree that tablets or phones are comparable to an actual work computer (they aren't made for typing lots of things, for one). Tablets are probably going to be a fad or a niche-use computer.  I do recognize that Google is pretty big competition for M$ these days, however

[Conqueror]

The real question is how the rest of us can get in on the money train.

[Think Komachi with a Rifle]

The real question is how the rest of us can get in on the money train.

Become a patent troll?

[Raikaria]

The EU have sued them repeatedly for bundling IE with Windows.

Except the maximum penalty for the type of law they are breaking is literally 25,000 Euros; which to Microsoft is a slap on the wrist.

With a feather.

[Hello Purvis]

Laissez-faire regardless. Bad for monopolies, good for progress

This is so wrong I literally want to strangle you with my degree. I want to commit actual violence upon you for this error.

[Tengukami]

Microsoft has pretty stiff competition in games with Sony and Nintendo anyway, and somewhat-less-stiff competition with Apple and Linux in the OS wars.

I'm a Linux user and will be the first to admit there is no "OS war". Microsoft has a virtual monopoly. The invisible hand of the market is fisting the world with the IE logo tattooed right on the middle finger.

[Ghaleon]

I can honestly say i am pretty sure ive seen some of these in the comments section. Back when the xbone was still less than a week old I recall seeing hundreds of comments on game related videos talking about how we are at the golden age of gaming because of the xbone, it is by far the best system ever, blah blah.
The only reasonably believable alternative i can imagine is jut hardcore xbox fanboys bsing up the yinyang just to support their system. But i doubted that cuz fanboism works both ways and i saw ZERO such comments with the same level of bs as the xbone. Plus i saw some o these comments that in videos that weren't even discussing consoles at all!

[Aya Reiko]

The actual scandal isn't Microsoft but Machinima since they're the ones who made the contracts that included the non-disclosure clauses.

From what I gather, MS is trying to distance themselves from this as fast as they can.

[Think Komachi with a Rifle]

Except the maximum penalty for the type of law they are breaking is literally 25,000 Euros; which to Microsoft is a slap on the wrist.

With a feather.

It's likely  ?25 000 per case i.e. video, and to Machinima that likely isn't small.

[Raekuul]

I'm a Linux user and will be the first to admit there is no "OS war". Microsoft has a virtual monopoly. The invisible hand of the market is fisting the world with the IE logo tattooed right on the middle finger.

Seconded, mostly because it turns out to be like this: "So you want a computer, huh? Well, if you're artsy and have lots of money to spend on pointless proprietary hardware, get a Mac. Otherwise, get a Windows machine. And don't get Linux unless you already know Linux."

Really, what gave Microsoft the virtual monopoly in the first place is that it's (comparatively) cheap since you don't need specialized hardware and their Windows is generally user-friendly. To my knowledge, what originally got them in trouble was that they were bundling their Internet Explorer with their OS and it's not like there were any good alternatives for Windows at the time anyway.