Rumor: Microsoft Continues Its Campaign On Increasing Online Fees

[claud3]

Rumor: Microsoft Continues Its Campaign On Increasing Online Fees





Since the inception of the PlayStation Network, gamers have been questioning as to whether Microsoft’s stance on their subscriber-based online services would change, making them available for all audiences for free. If this report isn’t enough to reveal what their business plan is, then I don’t know what is. According to Praveen Rutnam’s (Microsoft Corporation: Group Product Planner) LinkedIn page, Microsoft has continued plans to develop strategies to “further monetize Xbox LIVE subscriber base.” What does this mean for the Xbox fanbase? Does this mean gamers could move from paying the now base $60 a year to perhaps $100 a year or maybe even $15 a month?
As a hardcore fan of the Xbox brand, this worries me, as this could potentially mean I and millions of other loyal subscribers could be forced into paying more money or getting out. What will this ‘further monetization’ mean for the company as a whole? With the dollar getting weaker still against other international currencies, Microsoft could see this as balancing finances that have started to dip below projected expectations. Or could this plan for the holiday season finally be valid competition to Sony’s PlayStation Plus?

Joystiq sticks straight to reporting the story without giving the fans the correct fanfare they deserve. Looking deeper into the LinkedIn profile, you see that Praveen discusses ‘key consumer insights’ about the industry as a whole. To ignore this factor other than just including it in a picture negates would could be the potential that I revealed before: true competition to Sony’s PlayStation Plus. As Sony doesn’t charge any money for their online service and doesn’t have an interface advertising for PlayStation Network, their way of getting fans to support their service was to have them pay a continuous $8 per month in order to get free games or early access to new downloadable titles.
What Mr. Rutnam is most likely meaning by having a ‘further monetized Xbox Live subscriber base’ is adding an additional service that wouldn’t contradict the current Xbox Live gold service but instead most likely compliment it with an additional monthly fee. Could Microsoft finally be getting their wits about them and finally start thanking their fanbase by being loyal customers? We’ll have to wait and see at the E3 press conference on June 4th at 10 a.m. PST.

Link:http://www.platformnation.com/2012/0...g-online-fees/

This in my opinion is a weird move to increase instead of decrease

[Cuguy]

opinion piece, and author is entitled to writing it... however, i rank this right up there with other "rumors" we have seen recently.

Live will not go up in price.

[TEJ2025]

Live will be at least $70 a year when next gen starts.

[Cuguy]

Live will be at least $70 a year when next gen starts.

Seriously doubt it. There'd be no reason for a price bump.

[Soldier 95B]

I don't imagine there will be a price increase. Though I could see an ADDED tier for a higher price.

[Nitey]

Whether they will or won't remains to be seen. But IMO most people who can afford to or are willingly paying for Live would continue doing so if the price increased by 10-20%. Some would moan but if they're invested in online gaming/friend lists etc they'll pay it. MS could get away with it tbh

[Soldier 95B]

The most I would pay for Xbox Gold, IF it went up, is probably $100. Higher than that, Playstation will have all my business.

[Cuguy]

I don't imagine there will be a price increase. Though I could see an ADDED tier for a higher price.

i don't even see that... all the 3rd party things offered have their own pay structure. Hulu, Netflix, etc... MS can't really "give" access to those since you have to buy the subscription.

What I see is this.

Silver gets online gaming, small fee charged. No more free XBL
Gold stays the same price, but you can use/access all of the other features. Party chat, rooms, arcade, etc...

[MATRIX 2]

Live will be at least $70 a year when next gen starts.

Bullshit.

The cost of a game is sufficient for MS.

They make enough money off current gold subs, nevermind the fact that the userbase grows daily.

[Fenix]

i don't even see that... all the 3rd party things offered have their own pay structure. Hulu, Netflix, etc... MS can't really "give" access to those since you have to buy the subscription.

What I see is this.

Silver gets online gaming, small fee charged. No more free XBL
Gold stays the same price, but you can use/access all of the other features. Party chat, rooms, arcade, etc...

That would be a dumb move, unless the PSN isnt free anymore.

[Cuguy]

That would be a dumb move, unless the PSN isnt free anymore.

Since PSN isn't part of this discussion I didn't mention it, but I def DO see PSN charging next gen, even if only a portion. Since this is theorizing about XBL, I left it alone.

[Rapture]

Seriously doubt it. There'd be no reason for a price bump.

Just like last time?

[Cuguy]

Just like last time?

They increased the price 10 dollars on a system that has been out for ten years. I think one small price jump was ok. Especially since technically it has never affected me. I have never, and i do mean ever, paid more than 39.99 for a year of gold.

There was no mystery either.. MS said, we are raising the price.

At this point, there is just speculation on if there will be a price jump at the next console release and i say no. My biggest reason? What would need to change about XBL when a new console hits? Nothing. Nowhere on the XBL system does it say 360, so it won't need redesigned (unless they want to). I mean literally, the system didn't go up in price or any other sort of radical shift when the 360 came out. XBL just sort of pushed through and worked. Since there has only been one console swap during the time of XBL, and there was no price hike, that lends a lot of credence to my argument.

Combine that with the fact that they are presently more than profitable on XBL, with subscriptions alone pulling in well over a billion a year before any sort of sales beyond that point. Possibly close to 2 BIL depending on how many are GOLD users. (math here was 66 million accounts, sold at 40 dollars... given that some pay full price, some don't pay, this was a mean average price point for point making purposes only). Why would they raise the price on the gold?

I still say we will see marketplace become free. Silver will have a small fee, pay to play online and chat features. Gold will be same price as now, all features open to members to use.

On the other hand, if Silver gets free online play... expect the price of gold to drop slightly. Online play is a major, if not ONLY reason for some to have it.

[Rapture]

There was no mystery either.. MS said, we are raising the price.

Combine that with the fact that they are presently more than profitable on XBL, with subscriptions alone pulling in well over a billion a year before any sort of sales beyond that point. Possibly close to 2 BIL depending on how many are GOLD users. (math here was 66 million accounts, sold at 40 dollars... given that some pay full price, some don't pay, this was a mean average price point for point making purposes only). Why would they raise the price on the gold?

Seriously doubt it. There'd be no reason for a price bump.

Just like last time?

Exactly my point. They had no reason before other than them just wanting more money. If they can function as justification then, it can be used again.

[Cuguy]

Exactly my point. They had no reason before other than them just wanting more money. If they can function as justification then, it can be used again.

yeah, but at the time that the original xbox was around, the 360 was in development, Live wasn't churning out the profits like now and STILL didn't get a price increase.

It took more than 5 yrs of the 360 being out for MS to finally say, ok, we need to go up to 59.99 a year. Their justification (correct or not) was the infrastructure of Live was growing and the need was there to bring in some more hardware to support the new software offerings. Suppose it could happen again, but doubt it.


I can't see another price hike just yet, let alone the ridiculous amounts people are trying to spread FUD over.

[radgamer420]

Yet another baseless rumor. Good for getting hits on their sites I guess. Funny how opinion pieces become "news." lol

[claud3]

Now i agree in all that posted here

But what if this becomes the thing and the fee increase's over time or in one go... Were does it leave us the payer and Microsoft

[radgamer420]

Now i agree in all that posted here But what if this becomes the thing and the fee increase's over time or in one go... Were does it leave us the payer and Microsoft

There will always be ways of getting discounted Live. I've never paid full price for Live.

[claud3]

Same here in small ways

But if the next gen is upon us, then the fear of an increase is there and always be. Microsoft will have to market it has a value of investment and not a point of beating the Next gen PSN network on prices

[radgamer420]

Same here in small ways But if the next gen is upon us, then the fear of an increase is there and always be. Microsoft will have to market it has a value of investment and not a point of beating the Next gen PSN network on prices

Yeah thats true. We'll just have to see. I have no doubts that PSN will become pay to play next gen but will propably charge less than MS. Next gen if Live becomes priced out of my comfort zone then I will switch to PSN. I'm not attached to any brand so dropping one and sticking with another depending on what each company is offering isnt a problem for me.

[F34R]

Exactly my point. They had no reason before other than them just wanting more money. If they can function as justification then, it can be used again.

Really...? No reason? The cost of the infrastructure doesn't go up over 10 years and several tens of millions of users later? cmon....

[claud3]

Yeah thats true. We'll just have to see. I have no doubts that PSN will become pay to play next gen but will propably charge less than MS. Next gen if Live becomes priced out of my comfort zone then I will switch to PSN. I'm not attached to any brand so dropping one and sticking with another depending on what each company is offering isnt a problem for me.

True, but its the case of being on the fence. Do you go with one that the price is different by a few £££'s or $$$'s... Or do you see if your money buys the games and DLCs you want in the long run

Or

Do you wait it out for say the Live to decrease its price over a year span or two... Or just head straight to PSN for near better deals

[Rapture]

Really...? No reason? The cost of the infrastructure doesn't go up over 10 years and several tens of millions of users later? cmon....

I think you missed the point. They were making large profits already and decided to ramp up their price for XBL. They can do it again.

[radgamer420]

True, but its the case on being on the fence. Do you go with one that the price is different by a few £££'s or $$$'s... Or do you see if your money buys the games and DLCs you want in the long run Or Do you wait it out for say the Live to decrease its price over a year span or two... Or just head straight to PSN for near better deals

If the price for both services are in my comfort zone then yes I then base my decision on which is the better service and gives me what I want. But yeah theres only so much that I will pay regardless.

[claud3]

Ok true

I on the other hand would op out of both until the service was worth its weight in gold and see if it truely had value for money for a long term stay