" @louiedog said:

" @Hamz said:

" I still don't understand what paying for Xbox Live actually gains you to make it worth the cost. What exactly are you paying for here and why exactly are Microsoft raising the price?  "

The Guild, ESPN, software for Netflix and Last.fm, video content like Inside Xbox, enforcement team, etc. I'm not justifying it, I'd rather pay 1/3 the price and just have gaming, but that's where the money goes. "

I don't know what The Guild is, but all those other things are free or part of the services subscription on the internet and other machines. "

@PrivateIronTFU

" @louiedog: Well, obviously you wouldn't buy a Coke if it was $10 dollars more expensive. These are two different things. Unless that Coke lasted you a whole year. Then it might be similar. But my point was that people who have good experiences with Xbox Live will be fine with paying an extra 83 cents a month. "

" @louiedog:  I'm such a lucky dog to be paid until the year two thousand and stupid and have seen this coming and as such stockpiled until 12 years after the year two thousand and stupid. "

" Well, I guess I'm done playing on Xbox LIVE. "

So wait we in Europe don't get screwed over. 

Whaaaat!!! Thats 2 pints of beer I can't have next year...

" @louiedog: You know what? Your'e right. My PS3 is from early 2007, has never given me problems, and has equally as good multiplayer. I'm on my third Xbox, and almost never use Live. But dammit all to Hell, I wanna play Halo Reach. Well know I don't know WHAT to do. "

 Luckily I have to renew in like a month so I'll keep my lower price until next year. I'm a reasonable person, if XBL doesn't add anything or improve in a year then I wont be renewing. No need to get angry, show your displeasure by not paying, but then again it's microsoft...

Look on the bright side, maybe this will get rid of all the 12 year olds.

I really don't see the need for MS to hike the prices! If they were doing this to counter-act making Kinect cheaper or to use the extra funding in order to bring new features then I wouldn't mind as much.

" WHAT THE FUK THIS SUKS?  
 
But seriously, 10 dollars is nothing if you care about multiplayer on the xbox. I pay double that price(60 dollars) to play World of Warcraft, and I'm sure there's people just as crazy for Halo or MW2 as I am for WoW. It's frightening to see gaming becoming more and more expensive like this, but it's sadly the way it's going.  
 
At the same time, it's wierd that Sony offers their online service for free and Microsoft can't. I mean XBL users do receive unique demos and such sometimes but it happens pretty often for Playstation owners too, especially now with Plus. That said 60 dollars a year isn't much. I spend more than that almost every month for new games. People like to blow minor increases like this out of hand without comparing it to the reality. If its such a biggie just lay off $1 from your food budget every month and bam, you got the money needed for this and 2 dollars extra! Since people whine about 10 dollars then surely 2 dollars must be quite a lot too? Yeah. Thought so. "

Is anyone worried that Video gaming is going to be an expensive commodity?

I want to say Im done with Xbox live but I know I will renew that stupid shit. It not worth the money at all. The only thing it has over PSN is that it is slightly more streamlined, but it's not like Xbox live parties cost Microsoft money. There absolutely no reason for the price hike other than sure greed. Twitter and Facebook won't have added to anything to costs seeing as their already free, same goes for last fm which is of no value on consoles because you can't multitask. Netflix is something you already have to pay for so the same applies. 1 VS 100 is gone so that can't be a reason. ESPN is only available to people who get there internet from these ISPs so once again this is not a valid cause for the price rise abroad. And to top it off people in the US already have to endure dozens of ads.  
 
Fuck Microsoft. 

It is always a sad day when a game company (software/hardware) decides to increase its profit at the expense of its customers and the CUSTOMERS oblige by staying loyal to a brand name that cares little about them.   

"

OH NO TEN DOLLARS 

 

WHAT FUCKING MANNER OF WITCH CRAFT BE THIS

"

" You have to expect things like this, it is Microsoft. I like how he waited until the end to name the UK and USA, since they're the most populous, and probably the most mad.  Does this have something to do with the voice chat update? Even if it is, they don't need a price increase. It's not even worth what it is now. "

Unless the XBL service improves dramatically I can't really see the need for this increase in price.

Wow. This is pretty dumb. Considering I don't really get anything out of xbl gold, I'm not going to renew anymore. Not because I can't afford it, but because Microsoft has no real justification for doing this. And I have a PS3.

I'm paid for well into next year, and when it expires I might just go without, hoping Amazon has a 30 dollar card at some point.

I only use the 1 month free gold I get with new games anyway, so whatever.

" @PrivateIronTFU said:

" @louiedog: You know what? Your'e right. My PS3 is from early 2007, has never given me problems, and has equally as good multiplayer. I'm on my third Xbox, and almost never use Live. But dammit all to Hell, I wanna play Halo Reach. Well know I don't know WHAT to do. "

I'm right there with you. I'm not going to stop subscribing when my time runs out, but I don't like it either. "

"Unless the XBL service improves dramatically I can't really see the need for this increase in price. "

*SIGH* 
 
Sadly, people have to justify the reasons they buy Product X.  
 
For $59.99 CAN + HST, I really can't see why I would need to buy something I only use sporadically.  
 
$10 is nothing but it seems a lot of people are angry over it. Maybe they are finally realizing why some people refer Microsoft as Micro$oft?

I'm not sure why so many people complain about this. It's common knowledge that discounts and credits happen all the time for Gold memberships, you can get a good amount of it foe cheap if you look hard enough.

It's 10 fucking dollars more. Meaning if you save 80 cents a month, you will be able to pay the extra money. Honestly, the Internet just likes to get itself worked up about really nothing.

I got a bunch of Gold Membership cards at Circuit City for dirt cheap so this really doesn't effect me until 2015 or so.

My live subscription goes into like June of next year, so that's good, I'll be able to play MvC3 and Gears 3
Not sure if I'll renew it after that
I just want to hear their reasoning, if it's a good  reason I'm fine with it, if it isn't, then...............

" I don't think it's THAT big a deal, as most retailers already discount the price.  This has probably been done to bring the cost back up to what it's actually supposed to be. That being said, I really can't understand why they'd do this.  With PSN growing in features and users, you'd think they'd be trying to give people more reason to keep their Gold subscriptions.  This isn't going to help MS at all. "

It doesn't affect me directly since I've paid through 2014 (paid about $25 a year average), but it seems like a bad decision.
 
In these economic times, to be considered a platform that will continue to raise its rates over time...  That will only turn potential buyers off the platform.

Things that are not cool:

• Cable bill increases, with no added services
• internet rate increases, with no added services
• phone rate increases, with no added services
• insurance premiums increase, with no added benefits
  
• credit card% increase, with no added services
  
• tuition increases, with no added services, buildings,
  

While I fully respect, applaud and appreciate the fact this topic was created first I am locking it down in favour of the news article posted by the staff covering this. 
 
Please check it out here and continue your discussion in the comments section.