Xbox Live Price Goes Up Nov1 [Archive]

Howie6925

08-30-2010, 12:48 PM

Xbox Live Gold subscribers might want to renew before November 1, when the price of a yearly subscription to the service jumps $10 in North America.

According to a post on Major Nelson's blog, after eight years' of Xbox Live at the $50 a year price point, the service is finally seeing a price hike. Starting on November 1, a year Gold subscription to Xbox Live will run $59.99, versus the current price of $49.99. One month subscriptions will jump from $7.99 to $9.99, while three month subs will rise from $19.99 to $24.99.

Other regions will be seeing increases as well. In the UK the price of one month will jump from 4.99 GPB to 5.99 GPB. The price of a month in Canada rises a dollar to $9.99. Finally, a year subscription in Mexico rises from 499 to 599 pesos.

Microsoft is running a special deal right now for North American customers, allowing them to lock in a year at $39.99, $20 less than the new rate. For details, visit the deal website.

Jesse Divnich with industry analyst EEDAR sent out a statement accompanying the news, insuring consumers that $60 is still "an incredible value."

"When originally launched in 2002, a Gold subscription cost the same as an AAA video game, $49.99. When taking into account for inflation ($50 in 2002 is roughly $60 in 2010) and the additional services available to Gold subscribers in 2010, such as ESPN, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm and Video Kinect, a $10 price increase still represents an incredible value to consumers"

Whether or not $60 a year is an incredible value is ultimately up to consumers. What say you, consumers?
(kotaku)

Yet Sony is still free, I think I will stick with ps3 to play online that is just crazy.

buzz_n64

08-30-2010, 01:00 PM

Not buying it at $50, and definitely not buying it at $60. $35, maybe. I can still get it for that price, but I'd much rather use that money for something more useful.

kupomogli

08-30-2010, 01:04 PM

1000% inflation versus actual cost of a person playing online. Then to add an additional $10. Xbox Live is bullshit.

diskoboy

08-30-2010, 01:12 PM

MS is about to price themselves right out of the market, if they keep raising prices without warrant.

I'm already not buying Kinetic becuse $150 is ridiculous. I refuse to upgrade my full 20GB HD because I refuse to pay the 150% markup. $60 for 1 year of online service is overkill, unless you want to start throwing users free games, discounts, and other benefits, like PSN+ .

I seriously am beginning to wonder WTF Microsoft is thinking, as of late, with all these price increases.

I'm sure MS will be raising the normal price to new games to $70 soon, just you watch.

megasdkirby

08-30-2010, 01:14 PM

Question:

My subscription ends on June or July 2011. If I were to purchase another one year gold care NOW, can I increase it to at least July 2012?

buzz_n64

08-30-2010, 01:21 PM

Question:

My subscription ends on June or July 2011. If I were to purchase another one year gold care NOW, can I increase it to at least July 2012?

Yes, I believe so. Microsoft won't say no to your wallet. LOL

Nophix

08-30-2010, 01:22 PM

Question:

My subscription ends on June or July 2011. If I were to purchase another one year gold care NOW, can I increase it to at least July 2012?

Mine ends in February 2011, and when I did it, they extended the membership to February 2012.

Darko

08-30-2010, 01:25 PM

Because of my friends, I'm stuck paying for Live. I will, however, go buy a year subscription today as I've been paying month to month. Even at $60/year it's still only the cost of one new game/year. Meh. On the other hand, if you pay month to month after this then you're out of your mind. $120.00/year vs $60.00? That's what I have the biggest problem with.

Nophix

08-30-2010, 01:35 PM

I'm sure MS will be raising the normal price to new games to $70 soon, just you watch.

That may be just the edge Sony needs to kick the PS3 into high gear.

I'm not a Sony fanboy by any stretch. I play my 360 far more, and pay my monies every year like a good little minion. But I really would like to see Sony take a little more hold. The PS3 is a great product.

skaar

08-30-2010, 01:36 PM

It's five bucks a month.

FIVE BUCKS.

Sony can only bleed money for so long.

Porksta

08-30-2010, 01:40 PM

Yeah, people pay $15+ a month for WOW, but balk at $5 a month to play ANY game online? Lol.

Lanzo

08-30-2010, 01:44 PM

I kind of pisses me off but all my friends play live. I can hardly find any games to buy for my ps3 that aren't better off on my 360. And from what I have experienced with my ps3 going online (gets errors and when it does connect nothing else in my room works) I'd rather play 360. My ps3 is basically a fancy blu ray player for me.

dra600n

08-30-2010, 01:46 PM

I buy my live subscriptions on a per month basis as I hate playing games online as it is (though I do enjoy guitar hero online since none of my friends will play with or against me anymore lol), but I did get their special earlier in the month - 3 months for $9.99. The only reason why I get it is so I can get the online achievements, other than that, pah.

8-bitNesMan

08-30-2010, 02:11 PM

1000% inflation versus actual cost of a person playing online. Then to add an additional $10. Xbox Live is bullshit.

No, that would be your posts... :P

It's five bucks a month.

FIVE BUCKS.

This. We all know XBL is a better online experience. I've had an Xbox 360 since 1-1-06 and I can't count the numerous hours of fun I've had playing on Live with friends. What I can count is the number of times I've played online with my PS3 that I've had since early 2007. Approximately 3... ;)

norkusa

08-30-2010, 02:54 PM

Does anyone actually buy Live subscriptions at the MSRP? Seems like there's always a $10-$20 discount somewhere online or at b&m stores. I picked up two 12-month cards at Best Buy earlier this summer for $20 each. I even remember seeing deals on the XBLA dashboard directly thru the Live Marketplace.

The Live prices may go up, but it'll still be easy to find them at the at the old prices.

GarrettCRW

08-30-2010, 03:26 PM

It's a bit like school on Labor Day to raise prices when the economy is ass, but the price is still low for what you get. And, unlike PSN, it's pretty rare when games get taken offline (save for the end of the Live support for the original console).

Richter Belmount

08-30-2010, 03:36 PM

So microsoft doesnt make enough money off axe body spray and old spice ads in your face on xbox live? I didnt know they were hurting for cash

jonebone

08-30-2010, 03:49 PM

Yeah I'm not a fan of price hikes but I'll still pay it. I think we're just "used" to XBL and take it for granted, but do you remember gaming before the internet? It really does have a lot of features and functionality when you think about it.

Cryomancer

08-30-2010, 04:00 PM

Give me the ability to customize the dashboard and I'll do it more willingly. No I do not want to default at a video+sound Halo ad when I sign in, I want to default on My Xbox. No I don't want hotkey buttons taking me immediately to more ad sections, I want them to take me to My Xbox and Friends. I pay for this service, I shouldn't have to see ads unless I want to see them (ie to check the weekly deals and contests and so on).

FayeC86

08-30-2010, 04:29 PM

Its been a long time since Ive paid full price for XBL anyway. Its really not hard to find a sweet deal when you only have to do it once a year.

skaar

08-30-2010, 04:57 PM

Actually I do agree with the beef against ads/dashboard stuff. I think if I'm paying for the service I shouldn't be forced to look at advertising.

I miss the old boring dashboard.

buzz_n64

08-30-2010, 05:05 PM

Actually I do agree with the beef against ads/dashboard stuff. I think if I'm paying for the service I shouldn't be forced to look at advertising.

I miss the old boring dashboard.

For real! It kind of reminds me of the late 90s free internet services that displayed a banner ad in order to provide you free internet. There was Juno, Kmart bluelight, Netzero, and a ton of others.

I'll watch the ads if I get a discount, or a free game, like with that Doritos game Dash of Destruction. But what are people going to do? Suck it up, and pass by all the ads.

TonyTheTiger

08-30-2010, 05:39 PM

Whether or not $60 is too expensive is a personal matter. But the decision to bump up the price confuses me. You would think MS would be more interested in closing up any gaps that might distance the 360 from the PS3 rather than expand them. It used to be that the 360 had such a price edge on the PS3 that the $50 Gold subscription wasn't a deal breaker. The PS3 had free online but the 360 was infinitely cheaper and had more software.

But given that the two consoles are now essentially equals in most every way, one of the most identifiable distinguishing factors is that the 360 does not offer free online play. Raising the price at this point only exacerbates that and could further drive people to pick up PS3 versions of multiplatform games. I don't know what MS is doing to make the $10 increase necessary but this does not seem at all prudent.

Frankie_Says_Relax

08-30-2010, 05:48 PM

I never bitch about petty things like this, but Microsoft should take a look at the Playstation Plus model.

I've been an XBOX Live subscriber since day one, and while I don't personally feel that it's any financial strain to pay $50 or $60, I've never EVER felt like I've been getting anything of substantial "value" out of the prospect, only that I've been given "access". The amount of free games that Microsoft have given XBL Gold subscribers I can count on one hand.

While on the PS3 after two months of Plus service at $50 I've already downloaded well over $50 (Probably closer to $60 or $70) worth of content and in doing so I've realized that GAMES are what resonate the most with me as a gamer. I've never been able to determine any difference in quality of online play between the services and cross game chat means absolutely nothing to me ... so, getting to download PS1, PS3 and PSP games that are actually very good, that I might not have otherwise if they were at their standard price point I feel that not only have I gotten value for my money, but I feel like Sony and the participating 3rd party devs are participating in broadening my view of what's out there on their service.

I had high hopes for XBL with the introduction of the "New XBL Experience" but instead of becoming a more streamlined, easier to navigate system, it seems to be even more muddled, slow to load, hard to find new products and even more inundated with advertisements than it was before.

Hearing that there's going to be an arbitrary increase in price with little or nothing to show in the way of added value or free content is very frustrating. Facebook, Twitter and Last FM are already free services for consumer usage so I scoff at the addition of those as "incredible value" as Major Nelson calls them. I can't even make the argument that Netflix access makes a huge difference on XBL as the service is now available on all major platforms (and most new internet ready Blu Ray players as well as other set-top services).

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to rage-unsubscribe from Live, as there's still plenty to enjoy on the service, but hearing about this price increase is very very frustrating. The service may service millions of users ... but I think it's been a mess for years and hasn't gotten better via any improvements and most importantly there's next to nothing that I feel that I'm "getting" for my $50 soon to be $60 a year.

If Microsoft would roll out some type of REAL added value content and give Gold subscribers something substantial for their money other than the basic ability to play online and chat with somebody playing Madden while they're playing Halo I might feel a bit more "satisfied" with my money spent yearly ... but for now I'll just feel like I'm paying the arbitrary cost of entry and getting nothing to show for it.

At the very least, between the Indie section and the 360 "Game Room" they should be able to give us some free stuff on a monthly basis.

Dr. Dib

08-30-2010, 05:55 PM

Unless I'm mistaken, wasn't the price $60 at one point around the time of the 360's launch or so? I have vague memories of making an account and seeing that the price was $60/year for me, but only $50/year for my brother who was locked into that price.

Anyway, I'm more or less neutral on the subject. I don't normally use Xbox Live and will probably only get in if there is another good deal.

s1lence

08-30-2010, 05:59 PM

It's five bucks a month.

FIVE BUCKS.

Sony can only bleed money for so long.

Exactly, its 83.3 cents extra over the old price PER month.

I'm going to have to take out a loan.

lol

Frankie_Says_Relax

08-30-2010, 06:26 PM

heybtbm

08-30-2010, 06:38 PM

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/8528/wambulance.jpg

We all know XBL is a better online experience. I've had an Xbox 360 since 1-1-06 and I can't count the numerous hours of fun I've had playing on Live with friends. What I can count is the number of times I've played online with my PS3 that I've had since early 2007. Approximately 3... ;)

Exactly. All of my friends are on XBL. A few have PS3's...which we've never used to play online.

Does anyone actually buy Live subscriptions at the MSRP? Seems like there's always a $10-$20 discount somewhere online or at b&m stores. I picked up two 12-month cards at Best Buy earlier this summer for $20 each. I even remember seeing deals on the XBLA dashboard directly thru the Live Marketplace.

The Live prices may go up, but it'll still be easy to find them at the at the old prices.

Stop using logic and common sense. People are butthurt...and they're being FORCED to pay $60. Can't you respect that?

Frankie_Says_Relax

08-30-2010, 07:12 PM

We all know XBL is a better online experience...

Come on. That's a completely relative, wholly opinion-based statement.

I'm frequently on both services and other than a few specific features like cross-game-chat I can't find any reason to believe that either is empirically "superior".

In the previous console generation I think that it was clear that Microsoft had a more uniform, focused and clearly superior online service, but today, side-by-side the PS3 and 360 seem to have a parity in terms of features.

Usernames, game invites, achievements/trophies, messaging, chat rooms, DLC, game demos, movies on demand, game/content marketplaces, respective avatar services/applications (XBL Avatars/PSN Home), etc. there's not much you can do on one that you can't on the other ... and with the increased install base of the PS3 multi platform titles seem to have a much more balanced user base between systems.

The 1 2 P

08-30-2010, 08:45 PM

I've been an XBL member for roughly 5 years now and I have always felt I have gotten my moneys worth. Like many others have already said: it's $5 a month. Now go compare that to your monthly cell phone bill, cable bill and internet bill. Like many of us have said, $5 is NOT alot to pay a month for all that you get on XBL.

But I'd still like to make a suggestion to Microsoft. They really need to institute a tier based structure for paying customers. Right now thats broken down into gold(paying) and silver(non-paying) members but they need to expand the gold membership. Let us gold members pick which features we don't want in our XBL. If I don't use facebook, twitter and the upcoming ESPN features than remove them from my XBL and give me a $3-5 discount for each of them off of my yearly subscription. That would make paying for live even better.

And speaking of paying, like many others have also said: who actually pays full retail for XBL? I've been paying $30 or less for the last three years. Theres always deals and heres a tip for everyone: usually only one store has these deals at a time(Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Sears, etc) and it last for a week. During this time these stores usually sell out of ALL of their year subscription cards. Solution? Just go to one of the stores that isn't running the deal that week and ask them to do a price match. That way you're always guaranteed to get the deal and then you are paying even less than $5 a month for the best console online service around.

Gamereviewgod

08-30-2010, 10:22 PM

Exactly, its 83.3 cents extra over the old price PER month.

I'm going to have to take out a loan.

lol

That's the same attitude that led us to map pack price increases, Live Arcade price increases, and others. You keep letting them slowly but surely keep sticking it to you.

Besides, it's not about the increase, it's about what we're paying for in the first place.

Online play? Nope. Peer-to-peer.

Facebook? Twitter? Nope, those are free.

Netflix? They already charge.

Voice chat? Nope. That's free for Silver members.

The fact they were charging $50 for this in the first place was ridiculous, and now to have the balls to charge MORE? It's absurd. They want to bring in casual gamers to the fold with this BS camera, and they raise the price? The hell?

Microsoft makes tons off Live even without subs. They get cuts of Live Arcade games, DLC, and all of those ads. Plus, since they seem to have no problem with third parties releasing "on disc" DLC, jacking up map packs, and individual games charging for online play when you buy used, what are you paying for?

Please, someone tell me.

I don't mind paying something for Live, but $60? There's no value there.

FayeC86

08-30-2010, 10:27 PM

Its a value meal a month. I get far more enjoyment out of a month of live than I do out of a trip to the fast food shack

grimlock

08-30-2010, 11:37 PM

Actually I do agree with the beef against ads/dashboard stuff. I think if I'm paying for the service I shouldn't be forced to look at advertising.

I miss the old boring dashboard.

I dunno, do you have cable tv?

Darko

08-31-2010, 12:21 AM

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Month-Live-Gold-Card/dp/B0029LJIFG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1283228269&sr=8-1

$49.99/12=$4.165/month. Just stock up on 2 of these and you'll be good to go.

buzz_n64

08-31-2010, 12:30 AM

I dunno, do you have cable tv?

I can't answer for him, but I do feel the same way as him, and no I don't pay for cable television. I try to cut costs whereever possible.

No cable tv.
Cheapest high speed cable internet plan, and split bill by family
Cheapest AT&T cell phone plan - $29.99 a month
No subscription services or GOLD membership anymore.
Plus many other things I cut corners on. More money for games, and things I really want and need.

skaar

08-31-2010, 12:51 AM

emceelokey

08-31-2010, 01:49 AM

I don't mind the minor increase. The fact that they're increasing the price by $10 a year and the fact that I'd still rather play online on the 360 opposed to the PS3 means they're doing something right.

If the user base grows, i'd figure it will be that much more of a task to manage it so more funds are needed to handle it.

I think Sony thought the free online play was a good idea and I think they thought that would sway people to play on the PS3 but MS did it first and they did it right. Sony took a risk to have free online play out of the box and now they can't go back on that but now they're realizing that they need to make money off of the online capabilities hense PSN+.

I think the addition of ESPN and Hulu wil be a nice feature, I'm not sure whether or not PSn wil have those and if they will be free, but I think it's a fair increase. Especially if you consider that the price of the system is so much lower now and more people are going on XBL.

An extra $10 for something that's significantly better than it's competetion seems fair to me.

Leo_A

08-31-2010, 02:34 AM

$60 may have been the price of the original XBOX Live for XBOX "starter pack" that contained the microphone. The yearly subscription was always $49.99 in the US.

The 360 starter kit that included PGR4, the keypad, and a mic along with a year's subscription was also $60.

SegaAges

08-31-2010, 03:23 AM

An extra $10 is not bad at all. I mean seriously, XBL is pretty awesome.

I would rather use XBL than pay 15 to play WoW.

Now if XBL will finally host EA games on the XBL servers, I would happily pay them more than an extra $10 a month.

Emuaust

08-31-2010, 04:25 AM

I have no issues we have been paying more then that in australia since launch, bringing the world into a parallel in terms of price I have little to complain about.

Rev. Link

08-31-2010, 05:08 AM

I use my TV to watch hockey. Cable's been disconnected for 6 weeks now ;)

I see nothing wrong with a bump after 5 years, inflation happens to us all.

We raised our billing rate a few years ago after not bumping it for 6 years. We got no thanks for never increasing it even as our overhead went up - in fact, we just got flack from daring to raise it. After awhile, people got the fuck over and and forgot about it.

I have a feeling people will do the same with this.

QFT.

I'm cool with this. I like Live, I like playing online with my friends and watching Netflix (though technically I can do that on my Wii now for free, but I like the 360's interface better), occasionally listening to Last.fm. I also like getting sale prices on Arcade games and DLC that silver members don't get.

I'd love it if it were free, but it's not, and $60/year isn't that bad to me. I find it to be worth it. If you don't find it to be worth it, don't pay for it. Simple as that. Speak with your wallet, that's the only thing companies will listen to.

Cryomancer

08-31-2010, 07:49 AM

Anyone else seeing this as a minor conspiracy theory potential too? Like maybe they need to get some extra cash happening really fast, so they say a price hike is coming, so everyone buys a year or two now before the change. Then they've got a bunch of sudden cash, and can either go through with it, say they changed their mind, or transition it into a "well everyone loved the 40 dollar deal so we decided to go with that afterall" kind of thing.

Question is, what is the money for???? (of course i'm mostly joking here, but you know they are totally going to get a nice bump pre-price change.)

8-bitNesMan

08-31-2010, 08:29 AM

Come on. That's a completely relative, wholly opinion-based statement.

I'm frequently on both services and other than a few specific features like cross-game-chat I can't find any reason to believe that either is empirically "superior".

In the previous console generation I think that it was clear that Microsoft had a more uniform, focused and clearly superior online service, but today, side-by-side the PS3 and 360 seem to have a parity in terms of features.

Usernames, game invites, achievements/trophies, messaging, chat rooms, DLC, game demos, movies on demand, game/content marketplaces, respective avatar services/applications (XBL Avatars/PSN Home), etc. there's not much you can do on one that you can't on the other ... and with the increased install base of the PS3 multi platform titles seem to have a much more balanced user base between systems.

You're absolutely right, it is just my opinion. It's also my opinion that a lot of gamers agree with me. I think the cross game/party chat is the biggest thing in Microsoft's favor. I tried chatting with a buddy while playing the first Resistance with a USB mic. We might as well have had 2 tins cans and a really long string. I have 2 bluetooth headsets that I got when I picked up copies of Warhawk on the cheap, but playing the PS3 online (or the lack thereof) hasn't motivated me to even break the seal on the games to use them. Without achievements, there would be no trophies. And for the record, Home sucks. Again, just my opinion ;)

swlovinist

08-31-2010, 09:55 AM

I am not a fan of a paid subscription to play online. I have not had Xbox live since my Xbox 360 fried. For those who dont like the fees, there is always the PS3 that is free. For those that play Xbox games online, I say to start shopping for deals on a year sub.

garagesaleking!!

08-31-2010, 04:22 PM

Look at the value you get for the $60, its a no brainer.

Shingetter

08-31-2010, 06:16 PM

Speak with your wallet, that's the only thing companies will listen to.

Done. The only problem is no one will speak with me.

Jaruff

08-31-2010, 06:21 PM

I think Sony thought the free online play was a good idea and I think they thought that would sway people to play on the PS3 but MS did it first and they did it right. Sony took a risk to have free online play out of the box and now they can't go back on that but now they're realizing that they need to make money off of the online capabilities hense PSN+.

Free online was a selling point for me getting a PS3. I can play all of my PC games online for free (I don't play World of Warcraft or similar games). I can play all of my PS3 games online for free. If I want to play Xbox 360 games online, I have to pay. The amount is not an issue, it's the principle. When I buy/build a computer, I don't have to pay a fee to use it online. Why, as a consumer, would I pay $50 a year when I could have the same access for free? I understand why many people pay for XBL and I respect that, but as a PC gamer, I can't justify giving any amount of money to MS for access to my internet connection.

Cobra Commander

08-31-2010, 07:05 PM

Guess if I want to play Gears of War 3 next year, I'll be coughing it up. But seriously, you can find good deals even on amazon. I'd rather not pay $10 extra but, it isn't the worst thing that's ever happened. Somehow, I'll survive.

Rev. Link

09-01-2010, 09:42 AM

Done. The only problem is no one will speak with me.

Well, what does that tell you?

Lady Jaye

09-01-2010, 04:07 PM

Hey look! You guys in the US will pay the same price we've been paying here in Canada, even though our dollars have been more or less on par for a while now. Of course, I would have preferred to have seen the Canadian price go down to the US level instead of the other way around... (before you ask, the yearly fee is staying at $60 in Canada)

exit

09-01-2010, 05:28 PM

Here I was thinking that Microsoft was going to try and compete with the PS3 now that they have the + service, like free (severely crippled) online play for Silver members or maybe even a price drop for Gold subscription. Guess their way to compete is to raise their prices? Regardless it doesn't bother me one bit, I barely use my 360 and never really had a reason to upgrade to Gold since most of my friends have a PS3 anyway, I still think it's a questionable move by Microsoft tho.

emceelokey

09-01-2010, 05:57 PM

I just have a feeling Sony is going to end up backtracking at some point and they'll find a way to make people pay for PSN+. I think it's just a matter of time before you see games that say "requires PSN+" to get the full online gameplay. Like maybe games will let you play one mode for free online, like "free for all" in COD for example, but if you want to play all the other modes, you'll need to have PSN+. Sony is going to realize that people will still buy the XBL membership $60 and they're going to think, well if they'll pay $60 for something we offer for free and the still won't convert to PSN then let's try to make mone somehow. I'd doubt they would completely backtrack and start to charge for all online game play but I definitely see them holding back features for free players and then maybe charging $40 a year for the +.

Shingetter

09-01-2010, 07:57 PM

Well, what does that tell you?

That other people value a service I consider useless, from a company I think is corrupt.

heybtbm

09-01-2010, 08:09 PM