At what price point would you ditch XBL?

[Impulsivity]

AlkamistStar said:

Boneitis said:

elticker said:

Steroid said:

dorbin2009 said:
This discussion is ripe for flame bait. I've always felt like the Xbox live subscription price is more or less just ammo for 360 haters to use. I mean really, right now I pay what 3.50 a month for it? If you can't afford that then you have some issues and probably shouldn't be playing video games. If they raised the price to 100 a year, that's still only 8 and change a month.

Would you like me to go along the how much you are paying an hour? Because I assure you, not even the cheapest man would win that argument.

So you would continue to pay for XBL at $100 per year then?

whats wrong with that. i would pay $100 dollars a year for xbl. its is only $8 a month.

I agree, and people gladly pay $15 a month for WoW. But MS is already making billions with Live.

All of their accessories are way over priced, they are the only ones charging for online play in general, and now they want more? I love my 360 but I'm getting tired of their greedy bullshit.

And when it's put this way, i think people start to realize..."hmmmm, wow, it's really not that much for Xbox Live". Sony and Nintendo have chosen to not price their online service, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have to have a price tag. If you want free onlien gaming, go to those, but for that and more, on a more reliable network with more features, and support...pay for $50 a YEAR (actually LESS if you buy on promotions, or other sites like Amazon) on a Gold account with Xbox Live.

 

 

  A) yes it probably costs a little to maintain the network for both Nintendo and Sony, but they also have a marketplace with many things to buy and they take a cut.  They passively make money off the network because you use their network to buy Wiiware, movies, PSN games ect.  You are still paying them to play online in a way, but only through buying content from them which is quite different then being charged an access fee.

 

B) You are using your bandwidth to play games and connecting with other users using their bandwidth often with one console or the other acting as the host.  There is 0 cost to microsoft for this to happen.  This is why it is free to play PC games online, even games from defunct companies, because it costs nothing to connect players to other players through services like Gamespy.  Similarly it is free to stream netflix on other devices because the cost is on your end and netflixs end.  All the 360 is doing is acting as a semi computer to link you two together which costs microsoft nothing.  

 

In short you are paying for something that should cost nothing, that is what makes it stupid.  Microsoft is providing no added value and bearing either no expense or almost no expense and yet charging what really is a lot of money.  I mean 7 dollars a month doesn't sound like a lot but if you'd been using it since the Xbox came out it would have cost almost 500 dollars by now, more then the cost of either console.

  I mean sure WoW and other things cost money, but you are getting content and access to a persistent world (that actually DOES cost something to maintain) in exchange.  There are no other games equal in quality that are free, because it costs something to make a game like wow and maintain it.

 

 Alternately connecting one player to another or streaming netflix is free and costs nothing on the PC and other platforms with similar or better interfaces.  There are equal or better options that cost nothing, which should be the cost of getting just very basic computer functionality out of the 360.  I mean really, I have no idea why ANYONE would defend the 7 bucks a month charge here, how does paying MORE for LESS benefit any of you?