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Forums - Gaming - Why does the XBox 360 online service have a monthly fee?

Munkeh111 on 27 August 2009
Sardauk said:
Munkeh111 said:
NightDragon83 said:

Funny thing about M$ charging for XBL is that Sony wishes they could do that with PSN because that'll help stem their losses from the PS3 hardware, but the fanboys would throw a shit fit if Sony charged a premium for online gaming.

Remember, basic XBL is free, including having access to tons of Arcade games, videos, and DLC that PSN either doesn't have, or you have to wait longer for it.  And I always LOL at the Sony fanboys who use the fact that XBL Gold costs $50 a year (at most, and it isn't mandatory for basic access like I said) and that PSN is "free" to justify the fact that they spent $100-$200 more for their PS3 than 360 owners did for their console.

Let's just look at the basics here. I have had my PS3 for 2 1/2 years and so for MP I would have had to pay around £90 for gold. If you add that on to the £270 for a Pro at that time, it comes to £360. If you then add in the fact that I would have had to upgrade my HDD, I think I would have paid more

 

I don't really get how they can justify it. Ignoring NetFlix, most of your money from gold is used to pay Microsoft, for what exactly? My main problem is that when I buy a game, I expect to be able to access all the content on that disc, but with Xbox I have to pay again for what I have already paid for

This is a storm in a glass of water...

XBL Gold is cheap...and it is the best most populated online console system.... I don't see where is the problem.

Actually, I think PSN has more users, but it cheats as it has PSP users too... The problem is, should I buy an extra game every year, or have to pay for something twice?



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Sardauk on 27 August 2009

PSN has no added value to me.
It still feels raw and is now a cost for the publishers...

I believe that the money spent in XBL financed NXE and the new functionalities (and the cost of the infrastructure).

It gives more, it is not a second hidden fee IMO.

 

IF PSN was a good business model, they would have never asked for the publishers to pay for it.Sooner or later, this cost will end on the price of the game. At that moment, you will pay for PSN, with less advantages than XBL...



 

Evan Wells (Uncharted 2): I think the differences that you see between any two games has much more to do with the developer than whether it’s on the Xbox or PS3.

Infinity on 27 August 2009

OK, so far the only valid reason I have read on this thread is being able to play Halo 3 online (360 exclusive). Everything else mentioned can be done on other platforms for free if you were not aware. As far as people claiming XBL has a better service in general to justify the cost, that is not factual. I have used it and it is not better than Windows, Linux, PSN, etc. online services.



MAFKKA on 27 August 2009
Zizzla_Rachet said:

You can't put a price on awesomeness..also MS offers Voice messages,Party Chat,Private Chat,Private Party Chat, Cross game chat, across many countries...in NA...it's really cheap for 50 dollars a year to talk internationally and long distance...Which is the the reason why PSN has none of these outside of in game chat...Sony would not be able to afford to not charge people...XBOX LIVE Gold has a price tag for a reason....it's not cheap to have dedicated Voice chat options..

Skype? Ventrilo? Teamspeak?

Voice chat isnt expensive in any way. So i doubt thats the reason.



FaRmLaNd on 27 August 2009

Microsoft pay to host a games servers on xbl whereas with psn the servers are run by the respective games developers correct?

That would be a reason for live to cost as microsoft are essentially throwing developers a bone.



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MAFKKA on 27 August 2009

When you say MS throwing developers a bone, you mean us gamers are throwing them a bone, right?



yo_john117 on 27 August 2009
Infinity said:
OK, so far the only valid reason I have read on this thread is being able to play Halo 3 online (360 exclusive). Everything else mentioned can be done on other platforms for free if you were not aware. As far as people claiming XBL has a better service in general to justify the cost, that is not factual. I have used it and it is not better than Windows, Linux, PSN, etc. online services.

Well there goes all your credibility.  (but to be fair your credibility disappeared about 451 posts ago)



welshbloke on 27 August 2009
Ail said:
Actually what is amazing is that Microsoft can enforce the use of a paying service for its users without getting into any legal problems.

Imagine if tomorrow suddenly to connect to internet with your PC running windows you had to go through Microsoft servers and had to pay for it...
There would be a billion lawsuit sitting at Microsoft's door...


That is because they do not force it, you do not need Gold to use your Xbox. You ever heard of the Silver account?



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Skeeuk on 27 August 2009

i have no idea on why xbl has a charge, the sole reason people pay is to play games online. you can play for free elsewhere and with the soon to be released psn offerings its hard to justify a charge.

all i can think of that makes xbl stand out is basically a better voice chat system



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FaRmLaNd on 27 August 2009
MAFKKA said:
When you say MS throwing developers a bone, you mean us gamers are throwing them a bone, right?

You could see it that way ;)

But the reality of the situation is everything costs money. Developers pay for servers, we pay for servers, someone always pays. Whenever you play on a private server on steam chances are a user is paying for that server. Microsoft make a lot of money from this, I bet sony wish they'd implemented such a scheme as gamers are clearly happy enough to pay (aslong as the service is of sufficient quality), I mean people pay a monthly fee to play mmo's and thats just one game!

Everything costs money.