Rumor: Microsoft Continues Its Campaign On Increasing Online Fees

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Live now costs me $10 less than it did when it started.
When I joined in 2004, it was $89/year.
It now costs $79/year.

Go figure.

Wow, that's over $650 in online fees...

[bariton1]

Absolutely insane that in 2012 a company wants a fee from me for a service that comes complete free on every other console. I don´t give a f*** if Live is awesome. I pay already enough bills for internet, tv and so on. I would never ever pay another fee just to play online on a console. MS can increase or decrease Live as often as they want, i will never buy any console from them if they don´t change their online strategy.

[MATRIX 2]

They need to tier the service. Not everyone wants to pay a set amount just to more or less get online and play with friends. It might take money out of their wallet but it will go a long way for their image. Consumers want options.

Consumers already have options. They can elect to pick another console. Or they can become pc gamers. Only a fool would pay the full retail price for live, so I fail to see the issue.

So glad this will be the last generation I'll pay Microsoft. It's just gettin' stupid now. I just pray Sony doesn't decide to get this stupid as well with their pay service next gen. But to be fair to MS, I haven't paid regular price for LIVE in a long time. I keep buying the 2 months for $1 or $2 deals when they pop up on the dashboard. When small promotions like that stop, so will I.

The promotions will continue as long as other retailers sell subscriptions.

And Don't be surprised if sony starts charging for online access/gameplay with the PS4.

[Cuguy]

Consumers already have options. They can elect to pick another console. Or they can become pc gamers. Only a fool would pay the full retail price for live, so I fail to see the issue.

Exactly.

Besides even at full retail, it is 5 dollars a month. 60 a year. If people can't afford 5 a month, then wow... i know people who spend more on farmville a month than this

[Vulgotha]

That's kind of beside the point, don't you think? That's how law makers pitched the income task back in the early part of the 20th century.

"Hey, it's only x amount and the only people who pay are the rich. Besides, this is a temporary thing to help with a/b/c/ issue."

Over half a century later.

[MATRIX 2]

That's kind of beside the point, don't you think? That's how law makers pitched the income task back in the early part of the 20th century.

"Hey, it's only x amount and the only people who pay are the rich. Besides, this is a temporary thing to help with a/b/c/ issue."

Over half a century later.

Well refute this. Say online gaming for consoles is made free across the board when the next generation arrives.

Do you not thik developers/publishers will not try to nickle and dime us more with higher rices for dlc content, more dlc content that is already on the disk and requires a paid unlock key, perhaps increased game prices and more drm features. (like what is being proposed by EA in another thread on here)

Now I'm not saying that these sorts of changes cannot occur when you are paying for online gaming, but since you are a paying member you have more of a say since you can vote with your wallet and get companies to face penalties for their unpopular decisions.

As for the income tax thing, while nobody likes it I doubt we could run the US effectively today without collecting any federal income tax. (even with significant spending cuts and mandatory balanced budgets)

I'm more concerned that ~50% of people pay no federal income tax, and that people who work overseas can be charged federal income taxes on income earned outside the US in certain cases.

[Cuguy]

That's kind of beside the point, don't you think? That's how law makers pitched the income task back in the early part of the 20th century.

"Hey, it's only x amount and the only people who pay are the rich. Besides, this is a temporary thing to help with a/b/c/ issue."

Over half a century later.

I guess from my statement that could be inferred, but not my intent. what I am saying is, the only people who tend to complain about live prices are people who don't use it. If people are online, using a computer, gaming with PS3 or 360, then they cannot possibly be so destitute to not be able to pay 60 a year for access.

I look at it this way.. people pay 12.95 a month to listen to Sirius radio. Why? Radio is free all over the world, however, Sirius has fewer interruptions and some other features that attract people to pay the monthly fee. That is a lot more than people pay for Live. People pay for Live for a shit ton of reasons. Personally, MP gaming is the least of why I myself have it, but rather the ability to pick up the controller and KNOW there is nothing I can't do. I hated being a Silver sub and having to wait for demos, or not be able to access certain contests or features. With Gold, problem solved.

If MS raises the price to 100 like the doomsayers are trying to spread, it would be the death of XBL. Or at least a serious detriment. I would estimate, in this economy, 40-60% of XBL users would look at the PS4 (if it stays free). If they raise it another 10 bucks to 70 a year, well, sux, but I still have all of the access and features I like for just under another dollar a month if I paid retail and if they manage to drop a few more features to the list, then people won't complain that much.

[mynd]

Wow, that's over $650 in online fees...

That might sound bad, but it really aint. To give you and idea.

$650 would get me:
6 new games
A PS3.
The price difference between a PS3 and Xbox at launch in NZ.

Now given "the alternative" would be a PS3 with free online, and its only been around since 2007?
Thanks, but it would have cost me more money on the alternative "free" online.

[Pestilence]

So they're possibly going to increase the price AND increase ads? Damn.

New ads source: http://gamasutra.com/view/news/16915..._Xbox_Live.php

[TDbank24]

Consumers already have options. They can elect to pick another console. Or they can become pc gamers. Only a fool would pay the full retail price for live, so I fail to see the issue.

It still would be nice to be able to have the option of just being able to play online or paying for all the bells and whistles. It's like charging for the room service you don't want.

I'll probably still pay full price in the future for all the features Live gives me but i know plenty of people that would much rather just have the option to play online without shelling out money that could be better spent on a game or something else.

Saying go with the other console or PC gaming is irrelevant when you want to play Xbox games, particularly Xbox exclusives. Say you own every gaming platform and you're only interested in playing Xbox exclusives. Do you really need the bells and whistles when you're only going to play the console here and there?

[MATRIX 2]

It still would be nice to be able to have the option of just being able to play online or paying for all the bells and whistles. It's like charging for the room service you don't want.

I'll probably still pay full price in the future for all the features Live gives me but i know plenty of people that would much rather just have the option to play online without shelling out money that could be better spent on a game or something else.

Saying go with the other console or PC gaming is irrelevant when you want to play Xbox games, particularly Xbox exclusives. Say you own every gaming platform and you're only interested in playing Xbox exclusives. Do you really need the bells and whistles when you're only going to play the console here and there?

It isn't economically feasible not to charge for online gaming.

And you do get 24-48 hr gold cards with new games. (though it used to be 2 months with original xbox titles)

[TDbank24]

It isn't economically feasible not to charge for online gaming.

And you do get 24-48 hr gold cards with new games. (though it used to be 2 months with original xbox titles)

They could still charge for online if they wanted. That's what i was saying to begin with. Tiered service. $20 gets you nothing but online gaming. $40 gets you online gaming and other gaming features like cross game chat/party chat. $60 gets you everything. Youtube, Facebook, ESPN.

I don't see what's so hard to understand about it. Microsoft packages it all together because they can. It's the only reason.

The fact that Microsoft raised the price $10 and their justification was that it was for all the non gaming related apps and features they were adding to Live shows that it's flawed. Forcing people to buy things they don't need, let alone want. My PC can do Facebook and Youtube just fine. Thanks.

[MATRIX 2]

They could still charge for online if they wanted. That's what i was saying to begin with. Tiered service. $20 gets you nothing but online gaming. $40 gets you online gaming and other gaming features like cross game chat/party chat. $60 gets you everything. Youtube, Facebook, ESPN.

I don't see what's so hard to understand about it. Microsoft packages it all together because they can. It's the only reason.

The fact that Microsoft raised the price $10 and their justification was that it was for all the non gaming related apps and features they were adding to Live shows that it's flawed. Forcing people to buy things they don't need, let alone want. My PC can do Facebook and Youtube just fine. Thanks.

Fragmentation of a userbase and inconsistent user experience is never a good thing.

If they were to just allow online play for free (and nothing else) that would totally mess up the online experience.

On the 360, every gold (and therefore online player) has access to the same resources (cross game chat, parties, messaging system, ect.) Therefore everyone is equal and the experience is fairly consistent for all online players.

With PSN you would have a bunch of online players that are not able to as effectively communicate with people that paid for those previously mentioned features. It makes the online experience inconsistent.

Online gameplay is just too lucrative to keep free. (consider that MS makes at least 1 billion dollars every year just off of gold subscriptions)

Sony need to find way to generate money for the next generation, charging for online gameplay is one of the quickest and easiest ways to do so.

And people will pay, because they will not have a choice. (I highly doubt console gamers are going to switch to PC gaming)

Charging for online gameplay isn't a bad thing, as long as the service is good. Or at least if the pricing is based on the quality of the service.

Just because you haven't seen the returns you wanted after the price increase doesn't mean that they aren't coming.

MS is going to need to raise the bar for live when the next xbox comes out, I doubt they will disappoint us.

[sainraja]

Fragmentation of userbase isn't the reason they are keeping Xbox Live the way it is.

Microsoft has no problem of doing that with Windows (and it makes sense in some cases -- i.e. regular users don't need their OS to come with stuff that only a business would find useful.)

They can easily charge extra for the extra features and make online play free or make the benefits of having Live better -- adding Facebook, Twitter, Netflix and Hulu is not going to get me to upgrade when I can get those with only paying the cost of Netflix/Hulu on other devices instead of paying Microsoft on top of that...

[mynd]

So they're possibly going to increase the price AND increase ads? Damn.

New ads source: http://gamasutra.com/view/news/16915..._Xbox_Live.php

No all they said was, working on monitizing live, which could merley mean more ads, it also could just mean trying to get rid of points.

[sainraja]

No all they said was, working on monitizing live, which could merley mean more ads, it also could just mean trying to get rid of points.

How did you translate this:

Microsoft revealed on Tuesday that it has expanded its lineup of advertising partners on Xbox Live, and will distribute even more TV-like ad spots across the various media apps on the platform

To this...

...it also could just mean trying to get rid of points.

The article clearly talks about Microsoft adding more TV-like spots to the dashboard. If they aren't raising the price of Live, they certainly aren't lowering it.

They've found more ways to make money without the customer seeing any return from that (no discounts to Live subscription, etc.)

Perhaps they have other plans that are yet to be revealed.....we'll see. Subscribers shouldn't see ads though....

[mynd]

How did you translate this:

To this...





The article clearly talks about Microsoft adding more TV-like spots to the dashboard. If they aren't raising the price of Live, they certainly aren't lowering it.

They've found more ways to make money without the customer seeing any return from that (no discounts to Live subscription, etc.)

Perhaps they have other plans that are yet to be revealed.....we'll see. Subscribers shouldn't see ads though....

Uh, arent we talking about the OP?
He said

So they're possibly going to increase the price AND increase ads

No one has ever raised the possibility of them increasing the price, because it was NEVER said.
What I was saying was, the increase in advertising might in fact have been part of the said "monitizing" of Live.

The exact quote is

Developed strategy to further monetize Xbox LIVE subscriber base that will be implemented for holiday 2012.

That doesnt mean anything about raising the price, infact it may well lead more towards tiering the structure to try and capture some of the Silver subscribers.

If you read th guys linked in profile. you will see hes all about additional TV services...

• Driving Xbox 3 year strategy to broaden existing audience with socially driven cloud based 3 screen subscription service managing TV, movies, music and gaming; targeting $1B in annual contribution margin
• Developed strategy to further monetize Xbox LIVE subscriber base that will be implemented for holiday 2012
• Identified key consumer insights based on analysis of consumer and industry trends; developed differentiated consumer value proposition and MRD based on these insights
• Led 15 member senior level cross functional team to deliver content strategy, international strategy and investigation into family focused entertainment

...
• Led product management of Internet TV for Windows 7, managed execution from inception to launch, leading a 35 person engineering team

...

• Integrated 250+ cloud-based services across 50 countries from partners like NBC, MTVN, Showtime and BBC into WMC App Store. WMC was NBC’s 2nd largest platform for watching the Beijing Olympics online

This is not a guy who is looking to just up the price of live, its a guy who is looking to broaden Lives appeal beyond gaming online.

[claud3]

How do we see this developing over the next 12 months and will be a massive impact to the system of Microsoft, if we all bail on them. They are a multi tech company and in my opinion not loose out on much in terms of money... Some will still buy their other products

[mynd]

Am I the only one who picked up on the fact that this is supposed to hit Holidays 2012?
Why then....

[sainraja]

Uh, arent we talking about the OP?
He said

No one has ever raised the possibility of them increasing the price, because it was NEVER said.
What I was saying was, the increase in advertising might in fact have been part of the said "monitizing" of Live.

The exact quote is

That doesnt mean anything about raising the price, infact it may well lead more towards tiering the structure to try and capture some of the Silver subscribers.

If you read th guys linked in profile. you will see hes all about additional TV services...



This is not a guy who is looking to just up the price of live, its a guy who is looking to broaden Lives appeal beyond gaming online.

You quoted to: Pestilence, who linked to this article:
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/16915..._Xbox_Live.php

So, I thought your response was directed at him. I did not see that in that article....so I guess, nevermind...

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Is there an option to turn off ads? Man, getting more ads for a subscription service like Live is terrible imo. Paying users shouldn't be subjected to TV ad like advertising.

[Nitey]

No options. This gives them a chance of having a tier system though, maybe charge $100 for Live without ads

[hedcase]

Too much for me as it is, no way I'm paying more. Just don't play online that much.

[maltrophstitan]

Is there an option to turn off ads? Man, getting more ads for a subscription service like Live is terrible imo. Paying users shouldn't be subjected to TV ad like advertising.

Right now the ads aren't really that intrusive, they're in the a small box in the corner and they're muted unless you scroll over them. Not only that you can bypass the dash all together by choosing to launch directly to the game in you disc drive or to windows media center and just use quick launch to whatever game/app you want.

but this article is most likely about the $99 2 year contracted 360, MS finding another way for users to purchase and pay for something they might not otherwise.
though that can be a slippery slop for some it may be a big hit for MS, finding a way to advertise a $99 box to the masses.

[Dennis Dyack]

Right now the ads aren't really that intrusive, they're in the a small box in the corner and they're muted unless you scroll over them. Not only that you can bypass the dash all together by choosing to launch directly to the game in you disc drive or to windows media center and just use quick launch to whatever game/app you want.

but this article is most likely about the $99 2 year contracted 360, MS finding another way for users to purchase and pay for something they might not otherwise.
though that can be a slippery slop for some it may be a big hit for MS, finding a way to advertise a $99 box to the masses.

I never understood the complaint about ads. It's not like you're forced to sit through a commercial or something. All you have to do is pass right by them. I don't even notice them anymore. This is just something else that people look to complain about when there is nothing else to complain about.

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