" Eventually all prices rise. He just stated the obvious, and as Microsoft sure loves their money, it would be only natural for the price of Live to go up.   I didn't feel that as anything mindblowing.   About bringing the PC gamers, Microsoft has been on the market and as their policy to make advantageous deals for them and the developers they work with. Look at Activision, Rockstar, Remedy, Bungie, and that's what they are continuing to do. I don't think much will change, apart from the introduction of Kinetic.  "

"  Pachter is a charming idiot.

PC is a genre, lol. "

Eventually all prices rise. He just stated the obvious, and as Microsoft sure loves their money, it would be only natural for the price of Live to go up.  
 
I didn't feel that as anything mindblowing.  
 
About bringing the PC gamers, Microsoft has been on the market and as their policy to make advantageous deals for them and the developers they work with. Look at Activision, Rockstar, Remedy, Bungie, and that's what they are continuing to do. I don't think much will change, apart from the introduction of Kinetic. 

He's also the guy who said Mass Effect 2 wouldn't sell, right?

" yeah that guy actually knows what he is talking about. "

I never expected this to happen;  I thought that the price would eventually decrease. 

I like Michael Pachter. He's awesome.

I love Pachter. He does a good job of...doing his job as an analyst, but he's also become one of the best personalities among the games press.

I do like him as a person.
But come on, he makes so many calls one is bound to be right.
 
The latest I remember is "We'll see a Wii HD at E3"

When most people think of high prices, they either think they are getting screwed out of a deal or they think whatever has such a high price must be amazing.  Microsoft must be thinking most PC gamers have the latter type of mentality.  If you think about it, a company called Microsoft is probably taking basic principals of microeconomics (which talk about what the individual consumer would want (and expect) out of a deal) into account in all of their business decisions.  Microsoft has to think this way: if PC gamers have a mentality that "more money means more content", then that's more money for them.  
 
So there ya go: Micro$oft thinking about their wallet.

The only reason I can see Microsoft raising the price on Xbox Live is to make up for the cost of running Xbox Live. Just like how all the publishers raised the price of their games from $50-60 to make up for the costs to make the games. Still, it's considered a bad idea because we all know it doesn't cost as much to hire IT people to run the servers compared to hiring developers to make the game.

" Man I'd love for them to get him in for a Bombcast. "

Pachter gets a lot wrong, but give him credit for when he's right on. I don't think any of us can do his job any better.

The $10 is just extra profit. There is no grand plan here.

He's an economist so see's things in the long run rather than the hyper short term that most of the gaming industry and media seem to operate in.

They are just testing the waters. They want to see how far they can bend people over and have there way with there wallets before people say enough is enough.

" Man I'd love for them to get him in for a Bombcast. "

He Reliable.

 Pachter is a charming idiot.

" @GreggD said:

" @Claude said:

" Actually, I like Pachter good for him. "

So do I. "

I even watch the Pach-Attack. "

Man I'd love for them to get him in for a Bombcast.

Just wait till he gets one tiny miniscule detail wrong and everyone will be shitting on him again.

" @Claude said:

" Actually, I like Pachter good for him. "

So do I. "

yeah that guy actually knows what he is talking about.

I wasn't expecting a price increase till next console. But man, Microsoft has quite a bit of balls to do this.

Talking about it with my friend, the conclusion we came to was that this money is going to go towards landing exclusive deals again, something Microsoft did a lot of early on, but something you don't see as much now. 
As for Pachter, he's not always right, but it's always kinda funny when he is. Can't wait for Wii HD to be announced for Christmas. 
Also I need to stop playing Persona 4... I keep thinking it's November when it's still August.

" I ignore everything he says. "

" Actually, I like Pachter good for him. "

I ignore everything he says.

This is where Pachter does his best work.
 

This is where I don’t see the logistics of this argument, at least brought into fruition with today’s announcement. If what Pachter said is true about Microsofts intent, wouldn’t this be counter-productive? Wouldn’t increasing the price of entry into a multiplayer experience (when PS3 or PC does it for free) only hurt the entrance of new consumers coming over? Even so, Microsoft has stated that they want to bring more PC support to the board. Maybe this whole 10 dollar increase is money they can put towards that, although I doubt Microsoft is struggling.