Machinima has reportedly offered its more YouTube famous personalities financial bonuses for promoting the Xbox One, with the stipulation that these promotional agreements are kept confidential, according to leaked e-mails picked up by Ars Technica.
The promotion asked Machinima's talents and extra $3 CPM ($3 per every thousand video views) for simply posting videos that include at least 30 seconds of Xbox One game play footage in the first two minutes and a verbal mention that the console is being played in the video. It was also stipulated that producers tag their videos 'XB1M13' and post their new videos between 3 a.m. ET Jan. 13 and 2:59 a.m. ET, February 10.
If Microsoft is determined to have had any knowledge of this promotion, it could be violating the FTC guidelines for use of endorsements in advertising, which needs to be transparent when there is a connection between the party endorsing something and the party that is selling that product that might affect the credibility of the endorsement.
To make matters worse, a copy of the promotion's terms and conditions obtained by Ars Technica says the content creators were not to say "anything negative or disparaging about Machinima, Xbox One, or any of its games."
"Microsoft was not aware of individual contracts Machinima had with their content providers as part of this promotion and we didn't provide feedback on any of the videos. We have asked Machinima to not post any additional Xbox One content as part of this media buy and we have asked them to add disclaimers to the videos that were part of this program indicating they were part of paid advertising," reads a statement to IGN from Microsoft on the matter.
Machinima also told the website: "This partnership between Machinima and Microsoft was a typical marketing partnership to promote Xbox One in December. The Xbox team does not review any specific content or provide feedback on content. Any confidentiality provisions, terms or other guidelines are standard documents provided by Machinima. For clarity, confidentiality relates to the agreements themselves, not the existence of the promotion."
