Microsoft does not have 10million gold members, i bet the numbers is under 2million.  Based on the numbers of different accounts logging online to play Halo3 and each day, last i heard its at 750k and 1-1.4mil for CoD4. 

This line is directly from Microsoft "Xbox 360 delivers social entertainment experiences to more than 10 million Xbox LIVE gamers around the globe."  This say nothing about gold accounts, and each system can make more then one account. Most people i know have 3+ accounts.

XBL (gold) probably won't ever be free but possibly cheaper...
PS3 will always have a free base online service but will probably be filled with ads, but I think Sony will charge for a "premium" online service when the PS4 hits but at that point online gaming will still be free.

LIVE must become free. Now. MS is losing this gen, and they could avoid it by not trying to earn profits fucking now. Worst timing ever.

Here is a question, when Home goes officially live (not a year long Beta) who says they won't charge for it? We all know that Home won't completely free, but what parts will they charge for.

Maybe they will start with ad support environment, but then do a 180 on us and start charging $5 a month for it, as if it's "rent" . Or the "living spaces" they give for free is crappy and then they can charge for more sophisticated apartment (like the one Jack Tretton had during the E3 presentation) for $5 dollars a month or so.

I mean PSN will remain free (basic interface, XMB, PSN Store, Online Play) but additional features in Home and possible some games like the Agency, will be tied to a subscription fee. With a current user base of 12 million users, a fourth of that would be enough to suffice a MMO like business. Heck they already have the business models with SOE being run by Kaz Hirai now.

Home and the PlayStation online strategy is being designed to become a much more comprehensive online virtual market place than what's currently offed up or planned for x-box live.

Imagine a virtual i-tunes store you get to walk around in and download any song from, movies you can stream from a virtual blockbuster video, old arcade games for sale from some developer, company specific promotional areas with set pieces, art work, trailers, mini games, etc. from their new games.

The potential marketing power and revenue streams from something like this are huge (and significantly different than the menu driven system of x-box live due to the tangible nature and social structure of the world created.)

So getting back to the thread, You don't want to charge admission for that any more than you charge people to get into the mall. In fact you want to have incentives for people to come in. You want a guy in a pizza suit waving a big fat sign that says lunch special.

The loss in revenue due to upkeep and maintenance of something like this is offset by the money you can make; with the revenue increasing over time relative to the cost of maintaining and creating new content for it. Plus if you let developers, publishers, media centric companies, and users be in charge of creating content and the thing pays for it's self.

I think Sony's real problem is going to be their lack of marketing 'clarity' required to actually get people to come in to the market place they're creating. How they sell Home and how much companies participate will be huge (If it takes off I think the marketing draw of Home specific features could bring a lot of players over from the all you can eat buffet that is x-box live).

Sony cares about customers and its fan base. Sony will never charge people to use PSN.

@Rock_on_2008
/sarcasm ??

@Griffin
Recent NPD survey said that 50% of american gamers play online with their 360.. I know its not exact numbers, its a NPD survey and it doesn't account for any of the other million consoles around the world, but 50% of U.S. gives you at least 5.5 million Xbox Live GOLD accounts..

@BMaker11
You're contradicting yourself. Xbox Live is on a dedicated server... thats why, as you mentioned, when those dedicated servers crashed no one could play during the Christmas break

And what I meant was dedicated servers for online matches. Example - Frontlines Fuel of War has dedicated servers that can hold 50 people instead of the regular 32 for player hosted matches...

@Username
As usual you only see what you want to see.. (need to take those fanboy blinders off)

12 months $44

3 months $20

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=0&search_query=Xbox+Live&ic=48_0

@SSJ12
No MS didn't jack up the prices, you just made the mistake of listening to random ps3 fanboys...
And finally, no PSN doesn't offer more then Xbox Live. Are you sharing the same blinders as username?

I hate making people look stupid but...

http://kotaku.com/341399/xbox-live-10-million-gold-subscribers

10 bucks says its closer to 11 million as that article was written almost 4 months ago.

That's why people usually buy beers by the dozen instead of by the unit ;)

XBL being free is as likely as PSN being premium.