Microsoft thought about that, but...no one really seems to care about the cost, it is still really popular. If they lose membership due to price then they will lower it or make it free, but unless we start an XBL boycott then nothing will happen price wise.

because its great, but its not a service worth paying for. Also anything free is better.

"elbow said:

"Second rate service. I could understand paying for them to actually host dedicated servers for all of their games, but that just isn't the case. Besides you gotta pay for everything else, so what gives?"

Second rate? Given that it's by far the most reliable online service for consoles as of today, that makes it first rate. I think you mean PSN is second rate, and for that I am prone to agreeing.

Dedicated servers are absolutely not necessary whatsoever for the vast majority of games. When P2P doesn't work as intended (as was the case with Gears of War), that's an infrastructure issue that can be solved while still using P2P."

"To be honest, I don't have any problems with paying. Paying a fairly small amount every year is fine by me. Perhaps when PSN offers just as good of a service, then maybe I'll feel like complaining, but at the moment, I'm fine with it."

because its FREE on pc and ps3

"because its FREE on pc and ps3"

I think it should be free now because PSN is catching up. Nintendo... your just ****ed! I love smash but your service is so awful...

XBL lag free, thats a laugh. Every internet service or online game in general encounters lag once in a while, but XBL encounters it plenty just becuase of the whole host bandwidth thing, and um..by dedicated service I'm guessing you don't mean servers, because that isn't so. And we don't pay for live for a reason, we pay for it because microsoft like they've been for years since the first shitty windows came  out, are money grubby, and want to get every last penny out of everyone. To the people that think its truly worth it, thats great for you, but there are plenty of us that don't... as I said above, the possibilties of online and ways to extend a game on the PC exceed anything XBL will ever do since its a closed network, but thats just me, I actualyl like to get my moneys worth out of games.

"I do not mind paying $50 a year for it. After comparing it to PSN and the Wii's online, I will gladly pay $50 a year."

"Yes, you are correct, every service that is online encounters lag once in a while, which is exactly what I said. The majority of people who use Live experience it lag-free with minimal connection issues. Also, service and server are two totally different words with two totally different definitions, but you know that, obviously.

Funny you say how "shitty" Windows is, yet I guarauntee you are using it right now, or use it to play PC games on. If it's so shitty, where is your alternative? I'm not defending Microsoft's OS, I'm merely pointing out how intriguing people's logic and reasoning can be these days.

I've yet to see a reason stated why Live should be free, other than "<insert here why> Microsoft is greedy." The extremely miniscule fee that is being asked for in return for the service that is constant;y updated, maintained, and evolving is in my opinion, as well as in the opinion of ten million other subscribers, worth it. If you are one of the few people who has their own money to pay and doesn't think so, then don't pay and don't sign up; no one's loss but your own."

XBL should be free because i am already paying for an internet connection and now i have to pay to USE the internet connection i mean come on