Everyone's favorite professional "blow hole", analyst Michael Pachter has a new rant over at Gametrailers and it was edited down on 1UP.com.  Pachter believes that because of Microsoft's position in the console market, they are purposely downplaying the PC gaming market.  He believes this is to hook gamers into Xbox Live where they can charge for any and every service a gamer might desire.  With new additional content and features being added to the XBL service, Pachter then suggests that in a few years, Microsoft will reset the price for the service.  The example he gives is moving from $50 to $100.  By then, he contends, gamers will be hooked into the service and be unfamiliar with other options for multiplay gaming. 
 
So the question then is, considering all the added features and I am certain, more in the future, would you be willing to pay more for Xbox Live than the current suggested fee of $50?  I know, price varies from country to country, but assume the question applies to whatever funny money you use in your homeland.   Would you pay $60, the same as a standard new game?  A $100, as Pachter hypothesizes?  Or, do you think that if Microsoft raises the price any more than what it is, you'll quit the service for a PC or other console?

I think Microsoft will lose customers if they do that, considering the free alternative of the Playstation.

I also saw this on MaximumPC and was going to post something about it also. I think I would start buying multiplayer games for PC if they jacked the prices that high or consider getting a PS3 because that is just not worth it. Maximumpc article here.

Literally the only thing they could is offer consumers a Platinum subscription, whereby you get priority in matchmaking and online, better deals of the week, a discount on Avatar clothing, themes and gamer pictures, the integration with Twitter, Facebook and all that other jazz, Netflix/Sky TV integration and a bunch of extra stuff. Obviously that would suck, but it would suck less than the lowest price point to playing online is $100. Gold accounts need to stay the same and at the same price with roughly the same features list. The features list of the free PS3 service starts to look very favourable against $100 for Xbox Live.
 
Seriously though, I'm having a hard time justifying Gold at the current price point, considering how infrequently I play games online. Raising the price would be just about the worst thing imaginable.

Absolutely not. I would not pay $100 a year for the privilege to play online.

My parents are already paying £5 a month for XBL, if they had to spend more then this would mean they'd have less money to buy me more games! This makes Hobo, sad.

It'd still be less than WoW... so probably. $8.30 a month isn't terrible.

As much as I love Xbox Live, if they raised the price I would be probably be done with it.

I like where $50-$60 stands at right now for a year, I basically have to pay $5 each month and that's cheaper than having to pay for WoW. Granted it could be better if they lowered the price, I have no trouble forking over money for Xbox Live. People justify that the service is too expensive or should be made free, blah blah blah. It would be nice to make it free but Microsoft will unlikely do that since they love screwing over their consumers and milking money off them. A price increase would be unlikely seeing how PlayStation Network is starting to improve on its features and its free.
 
And for people who do bitch about XBL; then just don't get it/don't get a 360. Go get a PlayStation 4 or a PC or a Wii (its free right?).

I don't even use gold

If they changed it to $100 i'd force myself not to buy it. I'd want it, but i'm not paying that much for something that doesn't really have that much over psn anymore. The only real difference i've noticed now is the partys. (which i love by the way lol)

That's an absolutely horrible idea.

" Everyone's favorite professional "blow hole", analyst Michael Pachter has a new rant over at Gametrailers and it was edited down on 1UP.com.  Pachter believes that because of Microsoft's position in the console market, they are purposely downplaying the PC gaming market.  He believes this is to hook gamers into Xbox Live where they can charge for any and every service a gamer might desire.  With new additional content and features being added to the XBL service, Pachter then suggests that in a few years, Microsoft will reset the price for the service.  The example he gives is moving from $50 to $100.  By then, he contends, gamers will be hooked into the service and be unfamiliar with other options for multiplay gaming. 
 
So the question then is, considering all the added features and I am certain, more in the future, would you be willing to pay more for Xbox Live than the current suggested fee of $50?  I know, price varies from country to country, but assume the question applies to whatever funny money you use in your homeland.   Would you pay $60, the same as a standard new game?  A $100, as Pachter hypothesizes?  Or, do you think that if Microsoft raises the price any more than what it is, you'll quit the service for a PC or other console? "

It's already too much. I'm only going to buy it because I want to play MW2 and Super Street Fighter IV on it. If I had a PS3 I'd play online games on there and stay silver on Xbox.

It's already bad enough they charge people for something that's done free on both PSN and Steam; it doesn't need to get more expensive it needs to be made free.

" It's already bad enough they charge people for something that's done free on both PSN and Steam; it doesn't need to get more expensive it needs to be made free. "

I think its retarted we're paying now, I wouldnt pay any more. Especially since Sony offers the exact same service for free. I'll never understand these idiots that think because you pay Microsoft for XBL your getting something better. I still have all the same problems on XBL I get on PSN. Your fucking stupid if you think that money helps run something, unless you consider Major Nelson and those other social rejects that have videos posted on XBL that tell you a bunch of shit you probably already know worth your dollars.

Fuck no.  Already pay $49.99 + $99.00 every 12 to 16 months to get the 360 fixed.

I'd pay fuck all to play on Live. Which is why I got a PS3. Being a PC gamer I'm just used to playing without paying.

I'm content with the price point right now - it's only around 3-4 dollars per month. That's about the price of a coffee and donut, or a burger. Per month. It only seems big because you need to pay for it all at once - but then once you do you don't have to worry about it for another year. IMO, it's really not that bad at all. Not to mention the service is tons better than other online services and gives you access to SO many things.  
 
@Warfare: Why do you spend $100 to get it fixed when they do it for free...?

i wouldnt be willing to pay anything for xbox live.

I would pay a little more, but not much, for these features:
 

• 5 - 10 pieces of free Avatar Marketplace items a month.
• Able to make other profiles on my 360 Gold accounts.  (for example, if my wife wants to play online, I should be able to make her a gold account on my 360 without paying another $X.XX to do so.)
• 1 - 5 free premium themes a month.
• Ability to delete achievements for the purpose of:
• Doing some really fun ones over again.
• removing games you didn't like off your gamerscore.  For example I didn't like Mass Effect and got 1 achievement with it before getting rid of it.  Now it's stuck there, taunting me.  I should be able to delete that if I want.
  

It should be free, hell if it was I'd probably just buy a new 360 this year instead of a PS3.

No. $50 is far too much in the first place. I already spent $199 (admittedly, I should have gotten the Arcade) for the console, $99 for the wireless adapter to get online, $30, I think for the hard drive (the dinky-ass 20GB one), $5 for an HDMI cable, $20 for a headset, and $20 for the charge thingy. At this point I've already spent $370 dollars on a single gaming console, not even including games, and yet I still have to pay $50 a year to play my games online, but even then the dashboard is doused in ads.
 
If MS increases the price, I'll just not play my 360 online at all, and get a PS3 for that instead. I was already planning on getting one. Xbox Live isn't exactly awesome sometimes. Especially when I get into a game with screaming pre-pubescents. I regret the shit out of spending the $50 when that happens.

I'll tell you how it works. When Microsoft first came out with Xbox Live poeple were real iffy on paying the $50 a year, but they did it anyways. I'm assuming this will go onto their next console. People still want to play with their friends and have the same content so they'll cough it up. So I will tell you the same thing I tell my friend about kids. You won't  do it now. But when it comes around you'll deal with it.
 
P.S. I'm not bias. I don't even own an Xbox 360 anymore. So all you PS3 fanboys. Don't start. Just please, don't start.

" @mordecaix7 said:

" I would pay a little more, but not much, for these features:
 

• 5 - 10 pieces of free Avatar Marketplace items a month.
• Able to make other profiles on my 360 Gold accounts.  (for example, if my wife wants to play online, I should be able to make her a gold account on my 360 without paying another $X.XX to do so.)
• 1 - 5 free premium themes a month.
• Ability to delete achievements for the purpose of:
• Doing some really fun ones over again.
• removing games you didn't like off your gamerscore.  For example I didn't like Mass Effect and got 1 achievement with it before getting rid of it.  Now it's stuck there, taunting me.  I should be able to delete that if I want.
  

"

And lets just give you £20/$30 odd pieces of shit, which we will charge you £20/$30 for that shit, Then why would you not just buy that crap for yourself, and Microsoft barely let anything out for free anyway, They may as well pay for the Gold anyway as they would lose less money "

Would you be willing to pay more to be kicked in the balls?

Nope more and more I'm migrating over to all my online being on PSN. If MS wants to blow all the good will they accrued this generation just as Sony is turning the tide on its public perception then they are free to shoot themselves in the foot.
 
Pachter hasn't been right on most things he "predicts". I seriously doubt this would ever come to pass. I think he almost likes to pull things out of his ass just to rile up gamers and get his name out there more.

It should be free anyways considering the competitation. My next console will be a ps4 as you will make up the extra money you pay for it  with free PSN. Then of coarse if XBL becomes free i would buy an X-box whatever Degeeres

With PSN catching up quickly I'm increasingly unwilling to shelve out 40$ for xbl each year. In fact, I downgraded to xbl silver for a few months before renewing it recently.

Heck, man. I hardly even use Xbox Live even though I pay $50 for it. $100 is out of the question.

They can put it to $1,000,000 a year, I'm sticking with my free Playstation service : )

4.99 a month is all I would pay and no more.  I would go silver on that choice anyday!

anyone who is forking over 50$ or more a year for XBOX LIVE right now is aware of other multiplayer options.

I pay for the game. I pay for the system. I pay for the internet. 
Not a cent more.

No, it's already over priced, and the content you get is pretty lame overall. Microsoft need to maintain the current cost and offer more incentives to remain on or move onto Gold, because the current ones are shit. 

I bet theres a ton of people that would still pay it, kinda depends if Microsoft wants people to hate them or not.

No i would not spend more money on it. I have a hard enough time figuring out of i want so renew my gold membership or not. I had subscribed for 5 years, and i don't feel that i have gotten anything for that money. 
 
Where i live there is no movie rentals, no Netflix. Only thing i pretty much would pay for is game demos and the right to play online, which is bullshit. And after i got my PS3 a little over a year ago, its been even harder to justify the price of live.

" No i would not spend more money on it. I have a hard enough time figuring out of i want so renew my gold membership or not. I had subscribed for 5 years, and i don't feel that i have gotten anything for that money.  Where i live there is no movie rentals, no Netflix. Only thing i pretty much would pay for is game demos and the right to play online, which is bullshit. And after i got my PS3 a little over a year ago, its been even harder to justify the price of live. "

With the amount of advertisements they shove down our throat already on that thing, hell no.

I am not willing to pay anything, let alone more. 
 
I have had 2 x 1 month free trials of Gold and they were barely used.  Actually, they weren't used at all.  I am not interested in online, and even less so when paying for it.