The amount they make off advertising dwarfs the subscription fee.
They don't need to be charging it, especially when at MAX, they are only making 150m a month on it. Their marketing costs for devs and show ads and placement run in the hundreds of thousands for just a few weeks.

he just added the sig - along with a 100 new posts since my previous

he is not new - a re-born (banned ?) user ?

As long as online play is walled off behind that $60, it will never be an unquestioned value to many people.

For me though the quality of service provided is well worth a few bucks a month so it's already an unquestionable value.

Provide something like PS+, I would never pay for online if it doesn't give me additional benefits. What does Live Gold give extra? Everything is behind a paywall. You have to subscribe to access basic apps like Youtube, twitter that are free on every other device. Why do people have to pay for them on xbox?

Microsoft would have to make basic online play free and add some very innovative new features that no one has seen before I would personally pay for a subscription. I don't even pay for PS+ and if I do play multiplayer it'll usually be on PC.

Bought my ps2 at launched and love it. In 2003 my girlfriend bought me an Xbox... loved it even more. Played Halo and Halo 2 for days. Because of Xbox, I missed a lot of ps2 classics, ratchet and clank, sly, god of war, SOTC, but didn't care. 2005 came and I got myself the 360 with call of duty 2 then Oblivion. In 2008 I bought a ps3 and didn't use it as much because my 360 was great and had maybe five times as many games. Well RROD came and Microsoft fixed it...it happened again... and I paid to get it fixed this time because Microsoft wouldn't do it again. In 2009 RROD came again and this time I was so heartbroken I didn't want to fix it. Instead I played my Ps3.

I started downloading games on PSN, bought the sly collection, tried the new ratchet and clank games, played all god of war games and finally tried the Uncharted series. Halfway through all of this I realized that keeping my Xbox live account was stupid since I wasn’t using it. I decided to cancel my recurring gold subscription, with plans of getting again when I get another 360. Ps+ came along and I didn't like it at first, but they offered a beta for DCOU in late 2010 and I couldn’t help it, I had to get it because I couldn't wait to play that game. I have stopped playing DCOU for a while now, but ps+ has been in my ps3 ever since. My plans of getting another gold subscription...gone. 

Most of the argument for gold are either Xbox live gold is awesome because Microsoft is making a shit load of money so obviously it's awesome, party chat, and of course online stability. To all of that I say... whatever. $60 a year is very little money compared to the amount of money I spend on video games overall, so the amount of money is not the problem, rather what I am getting in return. Look at the free-to-play industry as an example. MMOs that take away essential parts of the game to charge money for it are falling down on popularity very hard versus those that make the experience free and only charge for things that add to the experience. So this is why I don’t subscribe to gold anymore, even thought I own a 360 now. The marginal return for the cost of gold is not worth it for me. There simple. If gold stays the same for the next gen, then I won't even consider next Xbox.

Call me a fanboy or whatever you want, but I play games for fun. The moment the tables turn and Xbox gives me more fun for my money than Playstation, is the moment I will turn on my Xbox and re-subscribe. This day has not come yet.

So tell me if psn is so much similar than xbl for free... why is there nothing close in game hours played online proportionally????

And please anyone saying you don't get any added value for 60 bucks.... are you serious what added value you expect for 5 bucks a month???? In today standard it's barely enough money for 50 text on a prepaid phone... what a lot of people use in half a day.... it's not even a big mac menu.... so yeah you don't get anything more.... you just get everything the other offer with an outstanding QoS compare to anybody else even on pc.... that alone justifies the cost.... if you don't think so... you either don't have interest in what it's offering in which case psn probably doesn't interest you either.... or you are a cheap Ass teenager with absolutely no clue on money value... price to quality ratio and think there is such thing as free anything....

So yeah I would love a service of xbl level of quality for free.... but anybody saying 60 bucks a year for a 24/7 service is too expensive.... is a fool with no clue.... once again anything giving you more satisfaction and pleasure than a big mac menu a month or 2 beers a month or a pack of cigs.... is well worth 60 bucks a year at least.... otherwise why the eff are you spending so much cash on fast food booze and smokes you idiot....

I think a lot of people miss the point of this thread.

First, while I appreciate your preference for an online service, that isn't what this thread is about. This thread is about what could Microsoft offer in an effort to make Xbox LIVE an unquestionable value.

For those of you who have answered the question, thank you. For those of you who haven't, please try.

Second, I'm not questioning the value of Xbox LIVE. You're talking to a person who for the longest time (until he got Halo: Reach) played very little if any online multi-player despite maintaining an Xbox LIVE Gold account. I'm not asking for you to justify your reasons for maintaining an Xbox LIVE Gold membership. I'm asking what could Microsoft reasonably add to a Gold membership to create an unquestionable value. Not only to yourself, but to friends or family.

Finally, to those of you who have PSN accounts, unless you've had an Xbox LIVE Gold account and used it to play on Xbox LIVE, while your opinion is appreciated, it is irrelevant. This isn't a thread about why you selected PSN. In fact, this thread isn't about PSN at all. There are several threads about PSN, please post your opinions there. Respect the point and purpose of this thread.

To respond in general, the assumption going forward is that Microsoft doesn't significantly alter its service offerings. In other words, it doesn't offer free online gaming. For anyone willing to read to this point, understand that Microsoft isn't going to make free the portion of the service that requires the most resources to provide. It doesn't matter what other sources of revenue exist. The hardware and bandwidth necessary to support online multi-player gaming is expensive. Microsoft isn't going to go on a fools errand and fund online multi-player gaming through subsidization.

If Microsoft wants to add value to an Xbox LIVE Gold membership it needs to do so by giving users enough of a taste of the value within the membership to entice them into maintaining or using a membership, but not so much that they create a drain on revenue.

Some of that they're already doing. Xbox LIVE members who have a substantial amount of Gamerscore and an Xbox LIVE Gold account receive certain benefits. In addition, if you're an Xbox LIVE Rewards member, there are additional benefits received. These are great benefits for long-term Gold subscribers, but it doesn't really represent value to a new user however.

Hence my suggestions.

Xbox Music offers free streaming on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, it would seem reasonable that Microsoft could add free music streaming for Xbox LIVE Gold members. Not to mention, it doesn't dilute the value of Xbox Music Pass, especially if Microsoft were to add a feature that allowed you to upload your purchased music to the Cloud, not just those songs purchased through the service.

Providing Skype Minutes would allow people to see the value of calling friends and family via their Xbox, or just allow a gamer the opportunity to call in sick into work while sitting at the couch, ready to play some Halo 5. It's a freebie that adds value and allows people to explore Skype for Xbox.

Offering one of the premium services for free would allow subscribers to pick a service that they would value. If they like watching movies and TV shows, there are several options available both in the US and around the world. If they like music, again several options for here and abroad.

The benefit, those services are available via not only their Xbox, but their Windows 8 or tablet, and Windows Phone 8 mobile. So, for a person who likes to listen to music on their mobile, the Xbox Music Pass may be the service they option for, making their music and play lists available across multiple devices and where ever they go.

My personal opinion is that Microsoft doesn't need to do more to build value with gamers. Gamers who value Xbox LIVEs online gaming features will subscribe because they like gaming online with friends and acquaintances. However, what Microsoft needs to ensure is that they build a need to turn on the console outside of gaming.

This thread interests me because I was just looking for the cheapest I could pay online for a Gold account. This is because my Gold subscription has just ran out. I have been a gold member now for 6 years.

I heard about the NBA gametime app for 360 (and I pay for league pass) so I am sortof interested in checking that out.
But primarily, I am somewhat of an addict to tech and all things video games, and want the possibility of being able to play or do whatever I want on the 360 at any time. I want to want to (not a typo) buy a live membership, but I am failing to see a viable reason here..

At OP, If Microsoft Gold subscription offered access to all of the Premium DLC services for no extra cost (those yearly DLC passes which give you all DLC for a certain game) then that would be great.
They could limit it to just 1 game for no add cost per year.
I pay for a gold/ I get all DLC for COD that year.
That would be really cool.

Pretty sure they already do.... people buying the 2 year plan xb are not the one interested by multiplayer gaming.... those have had an xb for a while already....

What I was saying is that for 60 bucks a year for heavy bandwidth requirement service nobody can expect more than what they are already offering in their right mind.... look at hulu+ or Netflix.... subscription to their service is almost twice the price yet their range of services is nothing close to what xbl offers as a whole.... so no it's not a personal opinion, only in 3rd world countries you can expect more out of 60 bucks a year... I found that rather cheap actually for all we get... specific discount... a bunch of apps... excellent service for online gaming and video or music playback and a shit load of points for free just for being a loyal customer.... and 60 bucks is really if you don't bother to look around for a good deal...

So once again I am indeed answering your question... by today standards they are already offering unquestionable value for a 60 bucks price tag.....
If you buy more than 3 deals for gold members a year you cover the cost....

Now if you ask me my dreams, I'd say I want exclusive free dlc for every game I buy while in gold.... but my wishful thinking doesn't change the fact that we already get way over 60 bucks of service value as a gold member... customer perception is completely irrelevant to value things in factual manners... only psn users and freeloaders think otherwise... :p