Xbox Live Price Increase: Not A Big Deal (RunDLC)

Thousands of gamers freaked out over the news that Microsoft plans to raise the cost of Xbox Live Gold. The online service will now cost $59.99 a year (up $10), while the monthly fee increases $2.00, from $7.99 to $9.99.

As expected, there were and still are plenty of irate gamers, and if you’re one of them, here’s the deal. Stop whining. Seriously. Unless you have a minimum wage job and/or struggle to make ends meet, this isn’t a big issue for the simple fact that it’s $10.

John Artest (RunDLC)

[FreeFalling]

If you have such a problem with the $10 increase, buy it before November. Problem solved?

[Buff1044]

100% agree with you!

[8-bit]

It wouldn't be a big deal.. If silver allowed for online gameplay and gold offered the "features" That would make this whole situation much less painful.

It's funny how the "Features" that add "Value" to XBL like Facebook, Twitter and Netflix are free on wii PC and PS3.

lol @ disagree. It's true they are free else where and silver should allow for online gaming..

[Army_of_Darkness]

Sony puts out PSN+(like a costco membership, but better) to give you bigger savings, early demos and a few free games every month in order to make live look even more like a damn rip off! hahhaha!
so how does MS counter that?!?!
well, very brilliantly actually! lol! they decide to increase the annual fee for live with really no justification for it?! because they know that the proud subscribers of live will accept it with open arms;)....

here's to free online gaming boyz;)... On the other side that it.

[morganfell]

This is the same dumb writer that spent a wasted page attacking PSN:

http://www.rundlc.com/news/...

The laughable part was the moronic disclaimer from rundlc:

"[Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of RunDLC.]"

Hey rundlc, if you are publishing him on your site and state he is a freelance writer FOR YOU then his opinions ARE your opinions. This isn't a shout column you publish once a week that is open to anyone in the public. Stop being a bunch of cowards. These are your opinions and policy. The bias in this amateur writer is fairly clear.

[SeNiLe911]

Things increase, rent, insurance, food, clothing, ect. you can't escape it, or you can and get a PS3. But even Sony is wanting in on the party and now offers PSN Plus.

I have never paid $50 for Live in the 6 to 7 years I have been on Live and even with the increase I still will never pay $50. You can get a deal most everyday and that won't change come Nov 1st. After Nov 1st you might not get as good of a deal so best stock up http://www.x2theg.com/2009/...

[mikeslemonade]

The features wasn't worth the $50 and now it's going to be $60. The competition offers just as much for free. How is an increase in the same generation okay? So I guess EA can charge Dead Space 2 to $69.99 msrp!? Hell no! People, vote with your dollars. Only buy it under the msrp and preferably under $49.99 because that was a BS price point to begin with.

I only bought XBL twice at $49.99 and the rest of the time I bought at around $30. The 2nd time I bought it at $49.99 was bullshit too because my card was locked at auto-renew, so Microsoft's greediness stole my $50!

[MasterChief3624]

The point of the complaining is: "Microsoft, what's the point?".

I think it's a horrible idea for them to raise it, even a little bit. I think they're expecting a huge boom in Xbox Live subscribers with the birth of Kinect, and they're trying to gouge the price slightly to take advantage of this. But I don't think Microsoft's plan will work. I think the smarter solution, if they were really itching to change the price, would be to drop the price by $10.

Publicity about the drop in price would be ripe for a boatload of Kinect folks to jump right on, and it would put them in a prime position against Sony's PlayStation Plus service. Being advertised as $10 less would have a surprising effect on the Xbox Live landscape.

$10 doesn't seem like much (because it isn't), but it's psychologically frustrating. First off, what was the point? Second, it doesn't feel right. To be charging people the same amount of money for nigh 10 years, and then switching it up all of a sudden... it's just weird.

Hopefully Microsoft ups their service along with this price-hike. If all it does is raise the price of my subscription, but doesn't help online lag and ridiculous glitches (a la Modern Warfare 2), I don't see the point, except for the sole purpose of price-gouging, as minimal as it may seem.

[Anorexorcist]

The people who blow this off like its nothing might as well say: "Hey, Aaron Greenburg's pole just grew a few more inches. We've been taking it with a smile on our face for several years now, a few more inches ain't going to hurt us much more, right?"

The idiots who defend the price hike must be too "loose" to feel any additional pinch when Microsoft gives it to them harder later this year.

[TROLL EATER]

atleast make silver free to play wivout the unwanted features,

[PoorMansGT]

@freefalling- yea but eventually you will need to pay the new $60 tag.

[ColdWinter]

they want to rake in a ton of cash this fall and what better way to do it than to get people to go out and buy 3-5 12months subscription cards ahead of time and still manage to rape the new owners for the console after the whole reach/black ops/kinect blows over. the best thing to do is to protest with your wallet and just
1) come off live
2) spreed the word
3) get as many people who supports your protest

and by microsoft logic if it isn't selling they will just lower the price.

[KINGKON51]

Its funny that when people talk about xbox live they say it has more 'FEATURES" HAHAHA. GOING back to the topic if 10 dollars is nothing then give it to me I need it more than microsoft.

[East_Coast]

What an elitist attitude you have there sir. I guess the recession hasn't affected his family.

Fucking prick.

[Redgehammer]

MS will be having a family plan in November as well. 4 gold for 99 bucks, that is a good for a recession hit family.

[Cerberus29]

If paying $10 more a year is really gonna cause that much trouble for someone then they probably shouldn't have been spending their money on online gaming in the first place.

Honestly, it's only $10 more A YEAR! The main people making a big deal about this are the Sony fanboys who hate Microsoft anyway so their opinions don't even count on this subject.

And don't bother calling me a MS fanboy because I definitely am not, I own both a PS3 & 360 and I believe both have their strengths and weaknesses; but paying for Xbox Live is NOT one of those weaknesses considering the better quality of their online service.

[Sandal]

That way they can do it again in the future.

[tinybigman]

M$ you ain't getting nothing from me where it pertains to live.

[OpenGL]

In a year it'll be "Come on, it's only $10 more dollars a year. That's the equivalent of $0.03 more a day!"

[Sarcasm]

It's the cost of a full title per year. In the next 4 years, the money people spend on XBL could have bought 4 games instead. That's Mass Effect 3, Gears of War 3, Forza 9, and Halo Reach ODST Part 3: The REAL final Halo Game before the next final Halo Game

[GrilledCheeseBook]

not a big price hike but it's more about consumer vigilance
got to keep an eye on those corporations and make sure they can't let their greediness run rampant

PSN online multiplayer gameplay is free
PC - online multiplayer Steam, Games for Windows Live and all the other non mmo type games are free. GFWL was pay but no one subscribed so they dropped the price tag

Not even dedicated servers
at least make online multiplayer free and have all that other crap under the subscription

[big_silky]

It's not a big deal. It's the people here who don't even own a 360 making it a big deal, just like they do with every bit of apparently bad news for the 360.

[ActionBastard]

I have a 360 and the price increase guarantees I won't be playing on XBL. Pay $10 more to pay for the Internet twice? No thanks.

[Silly gameAr]

Same here man. After my current gold sub expires, I'm not giving those greedy S.O.B.'s jack. Stock up? Why? So we can give them even more money that we really shouldn't have too?

I can't believe people are ok with this.

[Darkfocus]

not really... the kind of attitude this article takes is bad for all gamers if you don't complain now then what's to stop them from raising it another 10 later? oh it's only ten dollars right?

[Ivan Drago IV]

Big silky, 360 fanboys fail to see the big picture. What you guys pay $60.00 we get for free on the PS3. Frankly the 360 game lineup for next year is a joke, if the 360 had 10 exclusives coming out next year like the ps3, MAYBE then it would be worth it.. But they dont

[All_4_One]

Lack of exclusives has always been the downfall of Xbox Live in my opinion. I mean, how many 360 exclusives have come out recently that have an online component worth paying for? 4? Maybe 5? What is the point in paying for games you can play for free on multiple other platforms?
I broke the Xbox Live trend a long time ago. It`s not worth it. I can play the majority of the same games for free on PSN, AND the exclusives, which have fantastic online! Warhawk, Resistance, MAG, Modnation, Killzone, Uncharted 2, LBP, Demons Souls, etc etc etc, the list goes on.

[Redgehammer]

way! I have played with PSN and it in no way compares to XBL. So what I would get for 60 bucks from MS imo Sony does not even offer.

[All_4_One]

Go for it, no one is forcing you to stop paying for Live. If you enjoy it, that`s all that matters. A lot of us are just feeling that Microsoft is losing sight of what made the 360 great.

[Dan50]

If you are ok with the price increasing they will keep increasing it.

[BornToKill]

i guess some people like being ripped off.

[Sarcasm]

Where have you been? There's over 10 million XBL subscribers and countless people buying Microsoft accessories like a $150 hard drive.

Concrete proof that people like being ripped off.

[ZombieAutopsy]

It's not a big deal now, but when they raise it again next year, and the year after that, then the year after that...it becomes a big deal.

[jdktech2010]

They haven't raised it in 9 years....really? You're using that as argument ammo?

[ZombieAutopsy]

I'm just saying it can happen if everyone just goes along with it.

[jdktech2010]

well sure but if they go to 70, it's gonna be dicey for me keep going and past 80, I'll probably pass. A lot can happen though.

We still don't know if there's antyhing that goes with this like Hulu Plus for free (doubt it) but I could imagine them getting us all angry and then softening the blow with a new announcement. It seems like really odd timing to do this so there could be something else.

And if not, oh well

[BXbomber]

kinda regretting buying a 360 a couple of days ago..... well i still gotz ma ps3.

[All_4_One]

Don`t regret it. Just play through some of the great single player exclusives, like Gears, Fable, Alan Wake etc. You don`t need gold to enjoy your 360.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

well just turn in back it i hope u still got reciept lol

[Kyur4ThePain]

"Stop whining. Seriously. Unless you have a minimum wage job and/or struggle to make ends meet, this isn’t a big issue for the simple fact that it’s $10."

Go do yourself. Better yet, let me send everyone who doesn't have an issue with this my Paypal account and you can all send me $10 a year. I mean, it's not a big deal now, is it?

[jaytv-pyro]

GOTY 2009 = $59.99

XBL 2010 = $59.99

IS IT WORTH IT....AFTER YOU PAY ANOTHER $59.99 FOR HALO

ON THE PSN I ONLY HAVE TO PAY $59.99 ONE TIME.

PS3 FTW

[All_4_One]

Not a big deal? Yeah, it`s not really. It is pretty disgraceful, distasteful, and unprofessional though.

Wouldn`t you think a price hike would have some sort of awesome new features that get people excited? Nope, instead the best they could come up with is "Not a big deal."

I guess overpriced accessories are "Not a big deal"
I guess pay to play is "Not a big deal"
I guess having a weak lineup of games is "Not a big deal"

You want to know what`s "not a big deal?" The 360.

[Tikicobra]

Making us pay for such an important feature when we can get it for free elsewhere is already asinine. To increase the price simply because they can is downright sinister.

[MetalFreakMike]

It's OK because if you guys pay for the increase then MS is going to see this and say "Let's rise it again next year and see if they pay it!". Even tho I plan on getting Halo Reach, once my membership is up next year, I will not be renewing it because of the simple fact that they should be lowering the price and not rising it. I can afford the price increase but I'm not paying it because it's a bunch of horseshit and everyone knows it. Enjoy paying for online because I'm going to get real friendly with PSN soon.

[sdtarm]

done title fixed ;)

[Boricano]

I just look at it as I am going to pay $10 a year for ESPN.

[Corepred4]

I would have agreed with you if they had the NFL. As far as I know it doesn't. Does it?

[Igniter]

If I can watch a couple of out of region collage football games that I normally go to a sports bar to see, I'll save more than 60 bucks!

[midgard229]

lmao w8.....charge more for cross game chat? i wudnt pay 5 for it. thats y i dnt even turn it on and wont ever now

[snoopgg]

Hey Microsoft, whats it going to cost to play online on your next console? Now, that the 64,000 dollar question. I won't be jumping on your next online endeavor.

[darkstar]

Xbox live is the most connected community available, psn feels barren in comparison. If you have real life friends that game, xbox live is awesome because of the party system. Doesnt sound like much until you use live for a few months then go back to your ps3. My ps3 is for exclusives and nothing else. P.s cant wait for GT5, got my wheel ready to go.

[metsgaming]

ps3 has 70% connection rate and is the leader in the industry.

[Close_Second]

...like me, you have multiple users on your 360. You have to pay the increase for each gold user. Sorry, its for this reason I stopped playing on-line on my 360.

[Redgehammer]

Close_Second
http://www.joystiq.com/2010...

[Close_Second]

That looks great...I may have to consider getting back on-line with my 360. Is it limited to just 4 accounts per 360? as I need 5 accounts. Still, glad to see MS is thinking about the family market.

[STONEY4]

Honestly it would be smarter for them to DROP the price, especially if they want a purchase boom when Kinect launches. Now they're just turning people off, I guess their plan was to try and take advantage of the situation.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

One year of Xbox Live = One full day of working for me. That is if I don't get xbox live cards on sale.

[e-p-ayeaH]

Im planing to get a 360 but this is not helping

[shikwan]

And EVERY year there was something major added to the service! Many of which the competition (which also started it's 1st online service in 2002, also) have yet to implement. And this is the 1st year of 8 that they'll be increasing the price??

What other service have you had that doesn't increase their rates/fees?
Common sense will tell you; the more users on your network, the more costly it is to both operate & maintain. It's business.

Besides, don't know about anyone else but it's easy to find a discounted XBL gold membership online for between $30-$40.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

Easy for u 2 find but casual gamers dont look everywhere for a gold membership. Funny how u defend it if anything they should had lowered the price.

[Redgehammer]

have been on it for 3 years and i agree with you.

[jasonpugh]

Seriously, what are they thinking. Their exclusives are so far and few between anymore and it's only going to get worse, their Kinect is going to fail horribly, and now this. Of course, who's more stupid, them or the consumer? After all, how do you think they got as big as they are? Consumers have been handing over their hard earned cash for crap hardware and Windows upgrades for many years. Remember, the consumers are the ones that make the decisions but when they are poor ones then this is what happens, they keep going further. You have to take a stand as a group if you want to make a dent. The only thing that will change their ability to rape you of your cash is if you decide to quit giving it to them. Their EBITDA is what matters to them, nothing more. Or you could just be like the guy in the article. It's only $10 more, and then 6months later, it's only another $10, and so on until the service is $99 year. Doesn't really matter all that much to me. I'm playing online for free.

[GeoramA]

M$ is upping the price of something that should be free.

Not a big deal says the 360 fanboys...rofl

[sashimi]

since that $10 isn't a big deal now i guess they won't mind another $10 increase in the next 6moths-1 year then rinse and repeat.

[Darth_Bane79]

Is it that hard to see for people that have xbl that they are getting ripped off??? The fact that they charge for online has kept me from buying the 360 all this years, and I'm pretty sure a lot of the people that didn't either was for the same reason. How is this gonna make it more appealing to buy that console? The worse part is that people will support this and keep aking it worse and worse. No wonder why there's so many people obsessed with piracy..

[wray77]

Is it that hard for people to realize that people have different opinions?

[Harelgur]

goodbye microsoft.
PC FTW.

[wray77]

I'm sure MS would rather we all quit xbox and game on PC's.

[ElementX]

Just buy a Live card online cheaper and save the money of the increase.

[kaos_fish II]

That additional $10 is roughly worth an extra $120 Million into MS confers.

Heck, let's be honest MS could charge $100 for XBL and the super-xbot fanboy's would pay it and tell you with a straight face that's it worth every penny.

Desperate times require desperate measures..

[TheObserver]

Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. I hope you enjoy $100 a year XBL in the future!

[ghostgaming]

Maybe they are going to use the extra money to buy some First party games or some studios? - probably not

[tiamat5]

Nothing Microsoft does is a big deal. Even abandoning the original Xbox before it was even finished a normal console life to make another system with a 30% fail rate that took 3 years to fix wasn't a big deal. But you can be assured if the price of PSN goes up, everyone will make sure that is a big deal

[nesserfi]

And why after 8 years are they suddenly upping the prices? I'll stick with the PS3 who doesn't charge their gamers for nothing.

[s45gr32]

So a price hike with no loyaty program no dedicated servers, and still unable to share digital content. Well I call this bs and anyone defending this is a common moron.

[wray77]

Don't worry I don't think anyone would defend your opinions.

[newhumanbreed]

I got an email from Microsoft offering me a 1 year gold for $39.99.

[alb1899]

If is so big deal go play PS3 for free, i have both consoles and i'll get my 12 month in amazon at 40 box so yes stopp crying unless you are a PS3 fanbuish that need to make it a big deal traying to make Halo Reach preorders fail........think again because you fail it wont happen because the preorders for halo already pass the 1,500,000!

[jasonpugh]

Calm down and type so we can understand you. No need to get all up in arms. lol!

[jdktech2010]

So I've read most of the comments here and this is what I see......(numbers are rough estimates)

80-90 percent of comments are PS3 owners/fanboys either: A) Proclaiming a victory for PS3; B) Saying that Live subscribers are sheep, stupid and little kids; C) Live should be free

Ok, so A people...it's not a freaking war or battle, it's two businesses trying to make money.....B people - I'm 22, not a sheep because it's my money and I research things before buying it to get the best price and I'm most certainly not stupid as I'm about to graduate from college and have a 45-50k a year job lined up. Not everyone is as childish as you are when you proclaim these things

And C people, you might have a point...but it's not and I like the way Live is integrated into the rest of the experience with friends, chat, apps, etc. So get over it

I just find it hilarious that people who think the xbox 360 is such a horrible console and that microsoft's games are so horrible and bad spends SO much time in xbox 360 news items.....it's curious really. Can anyone explain that to me in an intelligent and constructive manner?

[NIRVANArazor]

Just because you went to college does not mean your smart.

[jdktech2010]

I thought I put my major of engineering in there....my bad...I'm not trying to be egotistical or anything here...I'm just making a point.

And I know I'm right by the fact that's the thing you picked out of the entire post....it does feel good

[Bell Boy]

Indeed a fool and their money are soon parted.. I believe MS have decided to test this statement...and reading most of then comments today from the 360 die hards there are whole load of fools willing to hand over the hard earned.

Good luck to you all you deserve it...but the reality this is potentially bad for all gamers..damn even my psp connects for free.

but teh x game chat...well you can always chat with each other in different games while MS slips you one up the rear passage

[saint_seya]

the thing is.. everyone should say something to ms.. cause if "only" a 10$ raise is allowed without saying nothing.. ms will think that is ok, and they could keep doing the same..
i dont have a 360, i have a ps3, and i paid for psn+, but only cause i had the option to do it or not *cause regular psn members didnt loose anything that they got before psn+* , but if i had no choise.. i tell u for shure that i wont be paying my subscription, and not because of the money.. its because i dont like when companies think that can do anything becuase they had the power to do it.. truth is "consumers has the power... if u as a costumer dont buy, then ure rising your power.. if u do.. they got all the power"

[PoorMansGT]

ripoff,it should have been the other way around and at least charge less. I think they need to make a certain amount of money at a certain time because investors are pissed,they want M$ out of gaming. Mine as well leave the gaming industry since they are about to be in last place.

[bustamove]

Yes, justify that cost!

$60.00 is a big deal when the competition offer things for free. Microsoft is taking a step backwards.

[1PC2PS33360]

will be out in 14 months.... I will rent reach, buy a one month card, buy a 4gb 360 ( i sold my other one after alan wake) then after playing it for a month, return it for a full refund, gotta love 90 day return policy, then be done with microsoft until their next console.

[Pootangpie]

the flooding and trolling of PS3 fanboys is amazing

[SkylineR]

GET A JOB and stop complaining over a measly $10. Better yet, if you hunt around you will NEVER pay retail price.

If you're a PS3 fanboy, STFU. XBL doesn't concern you. Go back to PS+ and play with your "free" games.

[kaos_fish II]

you remember your words the next time you comment on a PS3 story then..

useless xbot

[ace8179]

Man i stop with the xbl paying stuff a couple years back and i dont miss it at all a matter of fact i dont even play my 360, PS3 all day baby

[REDHULKSMASH]

Just enough time to beat gears 3 and play a couple months of laggy deathmatch. I'll skip reach and I'll buy black ops on ps3 along with all my other multiplats.
Xbox, craigslist. Checkmate geeks. I know I'm not the only one. Do yourselves a favor Microsoft lower your fees....oh you don't care if people stop buying xbox's??...oh,you'll just keep collecting $100 million in subscriptions sitting on your asses. I got ya, good move. I'd love to get free money too.

[ddelella]

A lot of people are saying not a big deal. When you look at what it means then you should consider it a big deal. Microsoft is saying that they can raise the price and provide nothing in return and you will still pay. This will just continue until they see what they can get out of users. The trend is the problem not the price.