Pachter: Xbox Live Gold Will Get More Expensive

[HaloHappy]

The only way I see this happening would be an illegal Monopoly of the game consoles. If Microsoft do do this, I garun-damn-tee everyone they'll lose half their subscribers in less than a month. I mean, why do that when PSN and Wi-Fi is free?

 

[skywalkerlion]

Uhh, then bye bye Multiplayer.

I'm sure as HELL not gonna pay 100$ for a year of a game I already bought, which is already 60$ on the table.

And if a 'platinum' comes around, I better still have EVERYTHING I payed for before in Gold. Cause Multiplayer is all I do in a game, really. Taking THAT away is bull.

 

[EricKINGS]

That would just be plain old stupid.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

It seems that everyone in the Console Wars has been infected by the "Dumb Dumb" Virus.

Sony is making things at HIGH prices
Nintendo Raised the Price in the UK and lowered it everywhere else
Microsoft is gonna charge more for XBL

What's Next? Is Sega going to make a return to the consoles?

Actually, as long as they fix sonic, that would actually be pretty damn good.

 

[Zaksav91]

Doubling in price!!!! If microsoft does that I would probably stop using my 360 and just go and game entirely on my PC. They might even lose me to Sony if I ever did want another console.

 

[ae86gamer]

If the economy is great and everyone is rich then I wouldn't care. But its not, and probably never will be, so I doubt that XBL Gold will cost one-hundred dollars.

 

[brewbeard]

So he thinks they think they're not making enough money charging for a service that's been available free on the PC ever since its inception, eh? A service that they can only charge for because 360 owners literally have no other option? A service provided for free on pretty much every PC port of a 360 game (READ: most multiplayer 360 titles) in a marketplace where gaming PCs are becoming increasingly affordable?

 

[Pimppeter2]

I doubt it, but then again don't really care because I don't play online

 

[Dannie]

Uhhh. And I thought they were going to remove the fee completely like on wii and ps3.

 

[Deleted]

Better buy those one year cards now!

 

[ExplosionProofTaco]

It's like Microsoft is saying,
"We are tired of making consoles. Buy a PS3."

 

[Mr_spamamam]

If Microsoft could get away with it then they would. There are few companies who are so happy to make you pay through the nose for everything they can think of

 

[Plinglebob]

While I doubt Microsoft would increase the cost of XBL gold to $100 (though I do expect, like others, a platinum at this cost) I would not be surprised if they increase the cost by 20-30% over the next couple of years and they wouldn't lose a significant number of subscribers.

The first reason is they would do it so slowly you'd hardly notice and bombard people with PR along the lines of "Its never increase while costs and inflation have so we're now increasing to bring it into line with the rest of the economy"

The second reason is because the majority of people who have XBL Gold (if not all of them) have it to play online and to continue that, they would stomach a price increase. Remember, the majority of console gamers have just one console so quitting the Xbox to go over and play another console with a free service is unlikely.

 

[theultimateend]

I think Microsoft would make a fuckton more money if they instead dropped XBLG subscription to a tenner, or made it free a lá PSN.

As XBL already costs the same as a new game, it puts off many players. £100 for 12 months of play would probably kill off any gamers intent on subscribing.

Bad move, drop the price.

I don't know that it does. Gold was estimated at ~20 million subscribers last I checked, which is the majority of people who own a 360. So it seems to me that people are fine with paying <$5 a month. If that doubled, though? I'm not sure.

God I hope they triple it.

I want to prove to people that you can charge suckers any amount of money and they'll take it.

Now that isn't to say everyone on XBOX live is a sucker, that would be a dumbass thing to say, but I'm certain a large portion of the community would buy a mediocre game for 60 bucks, 80 bucks, or even 100 bucks. They'd also likely pay 100 bucks a year just for multiplayer when the features aren't changed (I'm sure it would happen). The amount of people lost would likely not put Microsoft under budget.

If Microsoft could get away with it then they would. There are few companies who are so happy to make you pay through the nose for everything they can think of

Yeah I can see how their systems being half as expensive as Macs is trying to get me to pay through the nose.

Plus their music service giving me a CD and access to a massive collection of music every month for the cost of a CD (and recently not even taking away my old stuff after my subscription ended) is them trying to get me to pay through the nose.

Lord knows that free antivirus I got from them specifically with Windows 7 (which I ended up getting for half as much as I've ever paid for a Windows OS and I could have gotten for free by taking one quiz at work) was them trying to get me to pay through the nose.

Likewise the dozens of programs I've gotten for free for either being in college or being a technician.

In fact other than XboX Live and their wireless adapter I can think of nothing off the top of my head currently where they are fucking me any hard than any of their competitors. Keeping in mind I no longer use live nor do I own the adapter, so I'd say they are doing fine.

Though I have heard horror stories of them charging schools for each copy of certain things at full price, but then again I never saw any evidence or news articles to back up those stories.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Yeah I can see how their systems being half as expensive as Macs is trying to get me to pay through the nose.

Microsoft don't make computers, so they don't have any impact on the price of those computers. Only operating systems.

And you can get OSX 10.6 full version for £25, whereas Windows 7 costs £70 or so retail.

 

[carpathic]

I couldn't care less if the price of XBL gold goes up. I won't pay extra to game.

I doubt I am alone on this.