Xbox Live Removing Gold Requirement for Netflix, Hulu?

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The rumor mill is buzzing this morning with word that Microsoft may be removing the Gold requirement for Netflix and Hulu.

We can report that multiple sources within Microsoft have been briefed on plans to make a long-awaited change to the Xbox Live Gold paywall for streaming media services. According to our sources, Xbox 360 and Xbox One users will soon no longer need a paid subscription to Xbox Live Gold to access Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming media apps.
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Too little too late I am afraid. The damage by their stupidity has been done.
 
I agree, fricking morons. Never again will I get an XBOX.

I had family gold for $99 per year. Microsoft cancelled that if you have a 360. Either pay $240 a year ($59.99 per member, there are 4 of us) or upgrade to an XBOX One. By the way, when you do upgrade none of your existing games will be playable.

I'll be upgrading alright, to a PS4.....
 
Too Late...Xbox could have been the center of my media, but I already found a cheaper/better replacement that does all of my media, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and many others with no restrictions and no stupid monthly fee.
 
I bought an Xbox for my nephews a few years back for Christmas. I almost shit a brick when I found out you had to pay an Xbox membership fee (or whatever the hell it's called) just to watch Netflix. I guess maybe it's my fault to not checking into it, but in my mind it's like buying a new car and having to pay extra for tires. Never again.
 
Is it really that big a deal that Microsoft required Live Gold to use Netflix? If you're using your Xbox One solely for Netflix you're a moron anyway. Just another reason for people to jump on the "F Xbox One" bandwagon.
 
I'm surprised that it took this long for Netflix and Hulu to make Microsoft do this. Microsoft was the only people charging a "pay wall" to use services that Netflix and Hulu were already being paid for. Those services had no business being behind a pay wall.

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grayfox2 said:
Is it really that big a deal that Microsoft required Live Gold to use Netflix? If you're using your Xbox One solely for Netflix you're a moron anyway. Just another reason for people to jump on the "F Xbox One" bandwagon.
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Yes it is, its the principle of having content you pay a subscription for behind an unnecessary pay wall.

Has nothing to do with the XB1, some of us have been bitching about this since Live came out. This is an About damn time move from MS.
 
grayfox2 said:
Is it really that big a deal that Microsoft required Live Gold to use Netflix? If you're using your Xbox One solely for Netflix you're a moron anyway. Just another reason for people to jump on the "F Xbox One" bandwagon.
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Yes.
If you have other devices then sure but not everyone has mutliple streaming devices. You're a moron to think it and quite frankly a moron for that statement all together.
No, the requirement for xbox live for basic services outside of the xbox network was just dumb.


Good move by Microsoft, but too little too late.
 
It's official and starts in June. They also announced a $399 Xbox One system WITHOUT Kinect sensor included.
 
How about we step back for a second and evaluate the whole concept of a Gold membership. You buy a game for $60, and then have to pay more to play online? PC games have had free multiplayer since the 15th century. They're in essence charging you to access the internet. It's the most blatant rip-off in the history of blatant rip-offs.....actually no, the most blatant rip-off was charging $100 for the xbox wifi connector. Now THAT was some seriously blatant ripping off.


I have a 360 that i haven't used for gaming in about 3 years. Around that time i tried to use it for Netflix and realized it required Gold membership. I was infuriated. Put the 360 in the closet and haven't taken it out since.

Bought a chromecast (which costs less than Gold subscription) + cable to connect my tablet to TV. All my problems are solved.
 
in a world where you can easily have Netlfix on your PC, SmarTV , bluray player... I cant believe you had to be gold in order to have it on the xbox
 
Puterguru said:
I agree, fricking morons. Never again will I get an XBOX.

I had family gold for $99 per year. Microsoft cancelled that if you have a 360. Either pay $240 a year ($59.99 per member, there are 4 of us) or upgrade to an XBOX One. By the way, when you do upgrade none of your existing games will be playable.

I'll be upgrading alright, to a PS4.....
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Bought an Xbox One, knowing that the two games I had on the 360 wouldn't work, one of them I never played (Skyrim, figured if I was going to play it, it would be on the PC), and Forza 5 was worth the upgrade.

None of my PS3 games will work on the PS4 either, the only difference is, I'm not getting rid of the PS3 (no additional fees for netflix on there).

And I can access netflix on every other device, and system, why would I need it on one that charges me extra for it?
 
joseardzm said:
in a world where you can easily have Netlfix on your PC, SmarTV , bluray player... I cant believe you had to be gold in order to have it on the xbox
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The reason this started was because so many people had Xbox 360 and when the Netflix app was first released it was above and beyond any other method of using Netflix. That has changed and MS knows it.

Remember you still can't get 1080p streams or 5.1 audio in a web browser on PC/Mac. So sometimes people use other methods to get the best quality. Also not that long along SmartTV's, Netflix in blu-ray players, chromecast, etc didn't exist. MS is adjusting their policy based on the changing market.
 
Only reason I don't have a Gold account is because of this. Glad I held out. Seems Microsoft heard me and the many others that don't like being taxed by MS to use things we can use anywhere else for free.
 
Besides removing the gold for hulu/netflix they are moving more towards a plus style with free games for gold

AND


just ANNOUNCED PRICE CUT--sorta-

$399 for an xbox one...WITHOUT KINECT!
 
ChedWick said:
Yes.
If you have other devices then sure but not everyone has mutliple streaming devices. You're a moron to think it and quite frankly a moron for that statement all together.
No, the requirement for xbox live for basic services outside of the xbox network was just dumb.


Good move by Microsoft, but too little too late.
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Oh I'm sorry, I forgot that not everyone who buys an Xbox is going to use it for multi player. What I was getting at is if you buy an Xbox you should expect to be paying for Live, unless you're not playing online games. If you're that butthurt over having to have Live Gold, maybe you should reevaluate your $600 purchase.

Or do I just have common sense?
 
It might have made sense a few years ago but by now I guess a lot of 360's are just being used for streaming.

I know mine is.
 
grayfox2 said:
Oh I'm sorry, I forgot that not everyone who buys an Xbox is going to use it for multi player. What I was getting at is if you buy an Xbox you should expect to be paying for Live, unless you're not playing online games. If you're that butthurt over having to have Live Gold, maybe you should reevaluate your $600 purchase.

Or do I just have common sense?
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I personally just don't play online. I have one friend with an XO and he has no time to play. This is good news for people like me who feel even though I knew better from the 360, the promise of an all in one living room experience shouldn't then have to fork over $60 a year to use it as a living room device after paying $500 for that living room experience.
 
grayfox2 said:
Oh I'm sorry, I forgot that not everyone who buys an Xbox is going to use it for multi player. What I was getting at is if you buy an Xbox you should expect to be paying for Live, unless you're not playing online games. If you're that butthurt over having to have Live Gold, maybe you should reevaluate your $600 purchase.

Or do I just have common sense?
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Common sense? I wouldn't go that far. After all, you seem to be justifying the need to pay for a service, just to get another paid service. That in and of itself doesn't make too much sense.
 
xX326Xx said:
I personally just don't play online. I have one friend with an XO and he has no time to play. This is good news for people like me who feel even though I knew better from the 360, the promise of an all in one living room experience shouldn't then have to fork over $60 a year to use it as a living room device after paying $500 for that living room experience.
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I can honestly say I don't have as much time to play as I wish I did, but I don't regret anything. I love the entire experience so far.
 
Puterguru said:
I agree, fricking morons. Never again will I get an XBOX.

I had family gold for $99 per year. Microsoft cancelled that if you have a 360. Either pay $240 a year ($59.99 per member, there are 4 of us) or upgrade to an XBOX One. By the way, when you do upgrade none of your existing games will be playable.

I'll be upgrading alright, to a PS4.....
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This is the number one reason i always thought Live was huge scam, its PER FUCKING USER, not box.
 
All this from folks who pay $110 a month cell phone bills, $150 a month cable bills, $600 video cards, and other such super expensive, "justifiable" purchases. I would place a bet as well that those who claim they were going to buy a One if this were to happen will most likely just find another excuse to bitch about just because and not buy one.

Of course, reading through this thread, I see it did not take long for the insults to start flying. :( (Mostly from the apposed side I see.) I have no problem paying $40 a year for Xbox live Gold for what I get out of it. Also, this money goes toward improving the service as well as Sony is suddenly finding out. (You get what you pay for as the saying goes.)

But, if it makes some folks happy and makes Microsoft more money, good for them. Oh, and to those who claim to little to late, LOL! We will have to see if Sony even survives the next few years considering the cash they are bleeding even now.
 
Spidey329 said:
Yeah, especially since every device has these apps built in now-a-days.
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Yeah, and most every other device I have tried runs like crap compared to the One. (Not game consoles mind you, mostly Roku like devices.) :rolleyes: Such as the case may be, whatever works.
 
Puterguru said:
I had family gold for $99 per year. Microsoft cancelled that if you have a 360. Either pay $240 a year ($59.99 per member, there are 4 of us) or upgrade to an XBOX One. By the way, when you do upgrade none of your existing games will be playable.
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I upgraded to an Xbox One, myself. But, they did lose the other 3 Live subscriptions. Sure, it's all good on the One, but it sucks doing that with the other players on the 360. I'd rather do without than to go to the $240 model. Nope.Nope.Nope.

Although, I did buy 2 years at $35 a year.
 
Forget the Live requirement.
Running an XBOX 360 for streaming costs

120 watts * 5 hours a day * 365 a year / 1000 *$0.15 (my electricity costs)

That's $100 a year in electricity. Very wasteful when the TV can already do that.
 
plupien79 said:
Forget the Live requirement.
Running an XBOX 360 for streaming costs

120 watts * 5 hours a day * 365 a year / 1000 *$0.15 (my electricity costs)

That's $100 a year in electricity. Very wasteful when the TV can already do that.
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Please stop with the BS math already. I am not spending $8 a month in electricity on my 360 and One considering my electric bill is no more than $45 a month or so. Are you also one of those folks who think you will spend $100 Bajjilion dollars more a month if you have an AMD FX 8350 over an Intel processor? :D :rolleyes:
 
ManofGod said:
All this from folks who pay $110 a month cell phone bills, $150 a month cable bills, $600 video cards, and other such super expensive, "justifiable" purchases.
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Uhh... $50/mo cell phone, $9/month cable (NetFlix), and about $10/mo for a video card, which is upgraded every few years. I save my super-expensive, "justifiable" purchases for the automotive industry! :D
 
TeeJayHoward said:
Uhh... $50/mo cell phone, $9/month cable (NetFlix), and about $10/mo for a video card, which is upgraded every few years. I save my super-expensive, "justifiable" purchases for the automotive industry! :D
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Not me, I am going to leave my car alone just as it is. :D (2013 Dodge Dart SXT MultiAir 1.4T with 6 speed manual.) My computers, I can do whatever in them, my car, not so much. :cool:
 
Axiomatic said:
I'm surprised that it took this long for Netflix and Hulu to make Microsoft do this. Microsoft was the only people charging a "pay wall" to use services that Netflix and Hulu were already being paid for. Those services had no business being behind a pay wall.

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Netflix didn't make Microsoft do anything. Losing the console war to Sony did. microsoft certainly didnt decise this out of the kindness of their greedy black heart
 
nusse said:
Too little too late I am afraid. The damage by their stupidity has been done.
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yup.

I accepted life with Live with pretty much no pain anyway and watching them wittle away at the 360 functionality trying to force it on me only made me more determined. bad enough some games wouldnt update (EA I'm looking at you) and some DLC wasnt available without Live.
 
Time2Kill said:
Too Late...Xbox could have been the center of my media, but I already found a cheaper/better replacement that does all of my media, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and many others with no restrictions and no stupid monthly fee.
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There are a lot of good alternatives, but as far as ones that also do gaming the Wii U is pretty awesome as a media device. Nintendo has made excellent use of the gamepad and second screen for streaming services and it is very power efficient compared to Sony and Microsoft offerings. It's just unfortunate it doesn't also act as a 3D Blu-Ray player, but then again neither do the other current consoles.

If you're into Nintendo style games at all, either new or retro on the Virtual Console I highly recommend looking into the Wii U's streaming capabilities as well as it's TVii feature which even gives you a nice TV Guide feature for an antenna based setup if you are a cord cutter.
 
N1GHTRA1N said:
It's official and starts in June. They also announced a $399 Xbox One system WITHOUT Kinect sensor included.
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It's fun watching a company that was the though-leader for decades now degrade into a company that constantly backtracks and tries to correct mistakes.
 
MetalX said:
It's fun watching a company that was the though-leader for decades now degrade into a company that constantly backtracks and tries to correct mistakes.
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Seriously, what the heck is a "though-leader"? :confused: As far as "backtracking goes", who has more money and who is bleeding?
 
ManofGod said:
Seriously, what the heck is a "though-leader"? :confused: As far as "backtracking goes", who has more money and who is bleeding?
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It's a critical mistake in industry analysis to incorrectly correlate the success of a company as a whole to the profitability of a particular division. This holds true for both MS and Sony.
 
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