Rumor Mill: Microsoft Ditching MS Points

[Steve the Pocket]

Sounds legit. I know for a fact that the Windows Live Marketplace switched to real currency a while back; when I went to buy the Minerva's Den DLC for Bioshock 2 I was able to buy it directly with my PayPal account. I'd be more surprised if the other services weren't going to follow suit.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

So, they're switching MSP for actual currency? probably to get the most cash out of XBLA prices in Australia, and other places they overprice games.

I hear that! My son asked for MS points for Christmas and it ended up costing me a fortune.

 

[Torrasque]

If this does happen, it will be very interesting to see what happens to the current MSP that people have on their accounts.
I have <100 or so, so I wouldn't really care if they phased out my points without giving me my money back, but what about people who have thousands of points on their accounts?
Converting these back to dollary-doos will be a clusterfuck that I would love to see.

You raise a fair point. I have over 7000 points left.

Why so many points? =|
I only buy em 1k or so at a time and even then I quickly spend em on the thing(s) I bought them for.

What I've always found silly is that in most cases IRL, buying in bulk increases cost efficiency. I think there is only 1 case when buying MS points that you actually get a deal, and that deal is $.50
Which is why I buy my points in 1k bundles, lol (at least I think it is 1k bundles?)

 

[Doneeee]

I say good riddance. I think the whole system was pretty pointless from the start.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I never understood the whole alternate currency thing. All it does it make purchases inconvenient. People will always buy more stuff if it's convenient to.

It just meant they could grab more money from you.

I get that, but if you provide a more convenient way for people to purchase things off you, people will buy more stuff. That's pretty much the whole reason Steam is still running, it's just so easy to impulse buy a $10 game. With a points system, you're putting up a barrier that people have to get around.

 

[RamirezDoEverything]

I thought they were banning Live subscriptions when I first read it.

My boner is now slowly descending as I never even used MS points before.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Don't care. Xbox LIVE is still the biggest scam of this generation.

People really need to learn that there's a BIG difference between "something I don't want to buy", and "a scam".

Anyway, long as the prices of games don't change (don't go up, at least), I don't really see this as a big issue for me. Though I will note that anyone who can't do simple math to know that 80 points is a dollar doesn't deserve the money they lose. So I don't buy the "deliberately misleading" part of Microsoft Points. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but this is the part where I laugh in the face of anyone who tried playing the "when am I going to need to know this in real life" card in any math class, then accidentally bought a game that cost more than they thought it would.

 

[loch belthadd]

Good. I ALWAYS have 10 or 20 microsoft points I can't use for anything. It annoys me so much

 

[duchaked]

eh it's never really bothered me that much
I'm not much of an impulse buyer if that helps any

 

[Adam Galli]

I like the points systems so I can just go to the store and buy a card for MS points so I don't have to put my credit card info online.

 

[Suboptimal]

@Adam Galli: That´s why i hope that they just switch from points cards to "real currency prepaid cards" like Sony & Apple use them. I don´t like linking my creditcard info and / or paypal account...ect. to other accounts too.

 

[michiehoward]

This is total bullshit. MS will not force me to get a credit card if I don't want one, which I don't, which is why I purchase points!

 

[Strazdas]

unifying stuff into one currency, be it dolalrs or points is a good thing, as long as they dont brush the other currency off in "we dont support it anymore so what you had there is "gone"".

 

[wgmovies]

no dont do this microsoft i dont have a bloody creditcard and i dont want to buy one or get one to get extra bills

 

[ssgt splatter]

If this does happen, it will be very interesting to see what happens to the current MSP that people have on their accounts.
I have <100 or so, so I wouldn't really care if they phased out my points without giving me my money back, but what about people who have thousands of points on their accounts?
Converting these back to dollary-doos will be a clusterfuck that I would love to see.

You raise a fair point. I have over 7000 points left.

Why so many points? =|
I only buy em 1k or so at a time and even then I quickly spend em on the thing(s) I bought them for.

What I've always found silly is that in most cases IRL, buying in bulk increases cost efficiency. I think there is only 1 case when buying MS points that you actually get a deal, and that deal is $.50
Which is why I buy my points in 1k bundles, lol (at least I think it is 1k bundles?)

I get a lot of them for christmas and my birthday.

 

[Torrasque]

DAMMIT AMY IS NOT THAT BAD OF A GAME IF YOU THINK AMY IS THAT BAD OF A GAME, YOU ARE FIVE HOURS OLD.

Oh and yes, I look forward to the demise of MS points as well.

It tries too hard to not be like other survival/zombie games that it doesn't realize how similar it is to other survival/zombie games.
Played it. Got bored. Hated it. Want my money back.
Better than other games I've bought? You betcha. Still bad? Yeppers.
I think you're putting too much weight on the OP's disagreements with Amy

I get a lot of them for christmas and my birthday.

Oh I see. That is odd. Is it weird for people to buy you games and other things?