Xbox Live Price Hike

[Teasy]

Joe

Wether this will or won't work out for MS wasn't the point of my post. I was replying to notAFanB who didn't seem to understand why people were annoyed about this situation. I was merely explaining why they were pissed off.

As for MS losing the most money per console, are MS's customers not grateful for that?.. I don't know, they became MS customers didn't they? Surely that's the sort of gratitude MS are looking for

Quincy

I really don't see what hte big fuss is over here. You have the same basic options in america

I'm not sure what options your refering to. Correct me if I'm wrong but there is no option involved here. What the letter says is that people's previous annual £39.99 subcription will automatically be changing to monthly subsciptions of £4.99. Which means basically the fee is going up from £40 a year to £60 a year.

As I said though please correct me if I'm wrong here.

 

[Qroach]

I just don't get why some of you here are thinking someone would get pissed over this. MS can't charge you for a full year if you don't approve it, and they purposely make the monthly price more expensive so you're attracted for a full year.

This is the exact way MS set it up here in north ameirca, ad I didn't see a whole bunch of people complaining. If you don't want it to be monthly, then you change it to yearly (the xbox even comes up with a screen for you to do this when your subscription is up) . I fyou don't want it at all, then you don't renew. Just about every pay website like that on the net works in a similar way. Monthly charges is always more expensive then the package deal.

 

[Teasy]

Quincy

So your saying that MS are automatically changing everyone's subscriptions to monthly. But that if customers choose to they can change it back to yearly to save the money?

If that is true then I agree, there is no problem. Is it definitely the case though?

 

[Qroach]

Teasy,

What the letter says is that people's previous annual £39.99 subcription will automatically be changing to monthly subsciptions of £4.99. Which means basically the fee is going up from £40 a year to £60 a year.

Yes, that's right. All you have to do is change it back to yearly when it prompts you. This only happens the first time renewal comes up now that I think about it more.

Well what would make you more angry?


Say you forgot about your subscription until mid of february and you really wanted to cancel. Would you be more pissed at MS for the full year, or only getting billed for an extra month?

So your saying that MS are automatically changing everyone's subscriptions to monthly. But that if customers choose to they can change it back to yearly to save the money?

Yes that's correct. I didn't realize you didn't know that. That's why I was so suprised at the reaction...

If that is true then I agree, there is no problem.

agreed.

Is it definitely the case though?

Yes it is. You just have to switch it back to a yearly subscription in the dashboard and that's it. This makes me think that the article writter didn't know what he was talking about (not suprise considering the site it came from).

 

[Reznor007]

I still don't know why MS is charging. They could get more users if they didn't have to pay just to get peer to peer.

Hell, Battle.net has been around for 6-7 years completely free, and it's not peer to peer(for Diablo2 anyway). Warcraft3 has a skill based player matchup and clan support and it's still free too.

 

[Qroach]

I still don't know why MS is charging. They could get more users if they didn't have to pay just to get peer to peer.

What's the point of having more users if they aren't paying?

You're paying for the place to find people to play against, the downloads (which are new courses and maps in some games), the stat tracking, tournament play, and actual prizes. Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me, at least not for the cost of one game a year.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

So your saying that MS are automatically changing everyone's subscriptions to monthly. But that if customers choose to they can change it back to yearly to save the money?

Isn't that what I said (and even linked to) earlier

 

[cybamerc]

Qroach:

> What's the point of having more users if they aren't paying?

What's the point of having a loss-making system?

 

[StefanS]

So your saying that MS are automatically changing everyone's subscriptions to monthly. But that if customers choose to they can change it back to yearly to save the money?

Isn't that what I said (and even linked to) earlier

The posted article was about the British Xbox live, the link you have posted was about the US. Maybe he wasn't sure about wether the same scheme was employed in the UK...

 

[jvd]

THank you joe , i will be here all night . Please tip your waiters .

 

[LisaJoy]

So why again are they paying more?

Test:

Ask your mom, on her own, to buy, set-up, and configure a PC (and then the individual games) so that it's rigged for internet play.

Then ask her to do the same with X-Box.

Which one is

1) Easier
2) Cheaper up-front costs

You have your answer.

The PC is obviously a better choice for hard-core internet gaming in terms of flexibility. It also has a completely different business model.

I am a mom, and I think you need to wake up and smell 2004, to hook my PC to the internet to you know how hard it was? take Network cable, plug it into NIC card.... open internet explorer.. BAM IT WORKS!!!!!

its called Windows XP, check into it.

and once its connected, I can surf the net, pay my bills online, shop, download demos..

and how much cheaper is it really if your paying a monthly fee? you might need to hit up Ibuypower.com, check the Budget AMD section, for $368 you can get an Athlon XP 2500+ system with an Asus A7N8X(highest rated) motherboard.. full system..granted it needs the video card to be upgraded, so tack on another $70 to make it a 9600XT
and for $430, you have a kicking gaming rig.
Xbox= $179
XBL Kit- $50
DVD playback kit $40
already at $269, add up that monthly fee, the price/performance ratio stomps that Xbox..add in the fact your paying $49 for PC games that sell for $15(ghost recon, Rainbow Six 3), and it really adds up.

I dont mean this to be a PC is better than Xbox debate(we all know it is), its not about that, its about jacking up prices for a subpar service that is free elsewhere.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

I am a mom, and I think you need to wake up and smell 2004...

I don't care if YOU are a mom. I said ask YOUR mom. And you ignored the issue of up front price completely, of course...

 

[Qroach]

What's the point of having a loss-making system?

That's where I think your comment is wrong. The xbox is not a service, It's a console. Xbox live is a service that runs on the console. trying to cross the reasoning for MS to lose money on everything they do with xbox wouldn't make much sense. We all know they lose money on the console to create brand awareness.

Let me put my original question differently. what would be the point of making a free game service when you plan to get them paying later? IMO, that would piss off customers far more then the way they are doing it now.

 

[LisaJoy]

I am a mom, and I think you need to wake up and smell 2004...

I don't care if YOU are a mom. I said ask YOUR mom. And you ignored the issue of up front price completely, of course...

I was too busy making out with yours..(J/K)

what does my mom have to do with it? on both systems its as easy as plugging a networking cable into the proper slot.... except my computer works on our Router and Xbox Live doesnt.

 

[Paul]

I was too busy making out with yours..(J/K)

 

[Joe DeFuria]

what does my mom have to do with it?

Because likely, she (assuming she doesn't read this forum) represents what the vast majority of parents out there are like, wrt to "l33t computer skillz". This includes knowing what a network cable is.

1) Again, you haven't responded to up-front cost
2) With increased flexibility of the PC comes by definition increased knowledge needed to use that flexibility. One of the advantages of Console Gaming in general is just "put the game in and turn it on." No different than console network gaming.

 

[DeathKnight]

You're paying for the place to find people to play against, the downloads (which are new courses and maps in some games), the stat tracking, tournament play, and actual prizes. Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me, at least not for the cost of one game a year.

This is what some folks need to get through their thick skulls before spouting off that Xbox Live is just a P2P service. It's a hell of a lot more than that (far, far more robust). If it was just a simple P2P operation then people wouldn't be paying for it.

This is a non-issue. End of story.

 

[Teasy]

Joe

As hupfinsgack said the link you posted was a U.S link. I thought you might just be assuming it was the same in the U.K, I didn't get the idea that you were sure of what you were saying.

Quincy

You just have to switch it back to a yearly subscription in the dashboard and that's it. This makes me think that the article writter didn't know what he was talking about

To be fair though the letter he quotes would give anyone the same conclusion if they didn't know for a fact that it wasn't the case:

Your subscription to Xbox Live(TM) covers 12 months of Xbox Live(TM) service for GBP39.99, VAT Included. Unless you cancel your subscription before the end of the 12 months, your subscription will automatically renew to a monthly subscription, and you will be billed GBP4.99 per month VAT Included until you cancel it.

That certainly does give the wrong impression. It doesn't even mention being able to change back to paying yearly, it just says you'll pay monthly until you cancel. So IMO the person to blame for the confusion is the person who wrote that letter.

 

[arhra]

The emails /were/ really badly written. The whole thing was a bit of a clusterfuck, really - they accidentally sent out emails saying £49.99 to some people, then quickly followed them up with a corrected version...

 

[cthellis42]

I would certainly rather they move me to a monthly subscription when the initial period is up than presume I want to move to a yearly subscription, but by the same token they certainly should be sure to tell a person notably beforehand when their period is almost up, and ALL the subscription offers they have. (As it could be different from region to region.)