ninja51 said:
This really pisses me off. It wont change a thing, the people paying now, including myself will continue paying for it. The worst part is its nothing but a total money grab. The spokesperson just said pretty much that they know they could hike the price up and still keep all subscribers. Not a reason was given, there isnt one, maybe just maybe if they said we're making things cheaper on xbox live or we're adding a ton of free stuff, or even we've been doing tons of maintence and need to pay someone. But no, they are raising it just because theyll make an extra buck from a million people. Oh and then to say you better go out and stock up some gold member subscriptions while its cheaper is a joke. Go buy a ton of our already overpriced stuff before we make it even more overpriced! Your getting a great deal you sheep!
Truly, the last part is especially a slap in the face to people. It is a shame that this price raise will go essentially unquestioned, but what choice do a lot of people seem to have?
Years ago I subscribed to Live and quit because I found that it is just a waste considering the only online feature I would use was multiplayer, and now with a more busier life pretty much just quick matches. Back then it was almost a full game ($50) and now we have an upfront fee equal to the cost of a new release... to gain access to half the features on that game? I find the biggest issue that I take with Live is everything it is trying to be that
I don't want. I could not care any less about community promotions, features, or what have you. I just want my dusty copy of COD4 or Halo 3 to not be
completely useless outside of single player. But guess what? They're going to collect dust indefinitely because Live is a service for some but not all, like myself. Now that I have a PS3 along with my 360, I find that the former console can handle my needs fine enough.
I have always felt that what Live needed was at the very least different price levels to accomodate those like me who do not have time to make the cost of a Live subscription even worth the cost. I would imagine that there are plenty of people like me that lack the time/dedication to make Live seem worth it (perhaps that crowd of "casual" people Kinect is being aimed at, for instance?), so we are a group who will never buy into it. But what if there was an introductory level besides the sad excuse of "silver?" Ideally, the online portion would be at least accessible in some form for silvers, especially since I have always, and still find, that I can get every basic need other than multiplayer.
The key point is that cost is most likely not the issue, but value. A ten dollar increase to $60
is not much in general terms, but for what value an
individual places on the service makes the difference. With the annual fee being an upfront cost, it grabs a person's monetary notice a lot quicker than a monthly rate. Most do not add up monthly payments or fees when they are little, but a flat upfront $50-$60 to me, at least, makes me consider what else I could get instead compared to Xbox Live's paltry return?
