corduroygt
Banned
Yes, but at 1000% markup.
Xbox live family plan this Nov $99.99
- Thread starter eastmen
- Start date
If you don't use it that much shouldn't it be up to you to decide when you should stop buying it ?
I pay for netflix streaming at $8 bucks. I don't use it as much as others do that pay $8 bucks. Should netflix offer plans from 1 cent up to $100 bucks to accomidate everyone ?
Does it matter what the mark up is ? Live is as low as $3 bucks a month which is the price of a medium coffee at starbucks. Its not like they are charging you $50 bucks a month. To me its worth the match making , friends lists , acess to messages on my pc and phone , acess to my friends from my phones and pc while they are on xbox , chatrooms , cross game invites and other things in the service. Its obvious worth while to alot of people t that place
corduroygt
Banned
Unless it's something you can't live without, the markup matters for the savvy shopper. And yes, you can live without any games or consoles. If live was sold at a reasonable markup, it'd be less than $10/year and would become so much more attractive.
The $3 per month times 100 months for a console generation and you have $300, it doesn't matter much to me that you pay this over time or you might spend 1000's of dollars in games as well, that's a $300 that I won't spend on unlocking software on the console that I already paid for. On the contrary, I might spend that $300 on something that you deem completely unnecessary...
Well it's certainly worth it to many Americans and Brits so they pay for it. For the rest of the world, not so much.
Not sure what your point is with regards to deciding to stop buying it?
I'm saying i'd rather have the choice to pay by how much I use it, rather than a subscription system. That's hardly a new concept.
You mention netflix, is there not an option to just pay per movie? (I don't know as we don't have it here).
In the long long ago, video stores used to charge you a rate per dvd per day, So you were paying proportionally to how much you used their resources. They then realised that lots of people weren't coming in all that often and so they weren't making money off them. So they decided to try a subscription method whereby everyone pays all the time whether they used the service or not.
Now this was great for those that used to come in every weekend and hire 10 dvd's or for those that didn't come very often but continually forgot to return the dvd's as they now just paid a flat rate. But for those that watched one or two movies a month, it was much worse for them.
But the whole video / movie thing is mute anyway. You don't have to pay more for each person watching the movie do you?
Yes so I don't get your complaining about the price. I'm not sure at what price point you'd be happy and not feel ripped off. I also don't see what a savvy shopper will complain about. If your not savvy your paying $8 a month through xbox live. If your savvy you get it for $3 . To me that sounds like a savvy shoppers wet dream.
Yes , I'm sure MS is crying all the way to the bank on that one.
The fact of the matter is that payin for online and online content is the way foward for two console makers. Its not going to change at all.
Yes, I pay my internet service provider to play online, thankyouverymuch.
I won't even bother with the cost of messages, achievements, etc as those are done free on the PC--oh, and Xbox Live has *advertising* on the dashboard. Some nice revenue there.
I don't care what the MSRP is. What I care about is real world cost--a real world where I just bagged a Gold card for $29. A family card makes no sense.
Worse is the point you avoided: If I have 4 family members we cannot hot-seat our Avatars/GTs. We are NOT just paying for Live Online play, MS is really pimping the cost of Live for an avatar and stat tracking.
Next thing you know you will be defending $179 hard drives...
Not really. Free dedicates servers, free DLC (aka mods), free voice chat.
But nice try. Live is good for those who don't want to deal with the hassles of PC gaming (and there are quite a few) or have games they want that are not on the PC. But peak experience in most PC games is better than Live, mainly because it is free AND the gameplay experience is better.
But I don't think the PC, as it stands, is a good general consumer experience. I think Live is a good platform with excellent integration. But for "Hard Core Gamers" the PC offers better gameplay in supported games... and it is free. And it isn't like Xfire and Steam suck, quite the opposite.
But I don't see how the service that costs money, has more lag, and has fewer players online beats the version that is free, less lag, and has more players online. Maybe in Bizarro World where game experience is subjugated to platform experience. But then again I quite love Windows 7 and Media Dashboard.
There are plent of pay for PC games. WOW being one of them.
So your bitching about MSRP but then you don't care about MSRP ? Which is it ? Your obviously supporting my claim that MSRP is not what you will pay for this card as you don't pay $50 for your current live
I'm not sure what your talking about. I can switch between GTs easily here. If you don't like the service why are you on it to begin with ? There is a free (for now) alternative with the playstation.
Never had a problem with the 120 gig at $180 . It was more than big enough before game installs when you factor in the fact that MS let you redown everything as much as you wanted.
There are plenty of games that don't have free dlc or need third party programs for voice chat. Many of which might require server costs for the chat. MMORPGS cost $15 a month for stat tracking . The cost of live is more than offset by the cost of keeping a computer up to date to play games.
But pc gaming has other costs far greater than $3 a month. In fact to stay competitive on the xbox 360 yo udon't need to invest after buying the 360. In fact it will be at least 6 years before a new xbox comes out. On the pc you often need upgrades every year to stay competetive .
Cost of entry. I play mostly on my pc. However alot of my friends don't have the time , money or knowledge to play on the pc. For $3 a month I get to play with them that makes me very happy . The fact that it reaches out in a way that other free services don't is a plus.
The fact that you can't see the value on this family plan is a bit perplexing. You might want live to be free, but it wont be because many people find it worth the low price of admisson and that group is large enough for ms to listen to . It wont help that PSN + is coming.
I don't mind paying for Live at all. I have a problem paying more for the same service than someone else.
If player 1 plays for 8 hours online they pay X.
If player 2 plays for 4 hours, then their son plays for 4 hours they are paying 2X for the same service from Microsoft.
Now to even complicate it further:
If player 1 plays 1 hour each on 8 games then they are costing microsoft 8 times as much in terms of server allocation (unless they have some awesome server load balancing), yet pay the same as player 2.
How is that good value for player 2 again?
It is absolutely about perception of value, and I don't think it's good value. If you do, good for you. I'm not complaining about YOU having to pay more
Silent_Buddha
Legend
The point he's making is that unless you want to pay MSRP it's quite like that the Family plan will be able to be purchased at a similar discount as the single play. So 29 USD for 1 person versus 58 USD for 4 people possibly.
It's all up to the retailer how much he wants to cut into his own profits, MS gets the same money either way.
As to server costs and what not. If people are getting the 1 year card for 29 USD, it's pretty much certain that MS is getting less than that per card.
Regards,
SB
Svensk Viking
Regular
I can't get how people are liking and defending this
I have an Xbox 360, and if I get a Gold subscription on that, it is only for the Gamertag I bought it from...It should be for ALL people playing on the console
That people actually accept and that some defend that you pay for each individual GT despite them being on the same console, I just can't get that...Guess that also shows why MS can continue being the only service not having online play for free though
I have an Xbox 360, and if I get a Gold subscription on that, it is only for the Gamertag I bought it from...It should be for ALL people playing on the console
That people actually accept and that some defend that you pay for each individual GT despite them being on the same console, I just can't get that...Guess that also shows why MS can continue being the only service not having online play for free though
corduroygt
Banned
So you had no problem paying $180 for something that's worth $50. That $3 for Live is competing with FREE on every other game platform (wii, ps3, pc) and while the integration is better, it fails on not having dedicated servers for multiplayer. WOW does not even compare, since it's a game, you don't get a game with a Live subscription.
Servers, etc. cost money for MS to keep up no doubt, but judging by the insane profits they make with subscriptions, I'd say they don't cost more than $5 per player/year. Same with overpriced hard drives and wifi adapters.
I guess you're a MSFT shareholder and want MS to rip off the consumer as much as possible, because as a consumer, there is simply no reason to defend Microsoft's accessory and Live pricing.
All free on PSN for all my family
All the families that pay more than $100 py to play on XBL can celerbate together...all 10 of them.
Exactly, I'm a casual gamer - I could go mths without playing online, all the time my sub is running out while I subsidise mr unemployed who plays 24/7.
but to get that price you have to sub for a year...for casual gamers and families the current setup is miles from ideal, either charge per console or 'pay as you play' - I'd gladly pay £1 each time I want to play online for (say) an 8 hour window.
I don't mind paying for Live at all. I have a problem paying more for the same service than someone else.
If player 1 plays for 8 hours online they pay X.
If player 2 plays for 4 hours, then their son plays for 4 hours they are paying 2X for the same service from Microsoft.
Now to even complicate it further:
If player 1 plays 1 hour each on 8 games then they are costing microsoft 8 times as much in terms of server allocation (unless they have some awesome server load balancing), yet pay the same as player 2.
How is that good value for player 2 again?
It is absolutely about perception of value, and I don't think it's good value. If you do, good for you. I'm not complaining about YOU having to pay more
Do you have cable tv ? Do you watch cable tv as much as me ? IF you don't , why do you spend so much on it. Shouldn't it be cheaper for you.
The fact is , its a fixed price. You have to options , pay for it and try and get the most you can for that $3 a month. Or don't buy it.
I'm not sure why you believe that. I have cable tv to my house. It should be for all my tvs. However I have to pay extra for each tv I add.
The hardrives were more expensive. But at the time the 120 gig drive came out , 120 gig laptop drives were still above $80. Add to the fact that on the xbox 360 its a simply click into its spot on the top of the console instead of the hoops you have to jump through on the ps3 and to me its a good deal. Yes I can easily instal the hardrive in a psp. However I know many who have no clue how to do it nor have the other required parts to get it down and back up the original data , while on the 360 its a simple process to do.
MS may make good money on the platform , but they also pour money back into the service , its why even 5 years later its the best online console experiance of the 3. Its why netflix apeared on it first , its why facebook and twitter and zune are all on it. Its a great service and I don't mind paying $30 for 12 months which is $2.30 cents a month. For them to continue to invest in the platform and continue to keep it the best there.
As for the wifi adapters. I admit they are expensive , however the adapter was an a/b/g adapter . Even now the $100 for a 5ghz wireless N is not pricy esp considering its unavalible on any of the other systems.
No , I own no stock in MS . I only have Nintendo stock at the moment
Svensk Viking
Regular
You have extra TVs, not extra Xboxes...It's not as if your company allows only you to watch TV, but MS however, only allows your Gamertag and no one else's to use Live, despite them being on the same console
because its the gamertag that is linked to you , not xboxs. You can have 40 xbox 360s and use your gamer tag on all of them.
Not sure I see your problem other than you wanting to make a mountian out of a mole hill.
I have the option of choosing the channels I do pay for, I also have the option of buying early release movies / Events, and I do not have to pay seperately for when my son comes in after me and watches something else.
Sure, and if I had a second xbox connected I would expect to pay for another account on that.
I have no problem with the cost of microsoft HDD's. Yeah sure I'd like to pay less, but if having a custom firmware etc adds to security and provides for a more consistant experience then fine. They can set the price to what they want and I'll decide to buy it or not. This is different than having to pay twice for the same service though.
But you have a standard monthly bill no matter how much or how little you use it , nor does it matter how much others use it .
You do actually remember your post don't you.
Your paying not for the xbox or acess to the xbox. Your paying for acess to the online functions . So its tied to your gamer account.
You can play as much as you want on the 360. If you want to acess the server then each unique gamer tag pays for it.
I see nothing wrong with that
Similar threads
- Poll
