It pretty much expected that over the cost of a videogame life cycle that the price of hardware and software will drop over time. The cost of network access has dropped over the last years. However the Xbox Live service is over five years now and it is still pretty much the same price as it was when it started.
It was pretty spiffy when they created the silver accounts for free when the Xbox 360 launched and tiered approach helped distribute demos, videos and software updates. But how many silver account Xbox Live users would jump to a Gold account if the price came down? Playing with other gamers and sending messages is pretty much what Xbox Live is all about to me. It would suck to go back to a silver. Don't get me wrong I have no problem paying for a Dedicated premium unified online networking service for the Xbox 360. I mean the Wii and PS3 online experience is pretty much worth what you pay for, nothing. Xbox Live is a killer app.
One of the dark horse possible E3 announcements that I am predicting and pulling for is a price cut for Xbox Live. I mean "important industry Analysts" predict a hardware price cut for Xbox hardware.. Whoopee doo. I could have told you that with the new Xbox motherboards coming out. Thanks for coming to the party folks. If I had a nickel with every time I heard a videogame analyst prediction that didn't pan out I could buy a PS3 for all my readers.
Even if it is only a $25 or $30 cut in price it would help propel new accounts and help retain existing Xbox Live Gold accounts and hopefully they can still make money of selling Xbox Live Gold if it is $40 or $35 a year instead of $50. I am sure that we might hear a price cut in Xbox 360 hardware at E3 but a price cut for Xbox Live would be very interesting.
I think it would obviously be great t have a price cut on live. I really do enjoy surfing the web on the ps3 though. I wish I had a browser for the 360. It is great to have a 42 inch, hidef web experience with the ps3. I use it primarly now for surfing with my wireless keyboard. it is really cool how you can zoom in with the controller.
Its $50.00 If anything i'm shocked tey haven't raissed the price like everything else. And not only is is $50.00 but its $50.00 a YEAR! That comes out to .14 cents a day. They haven't cut the price of live yet and don't expect it. Especially since MS thinks its UNDER priced.
While I agree, Xbox Live is great and worth the money... I'm hopeful for a price drop, so I hope you're right. $50/year just seems like a bit much when (at least with most games), playing with other gamers does not take place on any central server. I find the price a bit high to pay if you are just looking to game online.
I'm one of those increasingly rare gamers who don't really care too much about online gaming. I know that makes me a fossil, but it also prevented me from paying more than $7.99 for a month of Xbox Live- maybe once or twice a year.
I'm not going to advocate PSN over Xbox Live, since you'd need to be blind to say that PSN is currently anywhere near the quality that MS offers. But I will say that the more Sony start to add to PSN, the more redundant that $50 will start to look.
An Xbox Live Gold account is $50 for a year. That works out to $4.16 a month for Xbox Live Gold. If Xbox Live was $30 a year that would work out to $2.50 a month.
I seldom play online and I've had a 12 month subscription for XBL on the original Xbox 1 and also I've had a 12 month gold membership with XBL on the Xbox 360.
Well, I don't play that much but downloads and content on XBL is/was great.
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Now I exclusively go online with PSN because I get the demos at once and there is no fee to pay for online play. Simple as that - to pay for XBL only works out if you play online games regularily.
From the business side Microsoft is right to restrict XBL to paying members... from where I stand it should be free... but I'm just dreaming, I guess.
I just don't see it happening while they are parading it's rampant success and having trouble keeping up with the expansion. Luckily for us already paying customers, they have greatly improved stability as of late.
Even if it were free, I wouldn't be playing online multiplayer. That's why Microsoft will never lower the price: if you like it enough, you're going to pay the $50. If you don't like it, you wouldn't use it even if it were free. The thing that pisses me off is how Silver members get jobbed when it comes to the free content that Gold members get earlier. That is bullshit.
Call me old-fashioned, but I would much rather play against a buddy that is sitting next to me than some random douchebag online. I got a Live 12 month for Xmas and rarely, if ever, play online. I don't have any desire to even try the multi-player modes on most games (I bought GTA IV on release day, and haven't even thought about going online.)
I know that I am in the minority, but it would kill developers to at least include an off-line multiplayer mode? That can be a make or break selling point on whether or not I plop down $60 to buy a game.
To ANDREW: Live is great. When i play a game of tiger woods the other day.. we had a foursome match going on.. someone from germany, england, australia and me from canada.. now dont you think its cool that 4 different ppl from around the world are playing against each other in real time? I think it is.. Also you can test your skill against everyone in the world.. not just your friends.. also from meeting alot of ppl, you get to share tips and tricks which further improve your game skills..
Wow, the PSN is worth nothing? I put to all Live users, if you could play online for free against your friends and strangers wouldn't you? If Live offered this as part of the 'silver' membership, who would use 'Gold'? As a gamer, I won't pay for a game and then pay again to play it online. I could care less about movie downloads or any other M$ shovel ware they bulk up their online store with. PSN is exactly what is, free online multiplayer for us gamers. Not a nickel and dime 5 year old peer to peer Live service.
i would also like xblive to lower it's price a bit ONLY 'coz there's no dedicated server for most if not all xblive games. otherwise, it's price point is very reasonable for how idiot proof it is and i've got no complaints about it whatsoever. also, only moronic idiotic wannabe gamers would want a web browser on their console(s). i've always detested devs or any1 else who even have a minutia of thought on incorporating a web browser on a console. i buy my console(s) for the sole reason of playing games right away and put it away after i'm done. i don't give a crap about browsing the net or any of that whatsoever. i can do that far more easily and much faster on my computer (pc/laptop).
There are tons of dedicated servers for Xbox Live.
why can't we have multiple users on a gold account on the same machine?that's what makes live a rip off.if my son wants to play online there goes another 50 dollars.
That is all in the content control. With live it is required you have high speed internet. I remember back when I played killzone you would have 56kers kill the ping.