Microsoft Announces Price Hikes for Xbox Live
Bad news for Xbox Live users as Microsoft has announced a price increase for the service.
Microsoft's Larry Hryb, known to the Xbox Live community as Major Nelson, today announced that Redmond would be increasing the price for Xbox Live Gold members by an additional ten dollars. This brings the price for a yearly membership from $50 to $60 for U.S. gamers.
The good news is that the changes don't apply to all countries. The bad news is that they do apply to the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. All the changes are listed in the tablet below and will come into effect on November 1, 2010.
Major Nelson went on to say that those affected by the price hike might want to lock in their current price by renewing now. Doing so will get an additional discount, so click through to renew.
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Can't you get 12 month cards for $35 on amazon already? Either way, people are still going to pay for the service, no matter what MS makes it cost.
I was wondering where Microsoft was going to get the $1 Bil cash to market/postrelease develop the Windows 7 Phone. Poor XBox Live Users
Sigh I was hoping it was going to be a hike down. I guess their cash cow isn't putting out as much as they would like it to.
Looks like major nelson is going down to private nelson for the xbox live community...
Hahahahahahaha... and I thought people were chumps for paying the $50. I'm sure people will pay the $60, because they're idiots. Xbox Live is not worth $50. It's not even worth $5. It's worthless middleware that makes it easier to connect to other players and tracks stats. That's it. Not like they're running multiplayer servers for games, and it's not like they continue supporting their old catalog of games. Just ask the people with Halo 2 coasters. I don't care if people want to waste $5 a month on a chat service/marketplace. I just hate the precedent it sets for other companies who want to nickel and dime gamers, and chumps actually fall for it, while savvy players pay the consequences as well.
Wow that is an extra $200 Million a year for their coffers. Does it even cost them that much to operate the network?
when wasn't it 60 bucks? I live in Canada and its always been 60.
This is absurd. There should be dedicated servers for this price.
Steve Ballmer "We had to get the windows phone 7 investment from somewhere"
"Not like they're running multiplayer servers for games"
Yes they are, why else do you think that people with halo 2 cant play it online anymore?
...or as the Kin Team calls it, "Plan B"
boo! stop siphoning money from good projects and throwing it into the endless hole known as windows phone 7! I like windows decently enough, but it`s nowhere near modular or extensible enough to be an AIO solution.
Go go go PS3.. Free service.. ^^ No need to pay for playing games online!
"Not like they're running multiplayer servers for games"Yes they are, why else do you think that people with halo 2 cant play it online anymore?
There's no Matchmaking servers, but people could still play custom games if MS would let them and it wouldn't require anything from them really. Microsoft does NOT HOST DEDICATED GAME SERVERS. There's a massive difference. All they do is run the Matchmaking to connect random people. They don't have to do anything for custom games. It's pretty ridiculous.
ROFL
get pushed around because the people allow it
either people got to stop buying it and get force it free like GFWL or fear for future price updates
This was to be expected. I mean they improved it alot in the last 12 months, what with last.fm, facebook, twitter skyplayer and whatnot.
Oh wait, those are all already free? my bad. (not really)
Thank goodness I switched to a PS3 just in time.
it looks like I need to get a ps3, or just sell the xbox and buy a ssd
EPIC FAIL on Microsoft's part if you ask me. But I have never and will never be a XBL user.
And this ontop of the fact that PC's free, Sony does it for free, and so many other reasons the list can go on forever. $60 games, DLC just adds to the price gouging, outdated/expensive hardware, limited function/controls/settings, potty mouth teenagers...
well, my xbox isn't being used all that much..guess its time to unsubscribe for awhile..
Well talk about a big F U from microsoft to all those groups who have been promoting the idea of free xbox live. lol
Was considering canceling anyways... guess this makes it easier!
Last time I checked PC gaming networks were free? So is PS3's.
People need to realize what a cash cow this has become.
While annoying, and insulting, I will pay it. Why? Some of my favourite games are Xbox only.
But I just wish they would add a browser and bluetooth to the Xbox (bluetooth mouse/keyboard), and support for resolutions over 1920x1080 while browsing (but still locked to 720p/1080i/whatever for gaming).
Sony tried a browser on the PS3, but it's a truckload of fail.
Oh, and allow my to connect a 2TB 7200RPM Samsung to it...
Wow, bunch of xbox and live haters here. It's TEN DOLLARS PEOPLE, jesus. How about not going to get coffee for two days for an entire year, you just paid for the cost increase.
They want to charge you $60/year to access their network? It seems that they are increasing prices now BEFORE Windows Phone 7 comes out (which I imagine will require a XBox Live account to download and play certain games). $60 doesn't sound "that bad", unless you know it used to be $50 right before you bought your phone. I guess Microsoft's research has shown Win Phone 7 adopters will be big gamers.
You know, its understandable that they need to make money, but isn't that why they sell you the XBox and the Games and controllers and everything else? If the console could connect to the internet, stream Netflix, browse the web without a Live account, and maybe even play co-op/multiplayer over a LAN, then I could understand Microsoft charging to gain access to the community to do things like download games, use matchmaking services, or play on remotely-hosted servers. But to charge for the basic act of connecting the device to the internet (after they charged extra for the WiFi adapter in the first place) is just ridiculous. But I guess 20 million people don't care.
What I find the most sick about this is that you're only paying to access their network, but of course there are also rumors of paid subscription multiplayer... and what about those "Cerberus Network Access" costs for used gamers. I'd be "more" ok with a price increase on Live IF some of that would go to developers so that they wouldn't themselves have to milk the gamer for even more money on top of already paying a premium for Live.
BTW, PS3 is going paid too... and why isn't this happening in all contries yet?... because they're testing the waters. If we roll over and take this increase without so much as a whimper, they'll increase it accross the board.
Good thing I purchase my Live cards on sale for dirt cheap... you'd be crazy to purchase Live access directly from MS (same with MS points too).
Wow, bunch of xbox and live haters here. It's TEN DOLLARS PEOPLE, jesus. How about not going to get coffee for two days for an entire year, you just paid for the cost increase.
I'd rather burn $60 than give a penny of it to Microsoft. In fact, I'd rather donate $60 to Sony just because they at least have a free service. Even if Xbox Live were the greatest matchmaking system in the world, it still wouldn't be worth $60. It's a glorified marketplace and a dashboard loaded with advertisements. It's like if you paid $60 a year to use Steam on the PC. Or even worse, paid $60 a year to use IWnet (and if Activision has their way, you will).
What I find the most sick about this is that you're only paying to access their network, but of course there are also rumors of paid subscription multiplayer... and what about those "Cerberus Network Access" costs for used gamers. I'd be "more" ok with a price increase on Live IF some of that would go to developers so that they wouldn't themselves have to milk the gamer for even more money on top of already paying a premium for Live.BTW, PS3 is going paid too... and why isn't this happening in all contries yet?... because they're testing the waters. If we roll over and take this increase without so much as a whimper, they'll increase it accross the board.Good thing I purchase my Live cards on sale for dirt cheap... you'd be crazy to purchase Live access directly from MS (same with MS points too).
The difference with PS3 going paid is that multiplayer is supposed to still be free. In that case, I don't what compelling reason they'll have to make people pay for a service. But they said multiplayer would stay free so I still give them credit for that. I'm sure they're aching for a slice of that Xbox Live chump pie though.
Whats up with the recent flood of spammers? This is getting annoying XD
wow...when did I ever pay $50 for the year? Never. Buy.com and Amazon.com always has them on sales for $30 free shipping.