think of it .....microsoft has been losing money on every console even b4 the price cut ! i can only imagine what its losing now ! they are losing money from RROD, yes software is outselling ps3s but not when u add sonys ps2! dont 4get microsoft cant compete with handhelds which widens the users base ! so it confuzzled me ,but then i thought about it (being an ex 360 owner)its XBOXLIVE ! not only do u hafe to pay a 50 dollar acount fee , but u also mindlesly purchase shii u dont even use more than a couple times ....and when u combine the 50 dollar fee plus say another 50 dollars on other stuff per console owner ( 20m * 100 = 2,000,000,000 dollars a year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and thats juss an assuming average .

conclusion ....as long as 360 owners are willing to pay , the 360 aint going nowhere!! so get over it people.

For the 2nd time, what is it with the fanboys today?

 This.

 well sorry i didnt have the luxury of growing up in the united states or any other country that speaks the english language

but i taught myself to speak write and read english as best as i can ...and i now speak 3 languages !

how many do u speak ??!!

So if you take away the ps2 software the ps3 would fail?

I don’t get it

Yes Live is a big portion of the money they make. Your numbers aren't quite right though. First off not every 360 owner has gold live (I don't for instance since I seldom turn the console on and have a PS3/PC), the last numbers I saw had it at around 10 million. But not all 10 million pay 50 a year, some pay monthly at a higher rate (I think its around 7 or 8 dollars) which comes out to almost 100 dollars a year. Lets say on average they pay 60. So thats 10,000,000 people at 60 dollars each, that gives you 600,000,000 which is a lot. Then toss in the microtransactions they hit you with (there is almost no free content on the 360, unlike the PS3 where themes and all the rest are usually free). On average lets say each Live user (all 25 million this time, since you don't need gold to use live content transactions) spends around 50 a year between games, movies, themes and the rest. That is then 1,250.000.000. So yes they are nickel and dimeing all the 360 owners for around 2 billion per years but not in the way you were mentioning (its more the content then live where they get you).

On top of that of course you can't use 3rd party Hard drives so you have to pay almost 200 dollars for a 120GB drive; you need to buy wireless even on the elite for a 1st part 90 dollars ect ect. Microsoft might make the console cheap, but they get hundreds of dollars out afterwards for all the things that are free with the PS3.

In reality, an 80GB PS3 for 399 costs less then a 199 core+200 for 4 years of live+90 for wireless+100 or more for a hard drive but a lot of people are taken in by something that seems cheap and don't really notice the recurring costs. Microsoft thrives off of that; I guarantee you there are people on this forum who have given Microsoft nearly 400 dollars by now for online play between the Xbox and the 360, paying more then the console is worth to do what I've been able to do for years free on my Playstations.

thank u for putting this thread in better words than me

uve done ur homework

Running Live costs Microsoft money, so a portion of what people pay does go towards it's upkeep.

Not all of it, but then this is business where you mark stuff up to make money.

The main point here is that Sony's PSN being free is not sustainable. It'll be costing them. They have to get money from somewhere to pay for it. They're hoping that advertising on Home will do this. And microtransactions too. Sony mark stuff up too.

so if i recall ...live had alotta ads !!!???

u speak English , there are 2 left , what r they?