Microsoft Raising Gold Subscription Prices

[Aphex Demon]

Okay, this will sound controversial to most, but I knew this would get a bad reaction from people. And the sole reason is that people just don't understand the logistics here.

First, this was announced ages ago, so the OP is already late to the party. And I posted in the news thread back then my opinion, and exactly why this is a GOOD idea. Besides which, Microsoft haven't raised prices for XBL before, so while their costs have gone up with inflation (because you know, running such a service does cost money for them...), prices for gamers have stayed relatively low. So nobody has any right to complain here about the price being raised when they've so far had it fairly good. Anyway, here's my post from the last time this was discussed:

Personally, I predict a lot of people will be complaining, but all things considered, given the economic climate, the popularity of Xbox Live, and the fact that the prices haven't already risen yet with inflation (while most other things, including game prices, have over the years), I see this as a sensible move from Microsoft. I'm happy to pay an extra pound sterling per month for XBL, and since I plan to get the 12-month subscription anyway when I do get around to having a permanent internet connection, it doesn't affect me anyway. But even then, as long as it wasn't a massive price hike (something like £10 extra would be fine, but any more would be pushing it and just plain greedy), I wouldn't have a problem with higher prices for the year subscription either. At the end of the day, XBL is arguably the best platform around for internet gaming that isn't to do with a PC, and the prices so far have been worth the cost. A small price increase is a small price, as it were, to pay for the great service Microsoft provides with XBL.

My point is, that people are complaining over absolutely nothing. So stop moaning, and just suck it up. I'm an Xbox owner myself, for the record, and we've had it good so far. If you don't like having to pay for something, then just go without to PS3. It's not that hard to figure out.

Fixed that for you.

PS3 servers seem to be regarded as these laggy things with absolutely no features, when actually I have no problems with them. I know none of the features 'cos I use it to play online, not mess around in "home" or something.

Just for future reference, what are these great XBL features that are often the reason you pay for it?

I have a PS3 and a 360, and I can honestly say the Xbox servers are so much better than PS servers. I would gladly pay £40PY for PSN to be better, IMO I think its shite, 80% of games have terrible connections.

 

[Delusibeta]

Oh god not this again...

Logistics of Steam 101 (or what your money pays for):

Valve pays for:
- Content, matchmaking and friends list servers.
- maintenance of said servers.
- coders to implment features.
- backup.
- bandwidth to pay for all those matchmaking requests for games, and every single download made on the service.

and a ton of boring stuff i have no interest in, but is vital to providing a service where you can find your friends without needing several software updates.

This as far as I can tell is a price adjustment to bring it inline with others of us around the world and inflation.

$0.00 = £0
$0.00 = £0
Steam price here in the UK = £0.00

Quit bitching that your getting it a little less cheaper then the rest of the world. if it hurts your wallet so much don't renew your gold, SIMPLE.

Oh and all other british escapists, the price hikes up for us are non-existant.

To those who view this as a rant, yes it is. but its a rant because I am sick of people going "Valve are going to rob us" "this is bullsit" blah blah blah about this.

See, it's so easy to make that post relevant for Steam.

The problem is not that Live is increasing its price (it's inevitable due to inflation), rather that Live has a price in the first place. While my edits are for Steam, it's also valid for PSN if you replace "Steam" with "PSN" and "Valve" with "Sony".

Ultimately, the problem is that Microsoft was lining their pockets with the Live price from day dot, not just starting to.

 

[omega 616]

I have a PS3 and a 360, and I can honestly say the Xbox servers are so much better than PS servers. I would gladly pay £40PY for PSN to be better, IMO I think its shite, 80% of games have terrible connections.

What games are you playing on PS3? 'cos I have no complaints about connections.

 

[Aphex Demon]

I have a PS3 and a 360, and I can honestly say the Xbox servers are so much better than PS servers. I would gladly pay £40PY for PSN to be better, IMO I think its shite, 80% of games have terrible connections.

What games are you playing on PS3? 'cos I have no complaints about connections.

CoD:WaW

NFS: Undercover

Killzone 2

They just dont tend to be very stable connections.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

Dammit, well bitchin about it wont help, a promotion will

 

[Dublin Solo]

It's kinda fun to see some of the people that come in late to the topic and just completly ignore the posts that blow their arguments apart.

You were noticing that too, hmm?

Seriously, I have absolutely no problem with Xbox Live increasing in price. Given how successful its been and the fact they haven't adjusted for inflation or all the services they added until nearly a decade later is nothing short of astounding.

And here I thought I was alone thinking the same exact thing! Looks like the most basic things of life and economics aren't lost to everyone.

 

[Sephychu]

Half the people complaining about it will still pay for it. More than half.

People will keep buying it, Microsoft won't see a reason not to do it again down the line, nothing will change.

 

[etherlance]

Is this just in the USA because over here in england the one year subscription is about £40

But I swear if I have to pay more than that i may just sell the thing for a PS3 even though i want to play fallout vegas and fable 3

 

[Hashime]

more reason for me to not get gold, hell I have a gaming pc, paying to play multi is stupid to me

Multi on the Xbox is unbearable, my buddy has one and if he isn't lagging due to another player's bad connection, he is listening to an angry 12 year old, or getting spammed with spam.
I can stand multi on the PS3 and PC because on the PS3 no one has mics, and on the PC if you act like a tool you are gone faster than logic at a tea party meeting.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

An increase of two and a half cents per day. Oh my gawd, now I'll have to mortage the house and raid the kids' college fund.

*shakes head* Wow, some folks have way too little going in in their lives if this is what sparks anger in them.

-- Steve

 

[N7 Ruiz]

Microsoft is adding more features granted Im not going to use them but some people will that we can be assured another reason is because of Inflation.

 

[omega 616]

I have a PS3 and a 360, and I can honestly say the Xbox servers are so much better than PS servers. I would gladly pay £40PY for PSN to be better, IMO I think its shite, 80% of games have terrible connections.

What games are you playing on PS3? 'cos I have no complaints about connections.

CoD:WaW

NFS: Undercover

Killzone 2

They just dont tend to be very stable connections.

Played KZ2 a fair amount, never experienced lag or timing out.

What you experienced might be down to what coldstorage was telling me, Japanese players playing on European servers 'cos FPS games aren't big over there, so the connection takes a speed hit.

I can't comment on the others but that is far from 80% of games.

 

[King Toasty]

"PS3 LOWERS PRICES ON MEMBERSHIPS, THEY GIVE YOU MONEY NOW"

 

[xxcloud417xx]

more reason for me to not get gold, hell I have a gaming pc, paying to play multi is stupid to me

I know right?

This is retarded, it would be like us having to pay for our Steam account. Sounds pretty retarded doesn't it? Having to pay for a program that also makes us pay for games?

For those who don't have steam and have no idea what I mean, imagine paying for iTunes and ALSO paying for the music you download. Or even better, imagine paying to enter a store that sells the same shit as any other store? (Non-Wholesale I mean)

How does that encourage people to buy shit from LIVE?

This is really showing how Microsoft is fucking abusing it's consumer. PC gamers would not stand for this shit and they know it. We have too many options open to us for online game purchasing (Steam, Direct2Drive being the more popular ones) so they know that if they start charging subscription fees for access to their store they would get no fucking business, we'd move on to another supplier.

The issue that I see is that Microsoft has 360 gamers by the balls, they monopolize the Xbox 360's online gaming capabilities, and when Microsoft has a monopoly on something, they will fucking get abusive about it. The Xbox 360 would need another "service provider" for online usage, but since it's a Microsoft Device, Microsoft will retain all rights to that. So all in all, this means that Xbox 360 owners pretty much handed their balls over to Microsoft by getting a 360.

 

[TwitchierGuitar]

I've got like two year membership cards from friends for christmas last year. So, All i've got to do is enter one And I'm set for the next year, and the year after. But hey, by then, XBL will run us about $15-$20 a month. Oh, I do loves me some inflation...

 

[ThatOneFoxShane]

Is this just in the USA because over here in england the one year subscription is about £40

But I swear if I have to pay more than that i may just sell the thing for a PS3 even though i want to play fallout vegas and fable 3

I thought Fallout: New Vegas was coming to the PlayStation 3 as well. Is it not?