What is the future of Xbox Live next gen?

Seeing as how the PS4 was just announced and their focus on online services, it got me to thinking about the fate of Xbox Live. Now this is NOT an Xbox vs PlayStation thread, so please leave that at the door. This is simply a question of where do you see MS online service going, and if they'll be able to get away with charging for a fee again like they did this gen.

Personally the only time I spent with Xbox Live was a free month trial I got, and in my opinion I didn't see anything that was worth paying for. Seeing as how the PS4 will probably have cross-game chat (the Vita does) and they will probably expand PlayStation Plus to offer more deals and whatnot, I really hope XBL improves and offers something better than it does now (In my opinion at least).

Also what if PSN remains free, along with Wii U and Valves Steam Box online services? That would make XBL the odd man out and I don't know how they will entice consumers into paying for something that is free everywhere else.

But this is just speculation on my part. What do you think?

i think they will continue to charge seeing as people are willing to pay. they're still the one man charging for a service.

i kind of don't see how people are buying into it. i use to pay for xbox live as that was the only console that i had, then i bought a ps3 as it went down on price, was surprised that it was the same thing just had to pay, cross game chat.

the free(sony) vs cost(xbox) was a big part of me going with ps3 last time around. I figure the PS4 will continue with the psn plus system, give people free online play and some stuff and charge for better deals and some other bonuses. Xbox is making millions of xbox live and there never seemed to be any kind of uprising againt it. I would assume xbox stays with similar method charging for live services. Its impossible for either of them to start charging after the fact so they both will have to say one way or another before launch. If xbox where to charge than they started to fall behind, they could maybe switch to free services to try and get more fans.

Microsoft is in the leading position right now, and I don't think anyone in the Tribe is willing to mess with something that is currently working. They will still charge for XBL, add more video, music, and social services behind the paywall, and use that revenue source to obtain exclusive games and content for their platform. Gamers might be the first to yell and moan the nickel and diming that Microsoft continues to do, but they are also the first ones to buckle and pay for anything Microsoft wants to charge simply because Game A is exclusive or Game B is the one that's getting all the DLC first.

All Microsoft really needs to do to preserve their pay-for-online model is add Steam-like XBLM sales for Gold members and everyone will be back on-board with happily paying for the service.

I think Microsoft might actually add online to the free memberships. Weekly deals, apps, and all the social features will still be locked behind a premium membership.

PSN I think will go down a similar path making all social features and that Gaikai streaming thing will require a Plus (or whatever they rename it to) membership.

My XBL sub recently lapsed; I felt it simply did not offer enough value anymore, especially when I don'ttouch my 360 for pretty big stretches of time. The lack of feature parity between the various territories is annoying as well. Sony's doing MP for free and i'm neither getting stuff similar to Plus for my Gold money, nor similar things to what US or even UK customers are getting? Good way to turn off loyal customers...

Ads and paywalls

I don't see them offering XBL for free as a lot of gamers still pay for the service and besides the Xbox 360 is already the only game console still charging to play online as oppose to the competition. What I would like to see is a PS+ like service of free games and good discounts to justify why someone like me who doesn't care about mulitplayer should subscribe to XBL.

I think the big thing for me is getting rid of the ridiculous ads. If I'm paying for Live, I don't wanna see ads. What the hell am I paying for if I least can't at least get rid of the damn ads. If you need to use ads, then put them on the xbox users that don't pay for live and those that do won't have to see the ads since, you know, their paying you $15 a month for a service. It would also be nice if things i already pay for weren't behind a paywall (netflix, hulu, etc) but I think they too much money from live to give that up. So get rid of the ads for live paying members and maybe take a page from sony and steam and starting doing flash sales, deals, or just give away some games and i think live will be ok.

XBL is already the odd one out, and really provides no reasoning for it costing money. It's a bad deal, the only reason people pay is because they don't really have a choice unless all their friends decide to change platforms. Xbox Live doesn't do anything better than the PS3 (well, unless you include party chat - I don't) and it certainly doesn't do anything better than PC multiplayer.