Xbox Live Gold not needed for Free-To-Play MP, No Price Changes [2021-01-22]

[liams]

No, I mean I was fully expected from the dropping Gold for F2P or multiplayer eventually. What I do not understand is that move with the 2x times increase and then backpedal.
If it was Sony I could understand because they could get away with that, but MS? I could understand if they just increased the price or merged with GP basic + 1$ or something...But acting like this? Very perplexing?

Satya's pay is linked to game pass subs, maybe he pushed for it? make gold the same price as game pass basic then in a couple of months just merge live gold and game pass basic together and allow online multiplayer at the base level game pass?

Like most of microsofts consumer efforts it was poorly communicated/planned

 

[cheapchips]

They likely planned to remove Gold from F2P games in time for Halo Infinite, just not to announce this pre-planned move this early. They were kind of force to let that bit out now to generate positive spin and not just neutral backtrack spin.

Infinite's setting an odd precident for packaging f2p, unless there's an existing example. It's a full price game with a separate free multiplayer game. If you have the full game with multiplayer, it's not technically free.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

make gold the same price as game pass basic then in a couple of months just merge live gold and game pass basic together and allow online multiplayer at the base level game pass?

That was what could be passed without much of backlash. In fact XBLG and GP are not in a sense are conflicting with each other.

And that's why the price increase and the backpedaling makes the situation perplexing. They even delivered items with the new prices to the shops.Weird.

 

[BRiT]

They even delivered items with the new prices to the shops.Weird.

Very weird indeed. I forgot about the physical products they most likely shipped out already. I'd like a post-mortem tell-all expose about what actually happened behind the scenes.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Very weird indeed. I forgot about the physical products they most likely shipped out already. I'd like a post-mortem tell-all expose about what actually happened behind the scenes.

Exactly. As far as I know people learnt a little bit about price increase from retailers that leaked the prices on Reddit or something. Then MS announced that.

I could understand if they did not backpedal but they did in a less than a day. Absolutely head scratching. Cannot believe that such thing was possible from the current Spencer's leadership.

 

[BRiT]

I think it was pressure from elsewhere in the company because if it was a genuine universal push for adjusted prices they would have stuck with them.

 

[iroboto]

I think it was pressure from elsewhere in the company because if it was a genuine universal push for adjusted prices they would have stuck with them.

my emails

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I think it was pressure from elsewhere in the company because if it was a genuine universal push for adjusted prices they would have stuck with them.

Then I wonder from whom. GamePass was growing nicely even without that...And Spencer demonstrated that he is kinda understand the gaming public.

 

[AzBat]

Infinite's setting an odd precident for packaging f2p, unless there's an existing example. It's a full price game with a separate free multiplayer game. If you have the full game with multiplayer, it's not technically free.

It can still be a separate download & be free. Then it can be bundled free with the single player that needs to be purchased. Just look at Call of Duty War Zone & Call of Duty Modern Warfare.

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

Tony Polanco from the Throwdown Show (freelances for PCMag too) I think had a simple plausible answer: price increase came from Microsoft execs up high & not necessarily from inside the Xbox team. The latter would have known the fallout it would have caused.

Tommy McClain

 

[BRiT]

my emails

I meant to go for the price adjustments in the first place. Not to return to normal with no adjustments.

 

[iroboto]

I meant to go for the price adjustments in the first place. Not to return to normal with no adjustments.

yea no clue what the thought process was there.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Tony Polanco from the Throwdown Show (freelances for PCMag too) I think had a simple plausible answer: price increase came from Microsoft execs up high & not necessarily from inside the Xbox team.

This is how publicly-traded companies work. The VP executives (Phil Spencer at Xbox, Jim Ryan at PlayStation) have so much management sway but if the owners of Microsoft and Sony - represented by the Board of Directors on behalf of all shareholders - want change, they can just make that happen. If execs don't like this, they are welcome to leave.

I'm sure many a VP has sat there objecting and being overruled knowing that an public backlash will result in a swift u-turn, allowing this nonsense to play out. I've been there myself. Then you get the lunacy of having to explain why you didn't object more to the stupidity in the first place. It's really the ultimate *facepalm* territory.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

price increase came from Microsoft execs up high & not necessarily from inside the Xbox team

But it does not explain how they were able to deliver Xbox vouchers with new prices behind the scenes.

Though it sounds like the court intrigues or something. Really fascinating. But higher ups really should not touch Xbox for now. Xbox literally has no Sony's level of sway in media and among gaming to pull the stuff like that.

I've been there myself.

You were VP exec?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Though it sounds like the court intrigues or something. Really fascinating. But higher ups really should not touch Xbox for now. Xbox literally has no Sony's level of sway in media and among gaming to pull the stuff like that.

Compared to Microsoft, PlayStation is a significant profit centre for Sony.

You were VP exec?

Don't get too exited, when companies are smaller the term 'VP' is basically meaninglyless.

 

[AzBat]

But it does not explain how they were able to deliver Xbox vouchers with new prices behind the scenes.

Though it sounds like the court intrigues or something. Really fascinating. But higher ups really should not touch Xbox for now.

How is this hard to understand? 12-month subscriptions were EOL officially from last Microsoft summer. That's why there was all this talk about Gold going free. Never entered our minds it was EOL to bring about 6-months subscriptions at the same price as 12-months. Anyway, MS execs could have told Phil(Head of Xbox) early last year: you can have your new system launch but after the Holidays you need to increase the Live Gold price to ensure Game Pass is an even better value. Phil probably had no choice in the matter. The cards had to be printed way in advance in order to make it to retailers this week. My idea is that the early leak of the retail cards kind of forced them to announce it Friday. I suspect they planned to announce it for February 1st like Brad Sams had heard.

Tommy McClain

 

[liams]

But it does not explain how they were able to deliver Xbox vouchers with new prices behind the scenes.

Though it sounds like the court intrigues or something. Really fascinating. But higher ups really should not touch Xbox for now. Xbox literally has no Sony's level of sway in media and among gaming to pull the stuff like that.


You were VP exec?

He doesn't mean that Phil and friends didn't know that this was coming, but that they were affectively powerless to stop it. I think that's an overly forgiving theory

 

[BRiT]

If anyone has worked for a US Bank or Financial Institution before 2010, there's a good chance they were a VP at some point. They tended to hand out titles like crazy but held back on the raises.

It was beyond hilarious when some newish hire or person you hadn't dealt with before would try to flex by replying to an email, include his higher ups (to intimidate), and his full email signature of being a Senior Engineer whatever, just for me or the other in my department to respond including our full email signatures showing VP or Associate VP which was 4 or 5 levels above theirs and our Immediate Manager who was their bosses bosses boss.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Compared to Microsoft, PlayStation is a significant profit centre for Sony.

What I mean is Xbox as brand cannot pull stunts like that. They have little to none presence in Europe, and Playstation slowly destroying them in Xbox.

Anyway, MS execs could have told Phil(Head of Xbox) early last year: you can have your new system launch but after the Holidays you need to increase the Live Gold price to ensure Game Pass is an even better value. Phil probably had no choice in the matter. The cards had to be printed way in advance in order to make it to retailers this week. My idea is that the early leak of the retail cards kind of forced them to announce it Friday. I suspect they planned to announce it for February 1st like Brad Sams had heard.

Tommy McClain

But you could know that such idea would backfire among XBLG holders from the mile away. Those execs should really leave Xbox alone for now, because that only create trouble for Xbox brand for now. I they loved Mattrick though.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

How is this hard to understand? 12-month subscriptions were EOL officially from last Microsoft summer. That's why there was all this talk about Gold going free. Never entered our minds it was EOL to bring about 6-months subscriptions at the same price as 12-months. Anyway, MS execs could have told Phil(Head of Xbox) early last year: you can have your new system launch but after the Holidays you need to increase the Live Gold price to ensure Game Pass is an even better value.

Due the the dynamic nature of the market, Microsoft could well have had far less advance notice of this desire for change. If Microsoft's significant shareholders where having a bad quarter and wanted a quick change in business practice they are less likely going to interfere with the golden gooses - Windows, Office 365 and Azure - and more likely to influence the less prominent business centres.

Microsoft's management team is there to deliver the priorities of the shareholders. Unless they are also significant shareholders they themselves have no authority. The balance is share holders appoint a management team that deliver the share holders aims and trust them to manage that.