Microsoft Raising Xbox Live Subscription Cost

XBL made 1 billion dollars last year. They have the money.

" @Venatio said:

" Fuck You Microsoft  That's all "

Because you know, increasing the charge doesn't mean they'll add anything new, and we all know bandwidth is free, right, wink wink nudge nudge "

I'm officially done with Xbox Live as a Gold member. This isn't the catalyst, a mere $10 more per year. But rather the straw that broke the camel's back. There aren't any new or exciting features for Gold members (that i use). I don't have the time for multiplayer games, so really I'm just going to benefit myself with this.

The real rub for me isn't necessarily the price hike but the way it's being pitched.
 
Major Nelson tried to spin it as the price has been $50 since Live rolled out.  Since it's inception, so many new features have been added.  While this is true - most of these features are garbage.
 
You could take away twitter, facebook, and last.fm I don't think anyone ever uses them.  Unskin Zune Marketplace and move it back to Video Marketplace.  Avatars were added but we're paying money to support out avatars (should we choose).

"  MS: "We are making billions in profit of XBL!" Xfans: "Woohoo! Grats!" MS: "Now give us $10 more."      "

That's really not that bad. I'm pretty sure I can handle paying 10 extra dollars for another year or two of xbox live. If that small of a price increase is going to make you people broke, then I feel sorry for your financially situations. Is everyone here working in sweatshops?

Well I don't have a xbox360 and if I do I will factor Xboxlive to the cost. I always wanted them to drop the price of it (maybe to half price) before I sign on to it, rather they didn't the opposite and raised the price. I will not support this and I guess they lost a potential customer in the future.

I'm not even in a region affected by this and I'm outraged. They might as well send Ballmer around peoples houses to kick them in the balls then shake them upside down until coins fall out.

Bad form Microsoft.

" I like how the Article forgets to mention the 12 months subscription stays the same. WAY TO GET DEM CLICKS GIANTBOMB. "

" @Jeffsekai: Why are we supposed to be happy with the price increase just because we're paying the same amount that people in Canada are? That makes no sense at all. A price increase always sucks, people shouldn't just be happy with it because their paying the same as another country.  And if you don't like the articles on Giant Bomb, leave. You're part of the reason why Giant Bomb has the worst reputation among all of the Whiskey Media sites. Your mindless hatred towards people is ridiculous. "

I just fired off an email to Major Nelson, letting him know that all this has done is resolved me to not renew my Gold subscription, and in the future when a game comes out that I know I will want to play online, I will just buy the PS3 version. 
 
And since I'm not an online Halo player, this shouldn't be particularly difficult. 
 
- Scott

I already planned on not renewing this year because I didn't feel as though I was getting much of anything with Gold. With 1 vs. 100 gone too I'm certainly not going to bother.

The funny thing is that people will still buy it. 

Thank god i don't play online, great job Microsoft.

Fucking dammit! I'm defecting to PC and Microsoft drove me to do it!

*insert Darth Vader NOOOOOOOOOOOO image*

The future flop of the Kinect is now cemented in history.

I just cancelled the automatic renewal for my XBL account. In the past few months the only online gaming I have done was on the PS3 anyway.

I'm really sick of these companies raising the prices just because they can. The post made by Larry Hyrb says because they've added a ton of value to Xbox...its a ton of stuff YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR to use. My Live membership expires in December, I won't be re-newing. I've always thought that the Peer-to-Peer service was a fucking bogus thing to pay for, now this gives me another reason to not re-new it.

While yes i will pay for it, there is no justification for this, what was it like 750 million in subscription fees last year? They are just money hungry. 

Man, whats with the Canadians being such jerks? More money is more money. You guys might be use to already paying this much, but don't tell me you wouldn't be angry if Microsoft says "Oh yeah, and those Canadians are going to pay an extra $10 too".

All those people saying they're going to boycott... remember when you said that about Modern Warfare 2 lol. 

As far as I'm concerned the gaming industry as I loved it is dead. Trying to suck every penny out of every gamer is just but one of my beefs. I'm all for paying my way, but everything just keeps going up, with little consideration going into why costs are spiraling out of control. For a moment one might fucking think about government and tax dollars, always going back to the troff to feed its unending need for money.  It's not simply about cost and revenue, it's about financial management. With corporations around the world get a failing grade if we're to believe they actually compete with each other. Of which I do not.
 
"  From a logistical standpoint, how do you up the price from your competition right after they some out with their paid online subscription?" 
 
Because it's a fucking cartel. It's the same reason Rogers Wireless (in Canada) said they were doing away with free unlimited incoming texts to compete with Bell and Telus that began charging for such service. Logically one would think such a feature would be a boon to ones enterprise. If you look at their cell phone plans, each provider has the exact same offerings, the exact same options and the exact same strings. They're just worded differently. It's a fucking joke, and so is this.

" The real rub for me isn't necessarily the price hike but the way it's being pitched.  Major Nelson tried to spin it as the price has been $50 since Live rolled out.  Since it's inception, so many new features have been added.  While this is true - most of these features are garbage. You could take away twitter, facebook, and last.fm I don't think anyone ever uses them.  Unskin Zune Marketplace and move it back to Video Marketplace.  Avatars were added but we're paying money to support out avatars (should we choose). "

" XBL made 1 billion dollars last year. They have the money. "

Meh, it sucks that I will pay more, but less than $1 per month more isn't that big of a deal for me.

 Oh noes, another 80 cents a month.
 
For my money, the outrage over so small an increase is probably worth my entertainment dollar alone.
 
Finally, the math on the per-month cost works out to an even 5 bucks a month.

Facebook, Twitter, Gameroom, Last FM, and whatever crap is on the dashboard now is fucking useless.  I seriously can not see how any of that would make MS any money.  Nobody uses them, and now they are continuing with this ESPN nonsense.   
 
Until last year, Xbox was the way to go.  It had better games, better online, and wasn't the price of a small car.  The games on PS3 have gotten better, It's online has improved drastically, and it's the price a video game console should be. 
 
I understand why MS charges for XBL.  MS makes money off of online gaming while Sony losses money because of it.  But seriously, stop wasting money on bullshit that none of your customers even hinted at wanting and then make them pay MORE for it.  If they want to turn XBL into some superfluous entertainment media hub, by all means, charge for that shit.  None of that has anything to do with fucking online gaming.  Make it free or stop with all of this useless crap.

More than anything I'm just confused as to why they would decide to do this now.
 
With all the shit talk surrounding the price and missing features of Kinect, the grumblings surrounding the standardization of the 1200 price point for arcade titles, and the dwindling list of system-defining exclusives you'd think they might want to hold off until things cool down a bit before dumping more fuel on the fire.

this is just bad businesses Micro$oft what are use thinking

This is fine. With all the services that are being added like ESPN and with the stuff that has been added in the past, it was bound to happen. To me, it is still the best network to play on a console. I'll just have to stack up on a few years at $40 and worry about the extra $10 later.  
 
I just hope that certain games don't start charging subscriptions because that would really blow.

I've been making the rounds after hearing this news and the results are about 75-25 against MS. 
 
I can't understand why people think XBL is so great. Is it because paying for something guarantees XBL being "truly righteous" over the free PC, PSN and Wii services, which does the job in a no-frills manner? Is it because they don't want the teenage boys they game with to ostracize them? I don't get it. 
 
What has MS ever given their clan? Horrible XNA stuff like Yaris? Discounts? Free copies of games nobody would want? 
 
I told people that as long as you give your money blindly to MS, they can do whatever they want. I didn't think they would ever pull a stunt like this but it doesn't surprise me. 
 
In the end, it won't matter. MS gamers won't abandon XBL and the 360. The world revolves around their 360 and they aren't going to give up that lifestyle. $10 is nothing. 
 
As a Canadian, I'm not going to pay $60 for a stripped down service. Either give me the same stuff as the Americans or "fuck you".  
 
Again, if any Canucks are reading this: only the monthly subscription is going up and real XBL users wouldn't be paying $10 a month, they would be paying for 3-month or 1-year subs.

I really hope that come November 1st, none of the complainers will be on Xbox Live. Welcome to capitalism. Simply vote with your wallets and stop complaining.

I'm not outraged, but I don't play Halo, I don't play COD.. maybe I don't need Xbox Live Gold Membership? This is at least getting me to think about whether the service is worth paying for or not. So far I'm not coming up with much. 
 
EDIT: Maybe a NXE that's not inundated with ads and a complete mess to navigate, that I'd pay for. But not holding out much hope for that anytime soon.

" Wow, you really are a bunch of whiny idiots. Something goes up by less than a $1 every month and you are talking about canceling your subscription? Pathetic. "

" @EveretteScott said:

" @Venatio said:

" Fuck You Microsoft  That's all "

Because you know, increasing the charge doesn't mean they'll add anything new, and we all know bandwidth is free, right, wink wink nudge nudge "

What kind of an argument is this?  Bandwidth isn't free?  FIrst of all, Microsoft charge companies for bandwidth consumed be people downloading their demos and games from the XBL service.  Microsoft don't pay for that.   And online play doesn't use MS bandwidth either. Secondly, such things are provided as a FREE "service" on PC's and PS3's, once you've paid for your internet connection.   Thirdly, major bandwidth users like Netflix already have an additional subscription cost over and above your XBL Gold cost.  Microsoft have added nothing that justifies a $10 price increase, and most of the worthwhile things they have added comes with an additional subscription fee anyway (Last.fm & Netflix, for example).  The reality is that if MS didn't hold your ability to play games online hostage by forcing people to buy XBL Gold, most people wouldn't buy this shit at all.  - Scott "

It's ten dollars extra per year. Come on guys.

hahahahahaha!

" Now US will pay almost as much as Sweden always has done.  Aah, sweet justice. "

Wow, some people are really getting retard strong in here. 
 
IT'S LIKE 80 CENTS A MONTH. 
 
Go look on the floor of your car for change and you might be able to find the extra money for a few months worth, christ.

Fortunately I've got the next two and a half years of XBox Live Gold booked, for free as well. At that point the next generation of consoles will probably be close to being announced, making this a non-issue for me. Besides, I rarely even play online anyway, so I wouldn't pay for the service even at the old price.

Really doesn't bother me at all. I do it monthly, and an extra pound a month is an entirely inconsequential amount of money.