TMG Roundtable: Xbox LIVE Price Increase

The staff at The Married Gamers discuss their opinions on the Xbox Live price increase.

[Troll_Police]

Only in America are people happy to pay for features that are FREE everywhere else.

[divideby0]

^ not its not all in American, its the blind fanboyz who defend higher prices..they are the nitwitts.

I am a charter live gold member from day one.
When my sub runs out in Jan. I will have had my fill with reach and will NOT renew my rip off live sub that I have been paying for what 5 or 6 years now.

this price increase just shows how little MS is offering real gamers..bye bye Live

[Troll_Police]

MS is counting on people to renew for Halo: Reach. The only way that MS will listen is if you guys don't stand for this and stop paying MS to use your own peer-to-peer connection to play games online.

[darthv72]

several times i have debated canceling. I keep it because I may want to play an online match or two now and then. I do use the netflix almost every night. I guess when people see the big price of $60 it doesnt matter if it is a day, week, month or year. It is the fact that it is $60.

That breaks down to $5 a month or 16.4 cents per day. It really ISNT that much but some would say it's the principle of paying. I am reminded of other services on other platforms that are paid as well.

There may be plenty of free games on PC but a big game like WOW charges by the month for a single game. You have to be really dedicated to playing in order to go the distance.

Funny thing about being a member. Be it live, WOW or even PS+. You get a different perspective on the service and what it offers once your in. Something about it that makes it hard to just walk away. For some its almost like an addiction and to others....it is.

[AAACE5]

I'm starting to think the Ps3 fanboys are right!

We should all get rid of our 360's and just play games on PC... oh, you thought I was going to say Ps3... oh... well... I guess you could do that as well!

No seriously, I am getting a little irritated with paying to play online, but what else can I do? I like playing online, but I don't really like playing PC games. The Ps3 is a good system, but I just don't like playing online with it for some reason! I know part of the problem is that i'm heavily invested in the 360.

[FACTUAL evidence]

I will continue to let MS rub their shaft against my butt hole, and anally rape me. Even if our games for the next 3 years are COD titles, I'll even pay 100$ for their mediocre online service. I'll continue to support XBL as long as they make gimmicky controllers, and not exclusives.

[Acquiescence]

When I'm asked to renew it I'll tell 'em to cram it.

[acere]

can't play games online AT ALL on the 360 without paying a monthly fee. i heard xbox sux whit out the online part.

[rekof]

SAD !

bros,.. I think even paid western journalists cannot spin this shit ,.. they will try like a mofos,.. but damn,.. SAAAD !! This is not a fanboy rant,.. I swear !

all 360 fans should wake up ,.. games for windows,.. are damn free,.. they are charging for something that should never charged for,.. I don't care,.. If you find worth in cross game chat for 60usd/year I don't mind,..please pay,.. but online play ,.. dude I'm paying for my internet/(play) out of my ass already,.. and it is between me and my isp provider,.. If I want to be a dick to my friends and call them during their games (i hate that shit),.. I can use ventrilo, or skype or phone,... Though getting group of shit heads together ,.. is easier on 360,.. less button presses,..

Why do you support this shit is beyond me,..

[ITLoo]

I will still pay for my Gold membership when the price hike happens. Microsoft does a lot of good work and we need to support them.

[Fadetoblack69]

I'm honestly looking at your post and trying to decide if you're trolling or not O.o

[Goodeye84]

He isn't he seriously is in support of it.

[ITLoo]

It's just my opinion. Take it or leave it. I'm not trying to sway you, just wanted to put in my two cents.

[VoodooHack]

I don't know why they charge. But I do know why I choose to subscribe.

I place a premium on the party system with its chat and cross-game invites. I also like that their community staff is very visible and interact directly with the community. Their responses to the MW2 Javelin glitch and The Pro incident are prime examples. Action was immediate and transparent right from the top. The most we got from PSN about the Javelin glitch was a one-liner from an anonymous rep that they don't plan on doing anything.

I like going to an Xbox Ambassador to point me in the right direction. I like that they place a priority on family issues addressed with their PlaySmart campaign. Or the concerns of special interest groups whom they work with to form policy. I appreciate that my wife has a safe place to go with the GamerChix. It's cool that their Community Developer program helps fan sites create and maintain their web widgets.

A also enjoy their community events, especially their Community Playdate. I've fleshed out my friends list based on those sessions.

These are the things I value with Xbox Live and find it a little surprising that the price hasn't changed for 8 years. I use many of these features on a daily basis, so the slight subscription fee increase isn't all-of-the-sudden unreasonable. It's just unfortunate that they're aspects that don't get enough attention.

I'm not going to pretend that these are universal truths that everyone needs to agree with. The reasons are my own, so take them as you will.

But really? An extra $10 a year is your tipping point?

[Nolando]

I havent payed for XBL in the last two months... i was waiting for halo reach but i feel totally pwned now... lol

[killcycle]

M$ are F****** Crazy

[gololo]

i think MS should do a silver, gold and platinum...and let the consumer decide. It is a %20 in price! And I find amusing that most people would actually defend this hike! When the gas prices goes up, we all whine, when groceries prices go up, we bitch, when transportation prices goes up (looking at you MTA) we protest, so why is this different? People should be mad about this, not saying "I like the service, so I will support them by paying more", don't you think that MS gets enough "support" with the current price? I'd bet $100 that if online play was part of Silver, the number of gold members would be significantly reduced.

[VoodooHack]

...except that grocery prices go up on a regular basis. MTA fares have increased a couple times within the past couple of years while they cut services.

The Xbox Live fee has gone up once within 8 years and have improved and added features. Sorry, it's not an apples to apples comparison. I can appreciate the immediate nerd rage, but when all is said and done, it's really a non-issue.

[gololo]

improved exactly how? aren't those features available free in some other platforms (like phones, pcs etc). if you use those features...great, but hasn't occurred to you that some people might not actually use them? I don't need facebook, espn and other nonsense that they offer. I only want to play online (which again is free everywhere else), so why is it so hard to introduce another type of membership??? But hey, if you are willing to bend over and take it with a smile in your face, go for it...keep doing it. As for myself, I'll say goodbye to my gold membership, I'll reconsider when GeoW3 comes out.
Lastly, this is an issue that could potentially affect PC/Wii/PS3 owners in the future, since MS is showing that the Live business model is successful and perhaps the era of free online play may come to an end.

[VoodooHack]

XBL started in 2002 at $50/year. When the 360 launched, they rebooted the whole thing...the WHOLE thing. MS added achievements and gamer profiles and improved the integration with Xbox.com.... and the rest of the internet for that matter with their Community Developer program (see 360Voice and MyGamercard in addition to all the fan sites they help). Since launch, they've increased the involvement of their community managers and added community events. They added the whole party system. To a lesser extent, integrated Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. They connected their point system with the Zune marketplace. They've made connections to Zune Social and GFW.....without increasing the price since the initial launch of Xbox Live 8 years ago.

You may not use all these features, but plenty of others do, in different combinations and varying levels of use.

MS didn't invent the subscription-based model. Nor do they hold a monopoly on it. It's very easy to fall into that slippery slope mentality. But you have as much idea about what the future holds as I do. I can only see what's happening now. Now, I see a slight price increase that in the scheme of things is really trivial.