GTFO!

By Joseppie July 24, 2009 47 Comments

Kotaku just ran a story detailing the price of a number of soon-to-be-released avatar clothing for the Xbox 360. The majority of the items shown are related to specific games like Fable II and Halo with a few options from a brand called Recessionista that I've never heard of. Basically, Microsoft is trying to get users to pay to advertise their products while they're on a paid service to begin with. I'm not doubting the cleverness of this on a business level. It's a genius business idea, but there's a lot of business ideas that work well in theory but are totally bootsy in practice.

This arrangement creates nothing but animosity and resentment in me. It's an extremely arrogant move on Microsoft's part. However, the sad fact of the matter is simply this: probably about 30-50% of Xbox Live users will buy something from the initial offering of clothing. The revenue generated from that 30-50% will most likely turn a decent profit. The fact that a profit was turned will cause this trend continue and the majority of the clothing will continue to cost money. And all the whining and complaining from people like me will be worth exactly squat.

And so it goes...

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