Microsoft explains why we have to pay for Xbox Live

You get pissed about paying 20 bucks a month for your internet to play games, when it's like 12 cents a day to play Xbox Live? Oh no...

A hobo could afford Xbox Live, being serious here. 50 a year? 50 a month would be bad, 50 every six months would be bad, but 50 a year? Nah, that's awesome. The service they provide is miles and miles above what Sony provides. Trust me.

[QUOTE="c0mplex"]

[QUOTE="ditcohomies"]My personal opinion: paying is a good thing for the simple reason of keeping some of the lifeless ******s that love to ruin the online experience for everybody else. Pretty annoying when you're having a good game and somebody quits or runs their mouth and doesn't care because it's free. Sure some paying customers do it anyway, but at least with a fee it reduces it somewhat. ditcohomies

i guess you don't play Gears, huh?

:lol:

Gold members get the ability to play online, and that's it. I find it funny how people here are actually justifying spending money for basically nothing. Sure it's only $5 a month as some of you put it but I bet most ofthe same people saying this wouldn't donate $5 to a charity every month. Servers do not cost Microsoftthat much money per year, people.

Let us not forget all the downloadable content you are paying extra for as well. Are you guys trying to tell me that they alone wouldn't cover the costs of server maintenance & profit? What about XBLA? Not enough profit there either?

Silver gets all of the downloads and such as well and they are free. I agree, for the gold membership to be worth it, some downloadable content should be free.

So, in closing I say this... If you have no problems paying for essentially nothing, that's your prerogative. But spare me with the "you're getting a great service for only $5 per month" nonsense. And for those who don't wish to pay the fees and remain with out online gaming, that's your prerogative as well.

[QUOTE="gotrice415510"]but i wanna kno why we have to pay for it, i kno the game demos and downloads arent being made for free but playstation makes all their downloadable content for free_koolgirl_

PSN is also getting ready to release Home and although it should be great fun for players, it is the perfect atmosphere to earn advertising dollars. Sony has already said they expect those advertising dollars to be their 2nd biggest money generator (first being money straight from users). Home has moving billboards everywhere, just waiting for some company like Geico to pay Sony money to play their commercials on said billboards.

XBL is not advertiser based, it is subscriber based. It is the same reason you pay for a service like HBO or Showtime while getting CBS and FOX for free. One is advertiser based, one gets rid of the comercials but has to make up that money from subscribers.

Before you say to me "but XBL has advertising", take note that XBL has no non gaming related advertising that does not give you something for free. If it's a movie, a free theme and gamerpic pack follow. Right now the only real advertisment on the service is for McDonalds Burgercon, but to get that advertising space they had to give us a free movie download.

If you read this, spread it on dang it, because no one seems to understand the concept that they have to get the money from somewhere, it's just a matter of who they get it from ;)

Well Said.

i have 2 years of gold for free :D

i paid for a 3 month membership, then i found a couple of free 48 hours trials, and a couple of one monthers in other game cases, and i even found a free oneyear subscirption in my splinter cell pandora tomorrow case... then i got another year for christmas...

All I see on here is people complaining about having to pay for map packs and other content, like it's their given right for it to be free. WELL ITS NOT! companies spend a lot of money on making content like that, and they are ALLOWED to charge money for it. you have that CHOICE, to pay and have it, or not pay and don't have it.

as the saying goes; you can't always get what you wan't.

Oh please. It takes a developer 20-30 minutes to make a cool version of horse armor. If a player on the PC can make a map for the SAME game that we on the 360 have for free and spread it towards the community, why cant big companies with extra skilled experts in making maps. It probably takes those guys a day to make 4 maps. Look at CoD2. Those maps took no imagination, yet we get charged $10. New halo 2 maps (remakes) how could they charge us?! I would be fine if EVERY content download was pay for a must have and free after 3-4 weeks. Those companies make thousands$$ off map downloads which are just a few megabytes of content that PC people get for free. Our servers on XBlive can hardly run more than 24 people, while a dedicated server can run 64+. PS3 even has 40 players online with no lag in resistance. I loved xblive when they would give us new content once & a while but it would all be free most the time. Halo 2 on xbox1 allowed all players to have new maps in a matter of weeks. Now a game community is strong, then falls apart after the maps start pouring in for 10-15 dollars, cause not everyone gets them.

I know its not my god given right, but its just wrong on microsofts and developers part to charge us for a few megabytes of content that should have released witht he $60 we payed in the first place. Farcry 360 did it, they put a map editor in their game so players could create their own maps. We pay $50 a year to keep xblive up, so microsoft shouldnt make companies pay for putting up a download.

^You make it sound like MS spends that much time/money on XBL. XBL is a good service, as it is the most stable compare to the Wii/Sony Online services. But, the amount they charge you is absurd, and just because XBL has no real competition doesn't mean they have the right to over charge. I think the biggest arguement is that XBL don't even have any dedicated servers for thier subscribers to play on, they depend on other subscribers to host those games for others. If they had even just that, I probably would not have a problem with MS charging me. But, on top of that, MS expects you to pay for even the most simplest downloads, i.e. MP map packs that are essentially free on the PC. So, just add up the numbers, the cost for MS to run XBL is nowhere near the revenues.

But, the amount they charge you is absurdGuannoboy

How is $50/yr an "absurd" amount? Actually, you're right, it is pretty absurdly low.

50 buck per year...is nothing compared to the fun you get, hours and hours of play time...if im correct its less than 20 cents per day...Ipik_Fenris

I totally here you amn. I mean, look at the amount of hours and fun you get out of it. It's amazing. The only reason why sony's is free is because it's the worst available. It's not even close to xbox live. I do'nt mind paying for it, ya the guys explainations were weak but it's well worth the investment. Besides, sony gave rights to companies to pay if you want to play. None of sony games will cost anything but 3rd party companies can charge you whatever they want. Tehy won't do it for a while but it will cost money eventually, trust me.

Arnold voice: STOP WHINING!!!

Seriously though, Nintendo & Sony do not do what Xbox Live does. They are nowhere near close. 50 bucks a year...pffffft common you cheap bastard. Don't make me hang you upside down and shake the change outta you. People just complain for the sake of complaining, I'm glad I am not one of those people.

I bet you got short arms and deep pockets.

Fans and analysts have long debated on the topic of why consumers must pay for Microsoft's online service Xbox Live while Sony's PlayStation Network users get their access for free. This time, we're getting some official explanations.

As Gamepro points out, in a recent podcast of Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog team, they gave a reason as to why their subscribers need to shell out US$ 50 a year to get on Xbox Live. Representing the company were Chris Paladino of the Xbox Live Community Team and PR Manager Michael Wolf.

Wolf says he pays US$ 100 a month for cable TV, but says "frankly, I spend more time playing online than I do watching TV nowadays, it feels like. So, you're getting a lot of value for $ 50 a year, in my opinion."

He also explains that with the sheer number of options that Live carries and the satisfaction that players get from their system, the value is well justified. With the online play that involves cross-platform competition, Wolf says Live wins outright.

For his part, Paladino says "there are bandwidth costs, there are things that go above and beyond. I think it goes back to this unified system."

"We have to have voice communication, text communication, now we're doing cross-platform. There's Marketplace, there are demos, and all these things don't just mystically hover around that you can pull them out of the ether," he concludes.

My thoughts personally?

Weak excuses.

Silver account gives you the 'unified system' features, and all Gold gives is online play. No dedicated servers, nice lag (here in OZ), and glitching. Wonderful. And we PAY.

GRAH.

Gets on my nerves. Guess its because of my PC gaming tendancies. Online gaming should be FREE not subscription based. MMOs are an execption as the devs continue matinence, mods + admins and the HUGE amount of dedicated servers hosted.

skrat_01

Wow those almost top Mike Harris' excuses. LMFAO

We get demos on live that are free? Apparently we are paying for them through a subscription. We also get ripped off with the cost of downloads, specifically gamerpictures and themes.

Live also has serious lag issues.

I could go on with the number of problems, I pay for live because I want to play the games online.

WE ARE PAYING FOR S***!

$50 a year is not alot so get over it

top complaining, if you can't pay for a year of Xbox Live, then you obviously can't pay for internet, so you shouldn't even be worried about it.Lostfile

Don't you mean cant "afford", and the internet is not nessecarily wholey used for entertainment. Many people need it for work, emails and the like. That statement is very presumptuous.

[QUOTE="Lostfile"]top complaining, if you can't pay for a year of Xbox Live, then you obviously can't pay for internet, so you shouldn't even be worried about it.colonel_beeb

Don't you mean cant "afford", and the internet is not nessecarily wholey used for entertainment. Many people need it for work, emails and the like. That statement is very presumptuous.

And I never said the internet is souly used for entertainment. But in the situation we are discussing, if you can't "afford" to pay the extra $4.16 a month for a service you want to have, then don't buy it. I never said you need entertainment either.No one is ever forcing you to have it. If you want to play a game and unlock the greatness of it's multiplayer for time and time again, just pay the $4.16 a month and go on with your life. If people are seriously saying that they can not dish out an extra $4.16 for multplayer then you obviously can't dole out much money for anything and so I'm not sure why you are JUST complaining about Xbox Live. In fact, I'm gonna go to Subway right now and spend a good $5.

XBL > PSN always.

pfffft in the end its all buziness...they see a way to get money and they go for it... they really don't care wat the customer has to say cuz the next one will take hos or her place and keep the flow of money goin into M$ pockets.

Well, I can sort of understand this debate, I guess. $50/yr is almost nothing, certainly. If you can afford a 360 and games, you can very easily afford a Gold membership. Either that, or you probably made a couple of mistakes. But then you take into account that you pay for the Gold membership, and you look at all the BS on Xbox Live Marketplace that comes with a price tag when it shouldn't (or when it should be much lower), and let's just say I can sort of understand where these guys are coming from.

We should not have to pay for crap (and most of it is) that developers release to the PC for free, especially not when 360 games cost more than their PC counterparts, and especially not when PC games have large communities of amateur artists and programmers creating free downloadable add-ons on top of that. I mean seriously, just think about it. It's pure common sense. $50/yr is nothing by itself, but when you pile that on top of all the inherent unfairness, well, you can begin to see where the criticism comes from. It's about the principle of the whole thing.

And can somebody explain why the minimum amount of points you can buy is 400, and not something far more natural and sensical like 100? And something other than "Microsoft is only in it for the money". That's been a well-known fact for two decades now. I'm looking for a logical explanation, sort of like one we'd receive from Microsoft themselves. I mean I know there isn't one, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Why are some 360 games so laggy on Xbox Live?

I thought Microsoft said that by paying $50 a year, there will be zero lag. I guess that was another lie....

XBL > PSN always.

ReverseCycology

your gamerscore is not 85,680www.mygamercard.net its 5700.

$50 a year is absolutely nothing. I can go find a job right now and earn that money in less than a day of full work. You guys are complaining about a service that is worth FAR more then we pay for.

And playing PC games online is NOT free. EVERY major game (CS, CS:S, DoD,BF 2, BF 2142, and EVERY other game) has to rent the servers and pay extreme fees monthly for them. A CS 1.6 server costs upwards of $50 A MONTH for a 16 player server. Not to mention that you are in control of it, there is next to no tech support, and you are one of thousands of servers to choose from.

And for PSN being free...thats a joke. I have played SOCOM and other crap games online at friends houses, and it was the laggiest piece of crap I've ever played. People say Halo is laggy, well then jump on any game on PSN and you are guarenteed a lagtacular time.

50 buck per year...is nothing compared to the fun you get, hours and hours of play time...if im correct its less than 20 cents per day...Ipik_Fenris

[QUOTE="Ipik_Fenris"]50 buck per year...is nothing compared to the fun you get, hours and hours of play time...if im correct its less than 20 cents per day...ShadowDeathX

... says the guy with a 14k gamerscore.

i love it when people bring up not having a life in a gaming forum. :roll:

comparing PC online gaming and XBL is kinda absurd IMO, since there definitely is a cost to PC gaming... its just that many of you (damn freeloaders... j/k) don't pay it (thanks to all those clans paying for their servers).

XBL is the best online service for consoles by far. they have more content, more community options, and a quality line up of games. is it worth $50 though? maybe not... although i think if there were dedicated servers for some of the more popular titles (not necessarily games like Prey, but like Gears of War and Rainbow 6 Vegas) i think total justification would be there.

This reminds me of why I didn't want to get an Xbox 360 in the first place: Bill Gates is too freaking rich and thinks he's the best and can charge for anything. After finally getting one however, I soon realized a very important fact: Microsoft DOES have the best console out there right now, and the biggest variety of games, and $50 ayear is next to nothing to ensure that Microsoft will continue to go the extra mile for its fans. I mean, which would you rather play: any of the 360's excellent shooters including Gears and Halo for $50 a year, or Nintendo's lineup of Pokemon and the soon upcoming Mario soccer game for free? The PS3may not have much going for itright now, but it has potential, and when/if its time comes, I guess everyone will have to personally weigh the options for themselves, and Microsoft will hopefully reconsider the price. But for now, the 360 rules lol

Brad2theBone237

well at least Bill Gates is not selfish and dont go around using up all of his money....he gives millions to charity and now that he is quitting he is going to give away billions and hes going to help the world....wat will you do??? buy girls...by 500 360's tv...cars...and mansions and never work again...dont care about everyone else....also i will gladly pay for xbox live gold subscription....and only in gears do u really exp... a lag...