Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Your thoughts on the Xbox LIVE price hike



THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - Microsoft is raising subscription prices for its popular Xbox Live Gold online gaming service in the U.S. and three other countries.

Beginning Nov. 1, an annual Gold membership will cost $60, up from $50. A three-month subscription will cost $25, up from $20. And a one-month subscription will be $10, up from $8. Xbox owners mainly use the service to play multiplayer games such as "Call of Duty" online.

Prices are also going up for some membership tiers in Mexico, Canada and the U.K.

Larry Hryb, better known in gaming circles as Major Nelson and director of programming at Xbox Live, announced the changes Monday. He says Microsoft Corp. has added more content and services to Xbox Live since its 2002 launch. Until now, the prices have been the same.

Here's the official announcement: http://majornelson.com/archive/2010/08/30/price-change-for-xbox-live-gold-subscription.aspx

M4dski11z's take: I have been on LIVE for 6 years now and I have enjoyed the experience. I enjoy watching Netflix without a disc, I love getting on LIVE and chatting with friends. I even like checking my Facebook on LIVE. But - with the increase, which averages out to less than a dollar a month, will we get additional content? Granted, the price hasn't increased since the service came out - I had it on the original Xbox - and they have constantly added features at no extra cost.

I speculate MS is doing this to woo new Kinect owners, who will be connecting over LIVE to interact with other gamers and loved ones.

Is it a good move? I don't think so, but the service hasn't had an increase since it started, offers a good value at $50 per year and still attracts even more gamers every year.

Only time will tell if this decision by Microsoft will go down as a great success or a miserable failure.

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