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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Xbox Live PC free and console gamers are not happy

Barkley said:
Poor Microsoft, this is a lose-lose situation for them. They can't charge PC users because it would just fail, no other service charges money to play online on it's platform. (origin, steam, uplay.)

But making it free for PC users is apparently making console gamer's unhappy and they can't make it free for Xbox users too because that's just too much revenue to throw into the gutter.



Poor Microsoft? They made their bed. Its crazy that gamers didn't realize this whole time that they had beenn had.



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Wraet said:
I think the problem is that MS are using the console subs to build and maintain XBOX Live, which they are then going to be giving to the PC users for free. If the PC online service was completely separate no-one would have an issue.

I'm waiting for MS to come out and say the reduction in subs recently was to take the online portion out, as that's the part they are giving to the PC users for free. The remaining subs are for games, console OS and interface updates. Complete BS of course, but hey, people bought in to paying $60 a year without question...

Also, Sony had no choice but to follow MS on subs, as there is no way anyone could compete with the income stream MS had on 360, and this would have been a final gen for them otherwise. There just isn't any way to compete with a giant like MS, who have a revenue stream which lets them sell at a loss whenever, and for as long as they feel like, without adopting some of their practices to stay relevant.

I'm hoping MS are transitioning back to software only, and building up the PC support before exiting the console hardware market. That's where they fit best as a company, and would benefit everyone if all these shady practices of third party exclusives, timed exclusives, marketing deals, exclusive content, simultaneous release delays etc. were stopped.



 Michael Pachter was talking about the profitability of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions some years back. He said past the first couple years it was pure profit. They are generating far more profit than it takes to run the thing pretty much. Thats as much as I gathered from his convo with Geoff.



I have the strong feeling that this will be a temporary thing. MS just needs to port Halo 5 and other big Xbox exclusives to PC, brag about the "powah of da Cloud!!" they will be using, complain about the cost of running all the gazillion servers for those games, and switch XBL for PC to a paid subscription.

Sure, on PC one can always refuse to buy any following XBL game. But doing so they will lose all the ports from console. To believe that MS isn't looking for a way to milk the Windows user base is simply unrealistic.



Well if MS made online MP free for everyone and XBLG basically was for free games and special deals, then I'm guessing alot of people wouldn't be so angry. I still think its silly that people are upset but MS can turn this into a pretty huge positive if they want to. I would like free games on PC as well with my XBLG :).



I seriously doubt XBL on PC will give out free games, which is the major benefit of said services.I personally think PS+ its the better one of those two, but I've never used any of them though since I like to pay for my games, but just like in the PS3 years there's people who actually see value in these subscriptions.Maybe if the majority of XB owners aren't happy about it, MS would be forced to give free online and XBL gold would be optional like PS+ was on the PS3.
It's not certain that would happen though.. it actually is really doubtful.



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lol why pc gamers pay for online? they don't even pay for the games. Pc gamers they don't care about cross buy because you must pay 60$ for the console version to take pc for free. who gonna do that?



 

 

I don't get why they bring XBL to PC at all. They have no chance to compete with steam, there will be way too less games for that. They should have just Team up with steam and make it pre-installed on Win 10. that way they would have had more sales and less shitstorms. Everybody wins.

But whatever, let that sucker die a slow and painful death just like with GFW.



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Chazore said:
I waited for someone to post this.

After reading the article two days ago all I can say is that XBL gamers have no right to be angry, after all they never bothered to put up a fight in the first place like PC users have done for years, the majority of PC games have always had free online, we've even had the ability to host private servers and all while people on X360 thought it was totally fine to keep paying a sub in thinking their online services improve with all the money thrown in, the problem with that is that they haven't and they still don't realise this.

I don't see why I should start paying for online when I already pay for my electricity, pay for my heardware,pay for my games and then pay my ISP, I don't see why I should ever have to fork over extra cash for next to nothing in return, the amount of money that has been poured over the last 8 years of XBL should have made most online multiplayer experiences unmatched to those that are free, that hasn't happened in the slightest, the only thing that has improved is parts of the store with some slight UI upgrades, something that Sony, Valve,Origin,Blizzard and hell even Uplay have done for free.

The sad part is now Sony and MS are in on the pay sub for online this gen, MS started it last gen and now both parties are fooling people into believing paying to play all your multiplayer games online is a good thing when it;s really not, I've been having an absolute blast playing Planetside 2 online, a free game that doesn't cost a penny with free online and no sub required, I can play Diablo 3, battlefield series, COD series, just about every multiplayer game online for free besides certain MMO's (but that's a different can of worms and business model).

The only way I would see paying online being good is if multiplayer servers were the cream of the crop, state of the art with bleeding edge hardware that made it so we didn't face day 1 or week 1-2 online issues, where you hardly drop out of a game and if you do it's entirely on your ISP, where you can see what your money goes into instead of just watching your balance deplete and hope it goes towards bettering your online experience.

I will admit I was a sucker for a few years on my 360 but it wasn't for a whole 8 years and I realised in a shorter time that none of the money I was giving went towards bettering my online multiplayer experiences, in fact most of the experiences at the time were via p2p type conections instead of actual dedicated servers because it's already a known fact that many businesses love to cut corners and save money at the expense of the very customer they want to try pleasing but still rip off.

I hope this makes them realise that paying to play online multiplayer on a console is complete bullcrap, you can claim it all on security but that would net you a complete invalidation with what's happened to PSN and XBL over the years.

free is better than paying, especially when you don't know where your money is going and what's happening around you.


Sony don't require a ps plus subscription for free to play games so planetside 2 will be free for ps4 players aswell.  That's fair enough.  

 

I can't speak for Xbox gamers but ps plus is the best service I've ever used.  It's not even funny the amount of amazing games ive played because of it.  It's worth it for that alone.  I'd personally pay double the price.  It's under 5$ a month.  That's 1 pint of beer a month for me.  It's almost a non factor.  Sony also need that extra revenue badly so are well entitled,  especially when their competitor has been doing it for years. 



true_fan said:

I'm definitely not happy about it, MSFT can't give PC the games and free xbl. Fable Legends, Ori, State of Decay.....ok, but if they get Halo 5, Gears, Forza and free xbl that is just deisrespecful.

They can do because they need to do it.  If they want people like me who have a pc and ps4 online to buy their titles on pc they need to offer the service for free.  It's not worth paying it just to play 2 or 3 of their games. There's nothing stopping you switching to pc either and they won't be too upset because they still retain you as a customer. 



true_fan said:
mornelithe said:

Of course you don't.  It's perfectly fine if a company shits all over people who aren't you, no reason at all you should be concerned that they could do that to you in the future...oh wait.

You make abslutely no sense and why should I care about platforms I didn't purchase. I don't game on PC, so therefore I don't care about steam or how PC gamers play online. I own an Xbox with a added perk that I purchase called xbl. I don't know how you spend your money, but I don't spend money on things others get for free. We can stop the back and forth here though, I really don't care if you agree or disagree with me.


If that was true you would have gotten a ps3 instead of a 360. You would have saved about 300$ doing so and that was before they offered games with gold making it worthwhile.