Microsoft Points Are Dead

My points are gone but I have no actual money on my account in place of them.

Thanks, Microsoft.

Setting an expiration date for the currency balance that is converted from existing points does not sit well with me. While 2015 allows plenty of time to spend them they were not purchased with this understanding.

R.I.P. Spacebux.

Is anyone having a problem using their converted points? I ended up with a Microsoft account balance of $14.50 after the conversion, and I went to buy Brothers on my console, but it wouldn't let me apply the $14.50 to my purchase (it wasn't selectable at all, I could only pay with my credit card). I then went to the Xbox site, and the Microsoft account value is conspicuously absent. I figured it would be the same setup as PSN when buying something that costs more than your balance (apply balance and pay the difference). Anyone else? Any ideas?

Cool story bros. Here in Canada the point system has been fucked since day one. You couldn't buy points in the increments most games were priced at and the point values were less. 400 = $5 right? Not up here. PSN was cheaper and doesn't charge tax so I never even looked at XBL for anything. Now they are on a level playing field and I can pick and choose where I want to buy games.

Thanks Internet.

This change is too long in coming, but I'm glad that it's here. Buying another currency is annoying, but making that currency hard to convert is pretty scummy. Even if they charged $9 for every game and made you pay $10 for 1000 points I would have been much more okay with it.

As far as discounts online, I think that's entirely dependent on whether they continue to allow 3rd parties to sell cards for them. If they do (and I can't see them not) they will either have to sell them at a discount or use a kickback system, either of which will allow the discounted cards to continue, though perhaps at a lesser discount.

Thank god, Australia had the bullshit 500 and 1000 points only purchases too. Glad to be rid of these dumb things. Though bummer if the points expire as I think I have like 5 or 10 bucks worth still lol

I have 2 years to spend 40 cents or it is lost forever

I never liked the points system and it's silly that it took Microsoft this long to ditch it.

Only took them 8 years, but hey, better late than never.

@civ2boss: Never actually bought anything for less than $5 in the PSN store, so never noticed, but that's super dumb.

But what will happen to the economy!.

Good reporting by Patrick to totally ignore all the great deals that happened because of MS Points.

As a canadian, I celebrate the death of points. Buying cards, we get about 53 points per dollar, in effect paying 33% more for everything on Xbox Live - except the subscription fee. 60 or 70 per dollar on the more expensive cards, but who wants to buy their points in blocks of $80? Even if the prices of these cards were reflecting our higher taxes (sales tax isnt charged on gift cards themselves) they should be at most 15% more than in the US.

As a result, a $15 game on PSN or Steam has always been cheaper than the same game on Xbox Live Arcade, where it would cost up to $22. Beyond that, the true price was in fact higher, as we never got the ability to buy points in sensible blocks that matched up with the cost in points of most games - we could buy 1400 on the console, or a 1600 point card for $29.99, which in the US would be worth about $20. A 33% increase in cost. Again, these cards were likely priced due to the exchange rate at the system's launch, and never adjusted to match the changing economies of both countries. Using a canadian credit card to buy things in USD on PSN or Steam converts currency based on the exchange rate from your bank.

This is not merely Microsoft, book publishers are also guilty of posting different prices in canada (before tax) that don't match up with the actual differences in currency values.. Video game publishers don't follow this trend. Games are instead sold for the same dollar amount on both sides of the border.

Perhaps i'm just complaining, but we've had five years of unfair pricing on their service, so it should come as no surprise that I favour services like Steam and the PSN Store at this point.

What will happen to my single point? I think it's worth 0.85p. Round it up! I want my penny!

Are hardcore gamers athletes?

so, I won't be able to buy 60 dollars worth toward my account for 50 dollars now?

In other news, Achievement Points are still bullshit.

Microsoft is the real gangsta specter of defeat.

Enough of this "good riddance" nonsense. I'm sure to journalists that get most of their downloadable stuff for free, it doesn't matter to if it's points or cash, but to the normal consumer, points were the much better option. There's no way to get $20 for $15 on Xbox Live, but it was certainly more than possible to get $20 worth of points for $15 (or less).

The main argument I used to see against points was there was no way to necessarily buy the exact amount of points you need. Well boo fucking hoo. Whatever money you save by stocking up during a points sale more than makes up for that paltry 80 points you have left over in your account after making a purchase. It's not like you weren't eventually going to spend it anyway.

This sucks, and if you're a consumer with any sense of money this is not good news. All this does is give them tighter control over pricing, as if they needed that

I'm curious about this too. I've got $4.50 on my account and it's not applying to anything at all. I'm constantly having to put my credit card in to purchase things.

These are all promotional points too that I got from taking their surveys and using Bing. So, if they don't apply forward, then expire after a certain date, well Microsoft just got some free work out of me...

You can't get your stupid ass points on sale anymore.

WELL BOO FUCKING HOO.

Or simply "Credits".

@msavo said:

I feel like it wasn't quite "day one", but the way Microsoft skewed the card prices as our currencies fluctuated really messed it up bad over time.

Hurrah!

I'd rather use real-world currency than an arbitrary points system, but we'll never again buy our money on sale.

Two months ago I bought 4800 points for fifteen dollars. Farewell, inexpensive money.

Great, all the people who didn't use them anyway can rejoice!

I will miss buying nothing but discounted points.

Make sure you live in California, then. Stuff like that can't legally expire.

I'm just glad I can spend my left-over points now.

This. Points were brilliant, I *never* paid full price for an XBLA game thanks to constant heavy discounting across the board. Like the changes to the One, it's another case of Microsoft being ahead of their customers who, it seems, just want "faster horses".

I'm sorry, you're both either sheltered or insane for thinking that retailers don't discount cash-value cards. They do. I buy them. It's called a loss-leader and large retailers have no problem with it. iTunes (Safeway, Best Buy), Nintendo (Amazon, Target), Sony (BestBuy, Wal-mart)...

Google "____ card sale" if you can't believe it. They're not always nationwide or international, but you're simply not observing what retailers actually do, and perpetuating FUD on what is an excellent change of policy.

Canada has always paid more money for less MS points, a cost of $1.43 per 100 points instead of $1.25, even when our dollar was stronger. Sony has never had different pricing for Canada in the PSN store. For 7 years Canadians have paid a 14% premium for achievements instead of trophies. And because most game journos are U.S. based, Microsoft almost never gets called out on it. (lookin' at you @patrickklepek ;) And before the obvious question comes, no, Canucks cannot redeem 1600 point cards even if they shop cross-border. Canadian denominations were region locked and price fixed, whether on a card or in the dashboard. Again, even when our dollar was stronger. Points are how they get you. :P

@tehpickle said:

I've been in the beta - It lets you just make the purchase for any item directly to the card. Even lets you apply any cash in your 'wallet' or whatever they call it to the purchase. No more buying more than needed from what I can tell.

I'm sure the converted points to money is still under the same restrictions as the points.

Lets be honest though - If you don't spend the money by 2015 you never intended to in the first place.

Will me unredeemed points card eventually be nonredeemable?

Exactly, that was one of the reasons I bought most my arcade games on the Xbox. I guess now I have no reason to.

@brackynews said:

@rhythm said:

@ll_exile_ll said:

Why are people so quick to celebrate this? The days of buying a 1600 point card for less than $20 are gone, no retailer will sell something that says $20 right on it for less than $20.

This. Points were brilliant, I *never* paid full price for an XBLA game thanks to constant heavy discounting across the board.

I'm sorry, you're both either sheltered or insane for thinking that retailers don't discount cash-value cards. They do. I buy them. It's called a loss-leader and large retailers have no problem with it. iTunes (Safeway, Best Buy), Nintendo (Amazon, Target), Sony (BestBuy, Wal-mart)...

Google "____ card sale" if you can't believe it. They're not always nationwide or international, but you're simply not observing what retailers actually do, and perpetuating FUD on what is an excellent change of policy.

Canada has always paid more money for less MS points, a cost of $1.43 per 100 points instead of $1.25, even when our dollar was stronger. Sony has never had different pricing for Canada in the PSN store. For 7 years Canadians have paid a 14% premium for achievements instead of trophies. And because most game journos are U.S. based, Microsoft almost never gets called out on it. (lookin' at you @patrickklepek ;) And before the obvious question comes, no, Canucks cannot redeem 1600 point cards even if they shop cross-border. Canadian denominations were region locked and price fixed, whether on a card or in the dashboard. Again, even when our dollar was stronger. Points are how they get you. :P

Here in the Pacific Northwest, I see gift cards for sale for less than their prescribed value only one day every year: the Friday after American Thanksgiving.

In regards to the people who claim this is bad news, because stores will not not sale cards for less than their face are not paying attention. iTunes gift cards go on sale all of the time for less than their face value. In particular, $50 iTunes gift card will often go on sale for $40-45.

I doubt the "normal consumer" is the kind of person to hold out for those point bargain opportunities. More likely, they see a game they want, and want to play it right way; they pay the standard price for points and potentially end up with points left in Microsoft's system - which is what MS wants of course. For the sort of person that might only buy a few download titles a year, it doesn't make much sense for them to buy points in bulk when a deal comes around if they don't know whether anything will come out for which they can use those points.

Second, in place of getting discounts on points, MS will likely just adopt Steam style frequent sales and price drops. Meaning, for those patient enough to wait for deals, they'll still be paying less for games regardless, except now in a non-obfuscated manner and without worry of having money tied up in store specific currency

"But I get discounts on points" isn't much of an argument for a points system; it's like you guys think discounts will cease to exist in a world without points.

Yes. On June 1, 2015.

Guys, I just want to point at that before the change, an item on the marketplace would cost a flat dollar if it was 80 points. I tried to buy a Rock Band track today that was a dollar before the change, and I only had a dollar in my account. Guess what? That shit now has fucking tax applied to it. So I can't just spend my dollar on a RB track without adding more funds. That is all kinds of fucked.

Yes

Judging from the beta they do not have a wallet like Steam and PSN.

I expect us Europeans getting fucked over in the currency exchange even more now.

With points, I could order cards and codes online instead of paying the ridiculous prices in my home country. On Amazon (US), 800 points costs $9.99, on Amazon (UK), it costs £6.87 (~$10.70), while the cheapest I could find where I live equals to $13.50 (the average price is about $15.50). Now, I have to pay using local currency, so I expect double the price on all DLC and other XBLA content from now on.

Real example of this fuckover: Payday 2 costs $34.99 on US Xbox Live, and ~$58 here. Meanwhile, retail price is ~$40.

I hope MS ships lube and knee pads with the new Xbox.

You mean like there are never deals on iTunes gift cards? Oh wait, there totally are..

You mean like there are never deals on iTunes gift cards? Oh wait, there totally are..

Canada sounds like Sweden, only you don't have a UK to buy codes from. And now we won't either. And we have been/will be paying $1.72 per 100 points. Hurray.

Now instead of getting two dollar's worth of points left over, it'll just straight up be two dollars. Hurray.

People save more than two dollars by purchasing a single 1200p game using discounted points cards. For me it's $7.

I predict being less inclined to buy stuff on Xbox Live.

But until then I'll snag some codes while they still exist. Will try to have them last for the remainder of the 360's lifespan I suppose. Probably around the time the Xbox One launches, summer 2014 maybe?

@ll_exile_ll: actually they do, in new zealand we have on several occasions now sold 20 dollar itunes cards for 15 dollars.

this may not happen often or be a common world wide thing, but it can happen

@keres: i assume they dont want to store money for you.. so once you use it up you wont be adding money to a cart, rather paying for things in full.. at least you wont have random scraps of points laying around that youd use for avatar trash cos it was too little for anything else

@keres: i assume they dont want to store money for you.. so once you use it up you wont be adding money to a cart, rather paying for things in full.. at least you wont have random scraps of points laying around that youd use for avatar trash cos it was too little for anything else