Xbox Live Survey: Three Percent of Users Don't Approve of Free Games?

When it was announced back at E3, the free-games-for-paid-subscriber s deal called Games With Gold was supposed to last only until the Xbox One's launch. Well, now it is officially continued as an "ongoing benefit." That's not what caught my eye about the announcement, however.

[Lalanana]

Maybe they don't want old games. Xbox live needs to give out more recent games i must say.

[PoSTedUP]

as far as i know they seem to be giving out only the games that they almost, if not completely, stopped benifiting from. if anyone is still buying the games they gave away for free, thoes small ammount of people are buying them used.

[dazzrazz]

I wouldn't be surprised if they still make some dolla dolla bill yo on all the dlc that is presented to customer around the free game with those giant tiles

[PoSTedUP]

i forgot all about that... wow.

so they offer dead games for free and continue to not show appreciation by putting in .0003% effort just to penny pinch the crap out of their loyal fans. like squeezing water out of a Rock. like The Mummy sucking your life dry from your soul; litterally and metaphorically.

[abc1233]

"Who the hell doesn't approve of free games?"

It's not that they don't approve of free games. It's that they've given their money to MS all these years and in return they are given ridiculously old and cheap games. They feel shortchanged. Can't say I blame them.

[Kayant]

It would be great if MS makes their offering like IGC where you rent newer games. I would take that over getting old free games personally.

[nukeitall]

All these years, MS made the best online platform for consoles with the best of class features, that the competition still aren't caught up to.

Next generation, MS provides massive cloud power larger than many large cloud infrastructure companies.

That is what games got back for their money all these years.

If gamers wanted a value service that gives away free games, and don't care about the other online features, there is always PS4 or Wii U that is free for all.

I am one of the people that don't really want these free games, because it devalues the games. Free games creates an expectation that games are cheap and should be had for pennies on the dollar.

This benefits a couple of handful of companies and damages the rest of the industry. Remember, it isn't just money lost here, but also time.

[abc1233]

Other than the lack of cross-game chat, which was simply due to hardware constraints on the PS3, what "best of class" features are you talking about exactly which justifies paying for XBLG?

Next gen the difference in value becomes even more apparent, especially if gaikai is included in the cost. PS+ will be giving you free games across 3 different platforms whilst Sony will be improving their servers. How exactly does this "massive cloud power" benefit you? Please don't give me the line about improved hardware performance.

No, it really doesn't. Quality new games which are being sold for £35+ are still going on to sell millions, PS+ hasn't impacted that. The games given away on PS+ will suddenly get a spike in interest and revenue in DLC sales, in addition to whatever payment Sony has given the developers.

[Kayant]

Ok what features does X360 have over PS3 now apart from cross-game chat (Which is a hardware limitation as seen with the vita having 2x ram of PS3 and offering CGC)& more a stable service??

Now look at the PS4 & you're saying they haven't got up yet. Really?? Apart from not knowing how the new untested PSN will perform what else have they not caught up with the X360. In fact similarly like on PS4 where you wouldn't get anywhere near the cloud support in terms of dedicated servers & compute for third party devs because Sony are not a cloud centeric business like MS & don't have the years of infrastructure MS has you won't find some online features on XB1 that are on PS4.

1 - Being able to take over your friend's session if they struck on a level.
2 - Being able to view your friend's play session before joining their game.
3 - Being able play your PS4 games anywhere with the vita. Yes requires additional hardware but it's an online feature.
4 - Downloading either single player or multiplayer first. Yes XB1 has Play as download but not being about to download single player or multiplayer separately.

So how has Sony not caught up yet??

Again it's not like Sony is getting theses games for free it's being paid for.

If you're saying this I wonder how you feel about PC prices in general & PC sales then.

Also is not like you will always get the game you want on IGC so how that devalues games is beyond me considering you don't know what will come up on IGC at anytime. If you really want a game you will still buy it you're not going to be hoping & waiting for it to appear on IGC.

P.S am a X360 gamer.

[MYSTERIO360]

If MS were building this type of infrastructure for some time now then why didn't they support dedicated servers/cloud support for all games this gen. Not sure just asking?

[MysticStrummer]

"All these years, MS made the best online platform for consoles with the best of class features, that the competition still aren't caught up to."

I keep seeing this type of statement on the internet, yet I know no one who agrees with it. Every single one of my friends bought 360s and played on XBL. Now none of them game on 360, none of them think XBL is anything special, and none of them want an XB1. I was playing GTA Online with one of them the other day and he said "MS won't fool me again."

I'm sure that will be dismissed as Sony fanboy BS but it's not. True story from Texas.

OT - Maybe they don't like the free games they're getting.

[CRAIG667]

Maybe that 3% are Sony fanboys... free is free.

[ALLWRONG]

This was a Live survey.

[CRAIG667]

I own a wii,PS3,360 and game on steam... where the poll was conducted is not the be all and end all.
I am certain there are MANY Sony fanboys out there who also own wii's/360's.

People may be moaning but for me it's been a good opportunity to try games that I would never have considered spending money on in the past...

Defence grid,dead rising2,mass effect are all games that I always thought looked pretty good but didn't buy as I just assumed for whatever reason they just weren't my type of game...

[ALLWRONG]

If there is anyone who dislikes Sony fanboys it's me, but even I can't blame them for everything. You're right though "free is free" and 360 owners actually get to keep the games.

[TheSaint]

Shame you don't get to keep the multiplayer in any game.

[ALLWRONG]

That 3% are probably the people still using the 20gb HDD or the 4gb Kinect 360.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Dont care about the 3% ...I am very pleased to see the program will continue. Competition is a great thing and clearly Sony has pushed MS in a good direction with the free games. Hopefully the program continues to evolve and on Xbox One you have to assume the games will be much newer given no BC.

[Soldierone]

If I was in that group, id tell them to offer better games. I constantly tell Sony NA to do it because I hate getting cheap little arcade games while EU gets full games.

Honestly look at what they are offering, their selection sucks. Maybe if they offered it 5 years ago it'd be decent, but come on....

[from the beach]

The games aren't 'free' if a Gold account is required. Having said that, I don't really get why people wouldn't be happy with this deal, it's pretty damn good :)

[Angerfist]

Someone always tries to spin something to make Microsoft look bad on here. Its crazy. 97% seem ok with Games for Gold, do the Survey on PS + and im sure you also dont get a 100%. Sites like this should be banned, they all create Fanboy Bait.

[BLAKHOODe]

True. It's impossible to please everyone. Nothing ever gets a 100% approval rating.

[BG11579]

I bet those 3% are MS' investors.

[SynestheticRoar]

It's probably some of the same people that want DRM back.

[MYSTERIO360]

This GOLD payment thing makes me wonder why didn't MS offer dedicated servers for all games this gen, it would of improved its service value.

[lastofgen]

Besides halo 3, I haven't played any of the other games ms has given for free, so I dig the program.
Besides, I can just play those straight from my hdd now. :D

[Torgul]

@1233

Just in case you missed this information even someone important from amd said in an article that next Gen gpu will be soon useless as all the power will come from cloud service..... I guess that you don t trust him....

[Gramps24]

Ascend is a pretty good try at an mmo

[MisfitsInc]

the issue is that they're giving away old and almost irrelevant games.