Microsoft Points "Never Intended to Mislead People"

Greg Tito

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Sep 29, 2005
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Microsoft Points "Never Intended to Mislead People"



An Xbox executive admitted that paying for games on Xbox Live may include real world currencies in the future instead of the often meaningless Microsoft Points.

How many times have you wanted to purchase something on Xbox Live and wanted to just know how much it really going to set you back? I mean, what the hell is a Microsoft Point anyway? The obfuscation has led to any announcement of new games or items on the service immediately converting the Microsoft Point figure into a understandable currency. "Now available on Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft Points, or US $10." Back in June, Microsoft let up by allowing consumers to download games from it's Games On Demand service by using real world currencies. Aaron Greenberg, Xbox group product manager, said that Microsoft is working on introducing this to all of Xbox Live and that the Points were never meant to mislead people.

"I think people like to see the dollar amount. We never intended [Microsoft Points] to ever mislead people," he said. "I think we want to be transparent about it, and so it is something that we're looking at.

"There's more technical complexities to being able to put local prices in," Greenberg continued:

You have to do that for every product in very country and you then have to deal with currency fluctuations. So there's some challenges to that, but we absolutely did it with the Games On Demand, response has been good and absolutely it's something we're looking at doing.

The fact is that you've got to think that we have one service that we're offering around the world. The nice thing about points is that no matter if you're on the yen or the euro or the dollar -- something that's 200 points is 200 points everywhere around the world.

While I understand that with a worldwide service it is difficult to adjust currency values, this is Microsoft we are talking about. I'm sure they have a few computers to throw at the problem...

Source: G4TV [http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/701950/Microsoft-Provides-Updates-On-XBL-Friends-Cap-Listing-Dollar-Amounts-.html#ixzz0dk4GzhtR]

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Feb 13, 2008
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Greg Tito said:
While I understand that with a worldwide service it is difficult to adjust currency values, this is Microsoft we are talking about. I'm sure they have a few computers to throw at the problem...
*titters*
Said it better than I could have.
 

MurderousToaster

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Aug 9, 2008
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I never really cared about MSP, but I suppose it will make it easier and more understandable to buy things with realworld money.
 

UltimatheChosen

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Mar 6, 2009
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On the one hand, I think they're lying. On the other hand, if they switch over to just using regular money for direct payments, I'll forgive them.
 

Samurai Ralan

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May 8, 2009
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I just think they were more annoying then misleading. But then again the idea of points was helpful to say, pre-18 year olds, when you probably didn't have your own credit card. Could just go pay cash at a local Wal-Mart or w/e for a card.
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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Oh dear, this is code for 'we're going to crank up the prices outside of the US'

Much like when Valve did this with Steam*, we all know that 200points = $10 is going to equate to 200point = £10 or e10, price raise via the back door.


*In valve's defence the prices of their own titles is still roughly the same as the US$ price, but all the other publishers on steam wasted no time at all instating sterling prices to match the shops, effectively a 100% price hike at the time.
 

Brotherofwill

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Jan 25, 2009
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Isn't that the only reason to have a new currency system so that people aren't reminded what they are really spending? It's kind of like when the Euro was introduced everyone tried to shove their high prices down your throat while pretending that they weren't as high as they really were.

I had some experience with the system and think it's horrible with MSP as a currency. Much easier to have one like Steam or PSN.
 

LoopyDood

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Dec 13, 2008
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So setting up a system that would handle currency fluctuations for purchasing games was such a mindbogglingly complex task that they instead set up a system that would handle currency fluctuations for purchasing Microsoft Points?

Can't argue with logic, I guess.
 

SnootyEnglishman

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May 26, 2009
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I have a feeling that the new system will be even more confusing based the wording of the statement's given and how i read them.
 

Premonition

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Jan 25, 2010
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It's not like they are backed by one of the biggest computer companies in the wo .............. hmm
 

CyberKnight

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Jan 29, 2009
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LoopyDood said:
So setting up a system that would handle currency fluctuations for purchasing games was such a mindbogglingly complex task that they instead set up a system that would handle currency fluctuations for purchasing Microsoft Points?

Can't argue with logic, I guess.
The only defense I could come up with for the whole "points" system, was just shot down by this post.

Nicely done. ;)
 

Gildan Bladeborn

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Aug 11, 2009
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Will this move to non-fictional currency translate into "you can pay exactly what things cost, rather than having to buy 'points' in increments that are never equal to the price in points of what it is you wanted"? If so, I'm all for it, because paying Microsoft money for nothing is not particularly appealing, and I quite honestly think their explanation of why the old system existed is a load of crap.

See, the real advantage to a point system is that you have to buy them - and since it's a made up currency that Microsoft controls utterly, they also get to determine how you purchase points. There's a bloody good reason why things invariably cost more points than the smallest amount of points you can purchase, but less than the larger amounts - Microsoft gets all your money up front. Even if the item only costs $10, if you have to buy $12 of points then you just gave MS $2 extra. Of course you can redeem those points for other things, but finding items to spend your leftover points on is tricky since you probably won't have enough to get the things you want, and if you buy more you'll just compound the problem, but since you don't want to just let that actual money you've already given Microsoft up front go to waste, you'll inevitably do just that...

And suddenly you've spent way more than you ever intended to, all thanks to Microsoft not letting you pay for things directly. Systems of transactions should never resemble logic puzzles wherein you must juggle figures around until it you finally end up with your money's worth.

No, Live was set up that way precisely because it was confusing and meant giving MS money for providing you with nothing - if you only wanted 1 piece of DLC than you just gave them a mandatory gratuity for the privilege of selling you a product for all the other units of currency you already provided them with, and unless you ride the merry-go-round of arbitrary number juggling by giving them even more money, you won't ever get that money back. Either way, Microsoft wins and the consumer gets screwed.

[small]Just imagine if a retail store tried to pull that point crap when you took your items to the checkout to pay for them. If that wouldn't make you absolutely furious than there is something wrong with your brain, that's a scientific fact.[/small]

Thank goodness the PC consumer base, used to as we are forms of digital distribution that are not blatantly designed to rip us off, were having none of that - don't say we never did anything for you X-Box users!
 

geek.flip

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Jan 6, 2010
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But how are they supposed to be getting interest-free microloans when I no longer have some weird amount of points left over after turning my base 10 money into weird pseudo base 8ish points!

On the other hand, "Spend all my points on things I actually might have some use for so I don't have my money moldering" was a fun little min/max meta-game.
 

Woodsey

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Aug 9, 2009
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Where's the confusing?

I bought some the other day (no credit card to buy straight from XBL) and they cost me the exact price that it'd of cost to buy the things direct.

I can see it being easier if they value of the points is changed depending on where you are, so that 1MSP = £1 in the UK and in the States 1MSP = $1.
 

TheTygerfire

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Jun 26, 2008
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The only problem I have with MSPs is that 1pt. = 1.25 cents USD

That's not THAT confusing, but it would just be easier to make it 1 = 1 like, say, the Wii.

As for MS points, I love them, as my debt/credit cards are unusable.
 

Gildan Bladeborn

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Aug 11, 2009
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Woodsey said:
Where's the confusing?

I bought some the other day (no credit card to buy straight from XBL) and they cost me the exact price that it'd of cost to buy the things direct.

I can see it being easier if they value of the points is changed depending on where you are, so that 1MSP = £1 in the UK and in the States 1MSP = $1.
The confusing comes from the fact that the MS Point bundles are sold in increments that do not translate into the average cost of items on the Marketplace, so if you are a first time customer with no current MS Point balance, to purchase the average Arcade title means buying a point pack with too many points for just the item you wanted, but not enough left over to purchase anything decent unless you buy even more points that will still leave you with a remainder, and so on.

If you didn't instantly see exactly what was wrong with the point system the moment you first tried to use it, I submit you are almost certainly a teenager without access to credit cards, as that's the only demographic that actually benefits from paying to translate currency into a different and far less useful currency, given they can buy cards to add points to their accounts with cash from retail shops. But even then you're getting the same short end of the stick everyone else is, since the points still don't match up with the prices.

But since the current system lets you buy things online without having a credit card, you probably don't care as much about the obvious downsides as the rest of us do.
 

Verbal Samurai

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Dec 2, 2009
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They are probably lying about not wanting to mislead people.

Even if they weren't, they DEFINITELY wanted to make people spend more money by forcing them to buy more points than were needed to make the purchase they wanted. I call it the "gift card scam."