By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Xbox Live: No Longer the Gold Standard

hunter_alien on 04 January 2013
kowenicki said:
These articles are dull and lazy "journalism" - nothing new there in gaming I know.

Don't want to pay for it... then don't. Stop preaching. Its so boring. How many have we seen like this now?

My view: If they change the model then fine. If they don't.... then fine.

I don't care either way. The price is less than the price of one game ffs.


Well its an opinion piece. It was written so others could discuss the idea. Dont want to discuss it, dont read it. Easy as that. Its just as boring as the articles that claim XBL superiority over other networks, but you dont see me writing in those threads, now do you?

OT: totally agree. Its simply astonishing that in this day and age a company manages to get away with this. Its like practicing medieval medical treatements in a modern hospital. Simply dreadfull.



Vote the Mayor for Mayor!

Around the Network
MasterVG71782 on 04 January 2013

I never saw the value in paying $60 a year for a service that I can pretty much get on another system for free. While there are a few services on Live that might be better than others, it still doesn't warrant paying to access the multiplayer portion of games you already bought for $60+.



disolitude on 04 January 2013
pokoko said:
disolitude said:
Microsoft knows what they are doing with live. If people pay for online gaming, they are less likely to goof off, hack and cheat when they game online. Also skill based matchmaking doesn't work if online gaming is free and people can open unlimited accounts with different emails. If I rank up in a shooter, and feel like I'd like to go own some noobs, I would just open a new free online account.

Microsoft needs to keep up the good work with expanding live and adding features and not worry about making things free...

Actually, it's the value of Microsoft Accounts that make them prime targets.  People put serious effort into stealing accounts, they check them for value across the account, then they sell them off to others who do what they want with them.  Most of the "bad people" concentrate their efforts on Live.  Look at the EA Fifa fiasco.  Someone gets a hold of your PSN account and it's not that big of a deal.  They get a hold of a high value Live account and it can cause major headaches.  I've actually been trained as an Xbox support agent, the amount of time and effort they spend on preparing you against spoofing is unreal, and yet it still happens.  One of the first ghost calls I sat in on was a guy trying to get into an account "for his brother" who had "gone to the store but asked him to call support".


That makes sense in terms of identity and account theft. However in terms of cheating, team killing and other horseplay, Xbox Live is head and shoulders above PSN. I've never even seen game cheating on Xbox live with my own eyes and I have on PSN... When you have a free account and can get another one easily you just don't care.



wfz on 04 January 2013
Ji99saw said:

So the people who don't pay for live are the ones mad? If you feel it is a waste of money fine don't buy it and allow Microsoft to cripple their own business


Correction: In this thread:


1) Those who don't own the service are upset because they think it isn't worth it.

1) Subscribers to Gold are upset at those who think the service isn't worth it.



Lafiel on 04 January 2013
wfz said:
Ji99saw said:

So the people who don't pay for live are the ones mad? If you feel it is a waste of money fine don't buy it and allow Microsoft to cripple their own business


Correction: In this thread:


1) Those who don't own the service are upset because they think it isn't worth it.

1) Subscribers to Gold are upset at those who think the service isn't worth it.

as long as everybody is upset, things are fine :) - I mean it's the internet, people use it to get upset, right?



Around the Network
Squilliam on 04 January 2013

So people want billion dollar plus console launches, subsidised powerful hardware AND free online multiplayer and other services on top of that?



Tease.

binary solo on 04 January 2013
Lostplanet22 said:
It is rather annoying when a journalist who bought a game full price and all its expansions full price...And then pay every month just to play it for more than 5 years (WoW) and do this even for other MMO's aswell then start to complain about MS GOLD.

Mention that to those journalist and they come with logic answers as 'You must be an MS fanboy'!.


newsflash. most MMOs that make u pay up front then monthly on top fail. and WoW allows you to download the basic game and play up to level 20 for free so you actually never have to pay a cent to play WoW.

gold is merely an outdated online model. But if there's no evidence they are losing sales because if it then merely being outdated is not much reason to change. indeed if they change and don't see expanded sales then it is a bad business decision. i still find it strange that people say theu actually like paying the fee. but then i'm part scottish and i hate paying for anything.



“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

Jimi Hendrix

 

VGKing on 04 January 2013
sunK1D said:
VGKing said:
runqvist said:
As long as it makes money for MS, it should not go away. It is quite simple.

You could argue that Xbox Live GOLD is at a point where it actually drives consumers to the competition. Years ago when I had very little spending money it meantn those $60 meant the difference between playing online or buying a new game. So unless 14 years old are out there working jobs, I expect the free PSN to be a major selling point for PS4 just as it was for PS3.


I'm no insider..

But if LIVE wasn't worthwhile for MS they would have dropped it by now don't you think?

There are ohter factors that drive sales and those factors seem to account for more sales than they lose with a XBL fee.

Never said LIVE wasn't worthwhile to MS, but even when it isn't it will be hard to change. It's hard for companies to accept changes and move away from traditions. Just ask Sony.



VGKing on 04 January 2013
Lostplanet22 said:
VGKing said:
sunK1D said:
VGKing said:
Dark_Feanor said:
I just have to say that I pay for my internet home subscription 12x more than I have to pay for Live and so for my 3G conection.

So, stop being crying babies.

There are no rule that multiplay have to be free. It´s such a unimportant issue that not Sony neither Nintendo (even Valve or EA Origens) market their produte.

It's not that people can't pay the fee, its the principle of the thing. Basic online multiplayer is free on Wii U/PS3/PC. I'd say that is as close as it gets to there being a "rule" about it being free. I keep seeing articles/threads about this every single week and people will start to reconsider next-gen as they realize that these other platforms offer nearly identical services for free.

If people didn't stop buying X360's after the RRoD fiasco or buying Nintendo consoles after the GC fiasco or PS3's after the hacking epidemic. Surely they still stop buying X720's because of $50/y for Live. Makes sense...

As people become more informed and as next-gen starts a clean slate, more people will choose PS4 over XBox 720 in the early years. Not saying free PSN will be the only reason, there will be other factors. 
Gamertags and Achievements aren't as important to the majority. Only a select few super hardcore gamers care about that stuff.

People are already saying this kind of thing at the start of this gen.  RROD and paying for gold were two of the major reasons why PS3 would destroy X360. 

PS3 didn't destroy 360 but it did keep up. I say free PSN contributed to that.



Ckmlb1 on 04 January 2013

It's not going anywhere as long as people in the millions are still paying for it. I won't pay for it ever again that's for sure, especially with PS+ literally giving away free games every week (some of them, the best games of the generation).



XBL Gamertag: ckmlb, PSN ID: ckmlb