Do you hear that banging noise, just echoing in the distance? It’s an interesting phenomenon, but it could possibly be explained by the combination of heads and fists hitting desks as Microsoft announce that they are raising the price of Xbox Live.
The news dropped today when it appeared on Major Nelson’s blog that the price for Xbox Live Gold subscriptions will be rising in Canada, Mexico, the United Kindom and the United States from November 1 this year.
The damage to US subscribers is that a one month subscription will now cost $9.99, three months $24.99 and a year will be $59.99. In the UK and Canada, one month of Xbox Live Gold will now cost £5.99 and $9.99 respectively. Mexico’s Xbox Live subscription for a year has risen to 599 Pesos.
Apparently these figures listed will be the only ones affected, so a 12 month Xbox Live Gold plan in the UK should stay the same according to the blog.
Microsoft are offering a discounted 12 months at $39.99 if you fancy topping up your Xbox Gold subscription before the price jumps up.
This was still not enough to calm the delicate waters of the comments field however, as the vast majority are very unhappy with this rise, questioning why they should pay even more on top of what is already the most expensive online option for playing games.
Count me among the annoyed. Not so much by the amount it has increased, just the sheer audacity of thinking that they could charge even more for a service which should be free.
If it isn’t scrapped I’ll be going down to silver by November. I was happy (relatively) paying monthly so I could quit whenever and can’t be bothered searching eBay or the like for a deal. If I want to play something online I’ll just get the PS3 version.
I actually sent Major Nelson an email about it (well, sent to him directly but by no means meant for him alone since he’s just the messenger here). He got back to me saying he’d pass what I said on to ‘the team’. I hope it wasn’t an automated responce, there was a spelling mistake and shorthand in it.
What a big surprise, and just in time for christmas too! I’ll tell you what will happen; 360 gamers will shout angrily and bash away on their keyboards over teh interetz about it while the PS3 idiot fanboys laugh at them and coax them on in chatrooms. Then after about a month, everyone will be used to being banged up the jaxi by their serial rapist company and get back to just taking it like a good little gamer should.
I don’t mind paying for services at all, hell, I DON’T EVEN HAVE LIVE! But, I think it’s shameful they way WE ALLOW OURSELVES to be treated as consumers.
If BT suddenly raised your standard fee, would you take it?
If your landlord suddenly raised the rent at christmas, would you take it?
If your car payments suddenly went up by 10%, would you just keep paying it?
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH US!?
I’m not a 360 owner so don’t have an opinion on LIVE, but isn’t the arguement that the service is better than PSN so worth the payment? Microsoft have kept the price the same since launch, which is pretty good, a price increase was due.