Microsoft Increasing Xbox Live Subcription Pricing November 1st- Will Consumers Follow?

Whether consumers will continue to see value in Microsoft's service remains to be seen, but the truth is that Xbox Live is no longer the 'only' way to play most of today's most popular titles online in the console realm. Whatever advantages the service once held have largely been erased by competitive pricing and increased value from its rivals, and its going to become increasingly difficult for them to justify packing what is fast becoming essentially a collection of services that can be found elsewhere - for free.

[Theparanerds]

yes

[Kain81]

i dont know why...but this reminds me of an old game from Psygonisis "Lemmings" ^_^

[0mega4]

but instead of them raising the price they should have instead made multiplayer free

as you've already purchased the game and usually half of it is multiplayer

and if you wanted all those extra features that is the reason for the price hike you could get them if you wanted them

microsoft is a greedy company they've always abused there xbox consumers
with wireless adapters
hard drives
console fail rate
battery packs
etc

[Trebius]

Bubbles, very clever ;)

On Topic: I wouldn't mind paying for it as long as I had the OPTION. When you dont have the OPTION to play online for free (like you do on EVERY other system) then there's something wrong.

The choice for current Xbox360 owners is,

"Do I want to pay MORE for my online gaming? Or do I not want to play AT ALL?"

Of course theyre going to choose the latter, otherwise they'd be unable to play Reach and Black Ops which are just around the corner.

M$ is very smart in the way they dig into your pockets ... I'm glad I dont game on Live.

[DaTruth]

Notice how they do it in September, knowing Reach and COD are just around the corner and their customers are gonna be thinking about this when they choose.

Why not January or June? Just like the console banning 2 weeks before MW2, MS sees you like the starving Looney Tune sees a cooked chicken in place of their friend, except you are a giant money bag!

Edit: If MS had a decent bone in their body they would only charge this to new subscribers and not to long time good customers, like most tenant law in the developed world does. It's not like you can return your online portion of games!

[badz149]

right before the release of MW2 and this year is XBL price hike right before Reach? M$ sure is the best when it comes to how to keep sheeps paying while throwing sh1t at them!!

[8-bit]

With Halo Reach right around the corner the answer is a definite yes.. MS knows this too

[badz149]

is SAD!

[Blaze929]

I got a job and it's a $60 per year expense....'YEAR'

Plus it's not like I have much of a choice until PSN gets up to par. I hate that service's current condition with a passion and going from LIVE to that will be like smartphone to dumbphone

[fooltheman]

...so you compare something you must pay for... with something that's free..

Well Free is always better...
(escpecially when in functions well)

[Bell Boy]

They should slap another $20 or $30 then...lol

Hear that MS this sucker thinks it's a great deal get some more added on you are under charging ..lol

There is a sucker born every minute and appears they all bought 360 and defend here on n4g till there last breath.

News for you folks this is bad for gamers in general...MS appear to being this just in time to cash in on the likes of Halo and Sony and Nintendo will watch then consider what they may get away with in the future.

But sure go ahead defend charging for playing the games you bought online, o wait you can even tell your friends about the hike while you play different games...pmsl

[Neko_Mega]

wow, this is a person that knows nothing about the psn.

Psn has been a lot been then what it was in 2006, heck if it was, it couldn't run mag, demon's souls or ff14.

Just because you pay for something, doesn't make it any better.

[SilentNegotiator]

LOL, Microsoft should definitely charge more. People will pay for and justify anything.

Cause it's JUST per year, right? Just 0.00000465 cents per second, right?!

"I hate that service's current condition with a passion"
Free and with several more dedicated servers?

[Trebius]

You're obviously misinformed ...

The PSN service is definitely up to par, people just live in the past.

The only defense you have is X-game chat. If it's THAT important to you, then pay for the service, by all means.

But what you dont understand is that people are arguing the fact that M$ is not giving any CHOICES.

You either PAY, or you DONT PLAY.

It's people like you that let M$ make decisions like this on a whim and make boatloads of cash.

You remember a few months ago when they released the information about how much they've made off of subscribers? And how it's a monumental success?

Well, if it's such a success and they're making so much money, why do they need to charge more??

Oh I know why, (and so do they) cause they know people will pay it to continue gaming online.

[bjornbear]

thats exactly what MS is expecting their consumers to say.

"its ok, its only 10 more bucks a year, it won't bother me"

remember the example of the frog in the pot of boiling water?

throw the frog into boiling water and he'll react in pain
( smacking consumers with a 60 buck price point from the start : insane)

throw the frog into room temp water and slowly increase the temperature to boiling point, the frog will die without reacting.

as far as you're concerned, if MS increased 1 buck a month you wouldn't mind until you realized you were being ripped off (by then, you will have been ripped off well before your realisation)

this just proves: MS marketing department outsmarted you.

smh

[ThanatosDMC]

Apparently, cross game chat is worth it. /s

[morganfell]

Aren't these Live hike supporters the same ones attacking an optional PS+?

[Anon1974]

Morganfell hit that one right on the nose.

Edit: Hey, look below a few posts. niceguywii60 is using fake VGChartz data instead of the official data from each company to try to make a point about how much the PS3 is losing? What a guy!

Just a quick question for ya, Vgchartz boy. According to the official numbers, the PS3 has outsold the 360 by 1.6 million consoles in the first half of 2010 alone while the 360 suffered 4 back to back quarters of year over year declines just before their last quarter. At it's height, the 360 had over an 8 million console lead over the PS3, now it's down to 3.3 million. How about you try using real data, not VGChartz's best guess when arguing? Oh, what's that? Because then your point is shot all full of holes? Pity about that....

[CaptainPunch]

This is the truth, a $10 increase doesn't seem a lot but it will add up.

[sikbeta]

Well, they have no option, is either Pay or lose on-line gaming + features...

[SilentNegotiator]

Exactly why I've always been reluctant to support it. Once you stop paying, you lose the second half of most of your games (And with a lot of xbox exclusives, more like 95% of your game).

[avengers1978]

The question is are the going to give you more stuff.

I pay for PSN+, but then again It has already given me more in free stuff than the 50 dollar year sub, that I paid for. I know some people say it's only renting the game, but really if i don't plan on letting my subscribtion end ever then I'll have them forever.

[AtatakaiSamurai]

and people will still pay for this?! but why? why would people support this? this is crazy!

[Millionaire]

Of course they do. They don't have a choice after all.

[sikbeta]

True, they'd not pay but at the same time lose on-line gaming, making games like COD aka the best seller games, useless, since the "strong" point of this kind of games is the on-line MP and such and SP is short and it's not worth the $60 price-tag...

[STGuy1040]

A price increase, eh? It sounds like Microsoft is hurting a little and needs to charge more. This is just a friendly observation that will probably get flamed to death. LOL

[Omega4]

Obviously, but its strange how europe doesn't get a price hike, or asia.

[Hallmark Moment]

EUR and ASIA are possibly not getting all the features the regions with the price increase will be getting. We'll have to wait until MSFT releases the full list of upgrades around the update launch like every year. These articles are getting stupid the 360 fanbase spends millions on games and content so whats with these quasi doom articles?

LOL @#4 really? been reading the news lately or at all?

[CimmerianDrake]

They're trying to gain more consumers in those territories, where the PS3 is killing them. Increasing the price there will just continue to kill their base there. Only in North America will this price hike remain largely uncontested.

[niceguywii60]

Not getting killed as much as you think.

http://n4g.com/news/594561/...

Worldwide Hardware
Console Weekly (change) Total
DS 264,781 (-7%) 133,351,126
X360 185,542 (-8%) 42,468,435
Wii 143,758 (-8%) 73,479,723
PS3 142,698 (-4%) 37,111,119
PSP 74,664 (-12%) 59,609,561
PS2 30,873 (-5%) 136,786,052

Yeah Yeah Yeah NPD factors into it shown by these numbers from the July NPD Meaning NA helps the 360 win WorldWide

360: 444K, down 9K (-2%)
DS: 398K, down 113K (-22%)
Wii: 254K, down 169K (-40%)
PS3: 215K, down 90K (-30%)
PSP: 84K, down 37K (-31%)

EDIT

CimmerianDrake

Stop your crying I was showing the World Wide Numbers and showing the reason before a fanboy could use what I posted as an excuse
Stop.

"Obviously you can't read."

TeH IRONY

Comprehend much?

[CimmerianDrake]

You offer up total WW numbers (in which the 360 is obviously ahead since it's been out longer), as well as factor in NA numbers (which is NOT the territory we were discussing) and choose to include numbers from the 360 S as some kind of proof that the PS3 is losing to the 360? I bet you got your numbers from VGChartz too.

It's a known fact that in Europe (excluding the U.K.) and Asia, overall the PS3 is killing the 360 in sales. Way to isolate one month as a prop to your lame argument, while padding the numbers using NA figures and total console life sales.

Fail.

[fooltheman]

You're using vgchartz...
that ends your fidelity...

[The Maxx]

What are you using to counter his numbers?

[fooltheman]

I just say that those numbers have no fidelity...
I sincerely must say that there aren't any numbers who covers the facts...

Look at what they did with starcraft 2...

[scofios]

@Omega4  
Because the know NA will pay even if xbl cost 150$ , and europe and asia wont .

[GodHandDee]

they thought the more devoted fans like you are in the usa? Myth or fact? I dunno

[redDevil87]

Man right before the new COD and just after Reach. M$ are some sneaky greedy bastards.

[Darkspade]

everyone will.. People will just buy the Family Plan 4 people for $99. then just add friends. now XBL is $25 per person

[tinybigman]

paying to play online. what i'll do is get one of the one month cards and play co-op with a couple of my friends for Reach, Gears. once we finish the game i'll let it lapse and go back to silver membership.

[JohnApocalypse]

I don't care cause I only buy the year ones. I'm British btw

[ActionBastard]

If you want to play with your friends.

[Halo_Reach]

Xbox Live sign ups will grow since 14 September from 25 Milions to 30M +...

So the answer is a YES!

Plus Fallout , Fable and MoH.

[Why o why]

if you wanna still play the online parts of the games you've already paid for......

YEP...theres no choice...With achievements gamerscores plus their xbl mates and the whatnot MS have current users by the short n curlys.

Great business model from a 'business' perspective...not so good as an end user/gamer especially since MS has often boasted about how many gazillions is made off the service which is then used for dedicated servers on their wealth of new exclusive ip's.... oh ¬_¬ snap

[CimmerianDrake]

Bubbles.

[Graphics]

Microsoft has to find a way to make up the money they blew on kinect, so they increased live to get ready for the kinect bomb. Only reason how i would understand this price increase i was upset when i saw this in my email...

[Heisenberg]

for them to be squeezing subscribers for more... Are they trying to push people to the competition?

[luke201]

is just 10 freaking dollar.. about 86 cents more a month.. you guys spend more than that on stupid crap anways -_-" idk why the hatee

[WeaseL]

If you break it down to how much it costs a day its even less and then you could try the hourly rate to impress even more.

Had PSN for over 4 years cost me nothing.

[XxZxX]

probably the same guy who wasted 4.00 on Starbucks everyday.

[wsoutlaw87]

because 60$ means one less game a year so that you can fully use the games you already paid 60$ for

[Bell Boy]

No worries with the current list of future games and lack of 1st party studios, people may as well blow $60 on xbox live and watch espn..lol

O how the tables are turning, remember the old days here when the ps3 had no games and was just a movie player...pmsl now the xbox is becoming a sports host and camera hub...pmsl

[Mikelarry]

never buy directly from ms so as long as i continue to find bargain prices for the services i will continue to use the service

[washingmachine]

youd think after these years they would decrease the price not increase it,but people will moan and still pay lol.

[LogicalFanboy]

fanboys will be fanboys

[peeps]

They may be adding new features but if i'm never gonna use these features why do i need to pay more! I need to renew my subscription soon but the only reason i'll be doing so is to play Reach and gears 3.

sucks imo that not only do i have to pay, but now i have to pay more, simply to play 2 games online, neither of which support dedicated servers

[whothedog]

I thought this was another speculation article but it really is going up...

It should be going down over time not up, I don't care what features they add, or make the multiplayer free and charge for the add ons. I really can't believe this.

[bustamove]

I'll just laugh at the people who justify this.

[Unicron]

This is how we got $15 mappacks, IMHO.

[SOAD]

I'm not happy about it, but my friends pre-paid a copy of Halo Reach for me for my birthday, and they're all getting Reach as well so we can play.

It's a sorry situation but I like Reach and Microsoft knows how much Halo fans are anticipating the game. That's why they raised the fees and they're going to get away with it because they've realized they don't have to work hard to offer much to be dominant in the industry.

Meanwhile it seems Sony is doing so much yet they are not getting the sales recognition they deserve. Critically, they're praised all the time now, but the gamers need to follow suit and buy their games. When I first joined this site I defended Microsoft a lot. I don't want to become a fanboy but Microsoft is making it easy to hate them.

[whothedog]

MS has got you by the kahonas haha

It sucks and they know they can get away with it since their biggest title is coming which helps a lot.

I really don't blame people who are going to stick with it though simply because I wanna game online. Halo is also a great MP game.

[Unicron]

Well said Soad, as always.

[Bell Boy]

kudos sir.. I see the people defending this and yet ALL gamers should denounce this for what it is a royal shafting of gamers.

Interestingly I have noticed many of the posters here defending this have been posting about how great it is the hackers have gained access to the ps3 because they have the right to play Sony games for free

[OneSneakyMofo]

Way to give in to the man, SOAD. I thought a fellow System of a Down fan would swallow their pride.

[Karum]

I won't be renewing but honestly, I had decided that before this news. I simply don't use my 360 often enough to justify paying any price for LIVE.

It's a pretty sucky move by MS though and they should really be introducing something awesome to justify this.

[Gamer_Z]

Everything that Xbox Live offers can be found for free or somewhere cheaper and better:
ESPN better on TV
Twitter better and free on pc
Facebook better and free on pc
Last FM free and better on pc and even better alternatives (Pandora)
Online play free on PSN network (idk about Steam i never used it)
Netflix better and cheaper everywhere else

So what exactly is Xbox live offering you that you can’t get anywhere else? You’re basically paying $60 for cross game chat and halo

[skrug]

and u can x game chat on the PC

[WeaseL]

delete

[jaytv-pyro]

THEY WILL FOLLOW ANYTHING WITH THE XBOX OR MICRO$OFT LOGO ON IT.

[Frenza]

Why did you only use capital letters? What is wrong whit small letters?
N4G should get an filter against posting stuff in capital letters only.

Ontopic: In Denmark we have to pay 499 KR. = 85,1 USD for a year, so don`t cry over this, still I refuse to pay that (silver user).

For the online I have a gaming pc and a PS3, and both are free to use.

[BX81]

I'm going to get 2 1yr sub. cards now! I already have a year but It's not worth it to me to pay $60.00 a year. This might be a good thing. Maybe it'll bring gamers back to the old system link parties. We used to do it all the time when I was in Korea!

[GrilledCheeseBook]

people can rebel and not pay until it's free like on windows but people won't
they'll pay

[g5bay]

They will follow like they follow halo & cod when it sucks.

[sloth3395]

maybe the $10 price hike is so it will cover the hulu plus when the 360 gets it

[Bell Boy]

but what if you don't want hulu plus, surely it should be optional

After all until recently the BS on this site was that 360 owners play gamers and PS3 owners were ust buying it to watch movies..pmsl

[Keltik82]

When people always throw out the comment "If you have a job" It's not about that! It's about how lame M$ is becoming and how they're ruining the industry. They've become a joke with this Avatar BS.

[JonnyBigBoss]

If I were a 360 fan I'd be irate right now. This is ridiculous.

[pimpmaster]

man this is some bullship. i think its time to do some dvd drive flashing ;)

[Denethor_II]

Well you have to pay for quality my friends. No but seriously Margaret Thatcher is a sexy bitch! I'd be all over that shit.

[Ri0tSquad]

They raised the price? Wow. I thought they would lower it...smh. I'd be pissed off right now if I only owned an Xbox. I guess it's right in time for Kinect, Reach, and Black Ops. Luckily I don't care for Halo, I think Kinect looks lame ATM, and I'll be playing Black Ops on PC if it turns out well or PS3.

[LiquifiedArt]

PC + PS3 = 4 Life.

Sucks for you, but that what a "Free market" is. So your free to get reamed in the bum if you so desire.

[thehitman]

Its not a matter if people will follow its really a no choice for most people who only own a 360 and want to game online. Really MS should be ashamed of themselves and things like this is just a reminder to why I'll never own a MS console.

[-MD-]

Baseline was 49.99/year. You can find 29.99/year cards everywhere so technically the smart shopper is still saving money.

I don't have a problem with it.

[Redgehammer]

family plan is sure looking even better now, with 99$ for four Gold memberships. I am all over that.

[anoti]

PSN: Be a player not a payer

[Silber]

So your guys dont want to live in Europe. The normal Prices for Live is 59,99 € wich is 76 US$. So if Microsoft woud increase the Price here too, it woud be totally insane.

Actually many Players importet the Xbox Live Gold Codes from the UK, but it seems that this will not be much cheaper in the future.

[cmrbe]

i actually feel for the real x360 fans though.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

The real issue with 360 gamers is that some are going to have to pitch this small increase to mommy and daddy come annual renewal time. Me as a grown man with my own income can handle this small increase just like I did when console game prices jumped from $49.99 to $59.99 years ago. And the fact that some of you don't remember that is because you were (and still are) little kids whom didn't buy your own games.

You sony kids... continue trolling as usual. What can anyone say to you. If xbox-live became free today you guys would be in here creating a storm over that. It is always a damned if you do damned if you don't with you kiddies.

[PS3-247]

So when it goes to $100 I guess you can handle that too. I wish I was rich like you.

[REDHULKSMASH]

thats only $9/ a month or 3 cents a day? right? brainwashed dinks. ill go enjoy my dedicated servers and play a 256 player multiplayer exclusive. many, many exclusives. many.

[3LiTExPRx]

I dnt like the fact that we need to pay more... But i think im willing to pay a little more... But if MS increases the price again IM GONE!!!

[m23]

That;s why I buy them when they are on sale. Just buy a 12 month membership before november, and you're good for a year.

[PSK22]

Wow I find it funny, Just a couple of months ago, before PSN plus came out, this xbox user from my job was arguing with me about how I have to pay online now for PSN and I should be mad, while i continue to tell him its only an optional pay subscription to get more/exclusive content. Now Xbox users have a 10 dollar increase to play online and now its cool and ok for MS to do that. Come on wake up and stop being hypocrites. The only thing I see on Xbox live that is different is cross game chat. I don't know but usually I play games to play to GAMES not to be bother by other people playing a different game from me. Its fine playing and talking online with each other for the same game but thats it. If its that important to talk to me, call me on my phone. I'm even cool with sending me a text through PSN. That is all I need.

[prettyboy1]

pay more to play online or pay nothing and play online,im a have to choose the latter on this one