fauzman said:
phinch1 said:
kowenicki said:
Nope. You get what you pay for.
Also, it couldnt be much more successful. it's going to end up selling 3 times the original xbox and setting up the next box for a good shot at top spot.
Ms must be extremely content with how xbox is growing.
It should also be noted that by being first to charge for LIVE they kind of got a march on the others. Sony are almost afraid to charge now for fear of a fan backlash and the nintendo offering isn't worth any kind of fee right now.
MS has an ongoing fee paying audience that will help any new console turn a profit very quickly indeed.
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I agree with all except the highlighted, I think they are getting a growing number of psn+ users and are happy with the income they get from that, I feel they will always keep online gaming free but for any added extras that come in the future i see it coming under psn+
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I kinda agree with this. I think one of the reasons sony has been able to close the gap with the xbox is because their psn service is free even if slightly behind xbox live in content.
I dont agree that if xbox DIDNT charge, then the xbox live service would be somewhat inferior to now. The online play was one reason xbox was so successful and i think MS would have put just as much resources into it as they are doing now to differentiate themselves from sony and attract gamers.
Finally, while a lot of gamers on this site (and around the world) are willing to pay to play online, im sure a lot of casual gamers will not. I would be interested to know the number of xbox gold account holders if this info is available to see the proportion of xbox users who pay for online play.
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While I agree with you that in general it's mostly casual players that don't want to pay for Live I would say the same applies to a sizable portion of hardcore gamers. I as well as several of my friends refuse to pay to play online when we can do so already for free on the PS3 and PC.
Not to take anything away from Microsoft and live as they have pioneered console online gaming but I'm not comfortable paying to play online for non MMO games.
@ OP
I don't think it's a simple yes or no answer, both paid and free online have their positive and negative aspects. Just because I don't think it's a good option does not mean it isn't for someone else.
