Xbox Live to Cost $100?

[ProjectPat2280]

According to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, yes it will.

“You can’t hook a guy into Xbox Live Gold if he’s playing on a PC,” Pachter said in a GTTV discussion talking about how Microsoft has seemingly given up on the PC gamer market. “… that’s the other problem — you really want to hook every gamer who has a 360, you want them to buy all their games on 360, play everything multiplayer, pay you 50 bucks a year so that, in a couple years, it’s a 100 bucks a year.”

“And that’s going up, we all know that … it’s a profit deal,” he concluded.

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2009/10/18/xbox-live-will-be-100-per-year-pachter-believes/

So whats your thoughts?

I say this absolutely will not happen, but if it does, MS can kiss my subscription and business good buy. Ill just jump ship and join the Sony camp exclusively.

 

[Soapy]

Not going to happen. No way Microsoft would arbitrarily double the price. The only way I can see them doing that is if they're going to offer some kind of ultra-premium version of Xbox Live. Either way, I won't be paying for it.

 

[Master Chief]

They would lose way too many subscribers. Me included. :heart:

 

[The Hill]

Question. What am I paying for in LIVE that I'm not getting on the PSN for free? I'm thinkin about gettin LIVE but I want to know what I'm payin for that the Sony guys are not getting.

 

[Master Chief]

You pay for the ability to play online. All the other s**t is free.

 

[Raiden]

If Live costs $100, they can count me out.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Question. What am I paying for in LIVE that I'm not getting on the PSN for free? I'm thinkin about gettin LIVE but I want to know what I'm payin for that the Sony guys are not getting.

As someone who just started using the PSN more and more, not a whole lot. Live does have cross game voice chat, but the PSN will soon get that as well. Honestly the only thing i think Live does better than the PSN is the interface. Using the XMB is far more clumsy than using Live. Communicating with your friends, finding demos, videos DLC and sending invites is almost a hassle on the PSN. So, IMO, the only thing Live has over PSN is the far more user friendly interface. If the PSN cleans up and becomes less, cluttered, id consider dropping my Gold account and staying over on the PSN.

 

[Addendum]

The only way I'd quit playing my 360 is if they got rid of the silver account support.

But remember, this is the same guy who has been wrong before

http://www.bingegamer.net/2009/who-the-****-is-michael-pachter/

 

[Papa Burgundy]

f*** that im outta there if they do that...i think

either way im sure theyll lose alot of customers. thats way to high of a price. how much more money does bill gates need?

 

[StrainedEyes]

There is basically no way they could justify raising the price to $100. Unless they included subscriptions to Netflix Instant and Last F.M. etc.. with the price (which I don't think they can do).

 

[Spider-Vader]

They'd lose so many people. If Microsoft was smart, they'd leave it as it is. Maybe there could be a 2 or 3 year subscription for $100? That'd be smart. I'd buy it.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Netflix alone is 9 dollars a month (108 a year). If they found someway to include that into a new 8 dollar a month (100 a year) XBL subscription, then I'd be all for it.

If they just double the price for the hell of it, and not really add anything, then yeah they will lose a lot of business.

 

[KALEL114]

MS knows they have a product people want and they have a very strong fan base. I know RROD is becoming a non issue now, but when it was, people kept buying it regardless. People may cry foul initially, but when Halo 4 or Gears 3 hits, they will pay anything for Live. Now the casual 360 owners (myself included) will not pay 100 bucks, but the hardcore players will and MS knows it.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

MS knows they have a product people want and they have a very strong fan base. I know RROD is becoming a non issue now, but when it was, people kept buying it regardless. People may cry foul initially, but when Halo 4 or Gears 3 hits, they will pay anything for Live. Now the casual 360 owners (myself included) will not pay 100 bucks, but the hardcore players will and MS knows it.

But out of the 20 million or so Live users, how many are hardcore? I know at least 4 or 5 ppl that are paying for Live and are anything but hardcore gamers. Even if MS thinks that no matter what the price, the hardcore fans will still line up, i dont see them getting enough back if only the hardcore are paying for Live, because thats who would remain. They would lose 99.9% of their 'casual' Gold subscriber and id wager almost half of the 'hardcore' crowd. I mean im a pretty damn hardcore Live user and id be the first to walk.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Bleh, It's just Pachter. The dudes a gafer in disguise.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Bleh, It's just Pachter. The dudes a gafer in disguise.

LOL


Yea, sometimes i wonder if he just says something hoping itll stick.

 

[jacobed]

Not only is Live more user friendly but its just plain better than psn. I have both and have had both for a few years now and you're definitely paying for quality in Live. Alot of matches that I play with the PSN are really laggy and don't say its my router or any of that ******** because it's not I run an ethernet cable straight from my cable modem into my PS3 and Xbox and I never have a problem with Live.

 

[Addendum]

The only problems I've had with Live occur when it's down. Sometimes it's on their end, other times it's on my internet provider's end.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

It will not happen.
In fact, if Sony continues to outsell the 360 by the middle of next year, i see them dropping the cost all together.
The only way i can see them doing it is if they add something really special to it, Geo7877´s idea of Netflix makes sense, more even because Netflix already said they are going to go outside the US next year.

 

[YoungE808]

I'm already tired of the BS that is Xbox Live Gold. It's just ******ed that I have to wait just because I'm a silver member to play a demo when it's available over live. WTF

 

[Addendum]

The wait has never bothered me

 

[StrainedEyes]

I'm already tired of the BS that is Xbox Live Gold. It's just ******ed that I have to wait just because I'm a silver member to play a demo when it's available over live. WTF

The people who pay for the service should get some kind of special treatment.

 

[The Apocalypse]

Don't they get enough money with people buying all that extra crap?

 

[YoungE808]

The people who pay for the service should get some kind of special treatment.

They call that being able to play online with others.

 

[Addendum]

And even then, one still has to pay for the internet access. So it's not really free.

Besides, the cost of Xbox Live averages out to $4.17 a month under the $50 yearly fee. If someone can't afford 4 bucks and change, then how the hell could they afford the 360, game/s, internet access, television, etc.