Go Ahead, Try To Make Sense Of This Xbox Live Pricing Scheme

Xbox LIVE Gold member Jer went to renew his membership, and that’s when he found something… odd.

As seen in the image above, he had the following options to renew, based on his current membership:

[jaredhart]

Reminds me of the infamous "butterfly ballot".

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

I'm blanking on that one.

[Red_Orange_Juice]

12 months $50; 12 months + 1 free $60

[toaster]

Wow I guess MS used all that money made from exclusives and used it to hire monkeys. Oh wait.. what exclusives?

[Oldsnake007]

lol you didn't understand it.

1 month = 1 $ is more interesting

[Redrum059]

lol typical Microsoft

[mikeslemonade]

Microsoft cares about the money and not the gamer. When you pay for XBL gold online on the 360 system you are automatically set as auto-renew for next year, and I don't know how to changed it to not auto-renew besides going through the hoops of calling them or doing some extra research.

To cancel the subscription you have to go to a website and then you have to call customer service. The point is it's easy to be a member but it's harder to stop being a member. Microsoft stole my money and now I have 2 years of xbl gold.

[DeFFeR]

If you don't want to auto-subscribe for renewal, that's why MS made XBL Gold cards with the codes.

Not saying I don't sympathize with you, but your options are/were there.

And if you called MS Customer Service, and they didn't offer to swap out the second year for like a month or two of the "monthly" price, you didn't try hard enough.

[Anon1974]

I originally had a 3 free month promotional thing for XBL, but I had to give them my credit card number for when it was over. I liked gaming online so when the 3 months was up Microsoft automatically started dinging me $8.99 a month. This went on for two years before I became more active in the forums online and people were talking about XBL gold costing $60 a year, not the $108 dollars a year I had been paying the past 2 years. Upon finding out I also suffered my 3rd dead console and I cancelled my XBL after that as I wasn't playing many games online.

It just didn't enter into my mind that they would gouge consumers almost double for simply paying monthly. Who does that?

[AAACE5]

That's just stupid! That's the main reason I refuse to enter my credit card info into any online accounts! I just buy the cards. I always thought something was suspicious with all the deals they have been showing lately. I wonder if these wierd prices have anything to do with the coming update and the ESPN deal?

[MariaHelFutura]

Butterflies.....

[OneSneakyMofo]

How about those surveys that ask questions like:

Have you admitted to having gay sex?

Either way you answer, you have had gay sex, lol.

[SOAD]

Those are some weird surveys you've been taking.

[Downtown boogey]

No, I don't know what you're talking about.

[Mmmkay]

I fail that test every day.

[The Lazy One]

how did he get all of these to show?

I've used the one month for one dollar thing, but every time I've renewed there's only been like 4 options (1 month, 3 month, 6 month, 12 month).

Maybe they effed up their database? This is the first time I've seen the free month on the XBL marketplace. It's usually just for purchases through the store.

[thorstein]

for a dollar. After that, well, you pay regular price.

[The Lazy One]

I know about the dollar thing, I've used it. Otherwise there has never been this many options.

[Hydrolex]

but ey leme guess... someone is getting MILKED :)) ?

[tinybigman]

that the membership was set to auto-renew so i had to call them and cancel my account since i don't play online that much on the system anyway.

[tinybigman]

i canceled my gold account or not play online with my 360 as much?

valid question which i want a valid answer to.

[theEx1Le]

actually you can just delete your cc info from your account on the site, well least thats what i do.

[Cueil]

this is probably the easiest way to do it and you don't even have to talk to a girl... I know how hard that is on some people...

[kraze07]

Um I dont know how it is now but for a while the only way to delete cc info without calling customer service was to add a new credit card to your account first which was robbery if I ever saw it. I know exactly how mikeslemonade feels. Those customer service reps may sound nice but they're assholes just like the greedy pigs running the MS corporation.

[vhero]

The sad thing is thousands of people will probably have fallen for this ruse..

[Independent_Charles]

lol i got 12 months gold on ebay £19.99. only fools go direct debit with xbox live

[Cueil]

how is more options a ruse? It's not like Microsoft has given you pages of options... there are standard and promotional prices they have 10 dollars for 6 months for a while this month.

[thorstein]

What is the difference of GOLD vs other subscriptions.

Is anyone else smart enough to figure that out.

[DeFFeR]

Gold - play online, pay.

Silver - don't play online, free.

Almost everyone has a Gold account.

[FACTUAL evidence]

Good job MS! /s

[Armyless]

could we try not to ask such a vague question as the headline? That's what I think is wrong with this picture.

[PR0X1]

I always get my gold from ebay. I sometimes buy it 75% cheaper than from microsoft. I do the same with microsoft points :)

[r1sh12]

most of those only show up when your account goes silver.
THey have incentives for you to continue the subscription.
1 month for $1, or 3 months for $3 etc..
Just use those for the time being and wait for november when the new pricing.
Family packs etc

[fossilfern]

this is stupid if its $1 for one month you could just renew your live every month and get it for $12 lol who do they employ in that place !

[Sandwich Bender]

I would totally buy that for a dollar.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

A dollar, or $8.99?

[aviator189]

Man, what in the hell was going through their minds making these options?!

[wakash]

thats funny

[betrayed gamer]

that page is bugged 1 month one dollar???so u could do a year for 12 dollars??? somebody is dicking around

[ElementX]

Has to be photoshopped

[betrayed gamer]

nah the article states it might be a website problem? i checked my self and it seems the same so some monkeys were pressing buttons probably.

[crzyjackbauer]

agreed the guy who did that should add his mom to the picture

[Bzone24]

The 1 month for $1 is legit, but you are only offered that deal every now and then. Can't use it every month.

[multipayer]

Actually giving them your visa card is a mistake. The 1$ deal is just to sucker people into recurring fees monthly and they end up paying waaay more. Stick to prepaid subscription cards if you really need to pay for something that should be free.

[Bzone24]

After you get the $1 deal, all you have to do is go to their website and turn off the recurring membership option.

[SolidSystem]

see image below plz

[SolidSystem]

wow a disagree.... way to go N4G.

[kasasensei]

okay to me too.
12months / 3months / monthly / code

It is very strange how this guy could have so many choices...

[radphil]

I actually just looked at the site not too long ago, and had the same options. However checking back on it 2 hours later it was back to normal.

So someone was screwing up on the website end.

[Sashamaz]

Get with the times fool

[Aerodynamic41]

Then date in the image reads March 2011. He is getting with the times.

[thorstein]

This article is totally 404 ERROR. As are most of these responses. I don't even own an Xbox360 and I figured it out. The diff in price is the Gold Memberships.

Critical Thinking, Peoples.

[DeFFeR]

They're ALL Gold memberships slick.

Critical Thinking, smartass.

[thorstein]

No they aren't. Anyone looking at the screenshot would know that, slick.

Critical thinking, something you should do.

The only reason you see Gold is because that is the first option.

It says, Membership Level. There is only 1 level? Is that what you are trying to say? Gold and Free? Nope.

[VenomCarnage89]

thorstein, but he's right. There are only 2 types of membership, GOLD and SILVER. GOLD costs $, while SILVER is free.

I won't try to insult you because you stated you don't have a 360, so you have no reason to actually know their pricing structure, but that is basically common knowledge amongst gamers. So doing some research before openly insulting everyone else's intelligence would be a good idea.

[SHOGUN 36o]

That is exactly what I see. Looks like the kiddies discovered photo shop.

[hazelamy]

they were doing a live for a dollar promotion, you get one month for a dollar then it goes back to full price.
it does say 1 month 1 dollar and monthly membership 8.99, so you can get 1 month for a dollar, but for a full monthly membership it would be 8.99.
i'd expect they'd have something to prevent you from repeatedly taking the 1 dollar option.
that 1 dollar thing was to get people to put their credit card details on their system, and once they have them they make bloody difficult to stop ms taking money at will, and damn near impossible to get your card details removed from their system, if it is even possible at all.
anyway, why are there three different prices each for the three month and year subs?

[xtremeimport]

the best is the comments on that page, people trying to make sense of it when really you cant. 12months+1 month free is $10 more than the 12month, and you can buy a onemonth for $1.

yet people on there are trying to make it look like each option is different.
lol

sooo stupid. Prbably just a glitch in their HTML or something.

[SpLinT]

who cares. if you are buying XBL from Microsoft and not Amazon, you deserve to be getting ripped off 10 dollars.

[Sneak-Out]

LOL ... XD

[Azurite]

$1 per month doesn't sound bad at all.
Go for it.

[-Judge_Fudge]

how many 1 months for a dolla i can buy?

[Erotic Sheep]

rofl..

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[TABSF]

WOW XBL is broken LOL

I'm sure every XBL user would love to pay $1 per month for a Peer to Peer service

[skyblue14213]

WOW XBL is broken LOL

I'm sure every XBL user would love to pay $0 per month for a Peer to Peer service

[Naughty Dog]

Why so difficult? It must be fake. $1 for a month will be the obvious option unless your thick in the head or there's hidden fees that will screw you over.

[RyuCloudStrife]

what a bunch of retards

[maxcer]

my brain hurts looking at that mess. and who buys anything less that a year of live anyway?

[Claudinho69]

Fail

[lugia 4000]

...

[rpgenius420]

Normally 12 months is $50 3 months $20 and $8 for a month. I noticed they raised the prices, but I have coupons for free 12 month cards anyway so I just hit walmarts and got 5 years for free! My friend sent me a link to the coupons thought they were not legit until I walked into walmart and they took them saved me $250!

[Zechs34]

Wheres Cold 2000 or Ali the Brit?!?

[Obama]

The site is back to normal now but MS was just testing how stupid their consumers are. It's an experiment.

[DlocDaBudSmoka]

over this article.

[Vortex3D]

Is "1 Month for $1 - $1.00" allows once per Gamertag?

For a full year Gold Live, buy it from 3rd party because it's often on sale for around $35 and as low as $30. Why subscribe directly from Microsoft at a full price? Anyone who prefers to pay a full price probably don't care the amount it costs anyway.

[SHOGUN 36o]

Fake.

[N4PS3Fanboys]

My options say:

12 Month Gold - $49.99
3 Month Gold - $19.99
Month-to-Month - $7.99
Redeem Code

[TheStonedSheep]

Or you could just buy a PS3, and not put up with that crap.

[DaBadGuy]

Don't say that. Tomorrow there will be another article:
PSN Plus
12 Months + 1 month: 59.99
11 months: 53.21
10 months + 1 day: 11 bermudian dollars
2 weeks + 25 months: 2 bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos, a 2 liter of Sprite, a urine sample and a copy of the Star Wars Christmas Special.

[gta_manic]

does the urine sample need to be clean or my own?

[Demarco156]

i dont even get it the 50$ per year stuff

why should pay for something that is free in every console ever made

[PandaJenkins]

Surprised no one seems to have mentioned PS-Plus charging you for free content :P

[iOmegaSeriousi]

u guys believe everything u see
that was my friend who photoshop those pic and the fanboys still believe cuz it give them a reason to talk sh1t lol