Microsoft Investigating TV Achievements

How do you get a bunch of disgruntled gamers on board with a console that appears to focus a lot on the live TV experience? You give them Achievements from watching TV, that's how! According to a new report, Microsoft is exploring ways in which it will reward Xbox One users for catching up with telly.

The 'Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem' patent was filed back in November, and includes ways in which viewers will be rewarded. Achievements can be handed out for watching an entire TV series, by obediently watching a certain number of commercials or "performing a specific action" whilst a show or advert plays.

"Television viewing tends to be a passive experience for a viewer, without many opportunities for the viewer to engage or have interactive experiences with the presented content," reads the patent. "To increase interactive viewing and encourage a user to watch one or more particular items of video content, awards and achievements may be tied to those items of video content.

"Additionally, by tying the awards and achievements to particular items of video or advertising content, viewers may be encouraged to increase their viewership of the content, thus increasing advertising opportunities."

Via GI