(UPDATED) Microsoft walks back decision to double price of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions

Armenius

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Thanks to Templar_X for pointing out that Microsoft has backtracked already on changes to the pricing model at this time. In addition, they removed the Gold requirement for free-to-play games. Interesting that they do this now when people have been complaining about the latter for a long time.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/01/22/update-on-xbox-live-gold-pricing/

[UPDATED on 1/22/2021 at 8:52 PM PT

We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold pricing.

We’re turning this moment into an opportunity to bring Xbox Live more in line with how we see the player at the center of their experience. For free-to-play games, you will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play those games on Xbox. We are working hard to deliver this change as soon as possible in the coming months.

If you are an Xbox Live Gold member already, you stay at your current price for renewal. New and existing members can continue to enjoy Xbox Live Gold for the same prices they pay today. In the US, $9.99 for 1-month, $24.99 for 3-months, $39.99 for 6-months and $59.99 for retail 12-months.

Thank you.

In a move in which Windows Central calls "the worst deal in gaming," Microsoft has just revealed that the price on new Xbox Live Gold subscriptions has doubled to $59.99 USD per 6 months, or $120 for 12 months. They argue that this is Microsoft enacting an aggressive push to entice people to upgrade to Game Pass Ultimate, which is another $60 a year on top of the new Gold price. Windows Central rightfully points out how this is tone deaf, considering many are still suffering due to the effects and ongoing lockdowns during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Microsoft's justification for the increase in price is to compensate for the changing market landscape and keep up with demands on their server network, as they claim their network is the most reliable in the industry. PlayStation Plus is still $60 a year as of this writing. Free-to-play games require Xbox Live Gold to play online, while a Plus subscription is not required on PlayStation platforms.

If you are currently a Gold member and have your subscription set to auto renew, you will continue at the current pricing until the cancellation of auto renewal.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/01/22/update-on-xbox-live-gold-pricing/

Since we launched Xbox Live (18 years ago!), we’ve been working to make it the most advanced multiplayer network available, for the greatest community of gamers — and there are a lot of you. Millions of people come together on Xbox to play with friends and discover great games. We invest in our community by strengthening the digital safety of our players, enabling new ways to share, communicate and play with your friends, and delivering industry leading reliability across our network.

Periodically, we assess the value and pricing of our services to reflect changes in regional marketplaces and to continue to invest in the Xbox community; we’ll be making price adjustments for Xbox Live Gold in select markets. In many markets, the price of Xbox Live Gold has not changed for years and in some markets, it hasn’t changed for over 10 years.
So, what does this mean for you?
  • If you’re an existing online 12-month or 6-month Xbox Live Gold member, there’s no price change. If you choose to renew your membership, it will renew at your current price.
  • The price of a 1-month Gold membership is increasing $1 USD and the price of a 3-month membership is increasing $5 USD or the equivalent amount in your local market.
  • If you’d like to upgrade your Gold membership to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate your remaining Gold time will also convert directly to Ultimate (up to 36 months). For example, if you have 11 months of Xbox Live Gold now, and you upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, those 11 months convert to 11 months of Ultimate at no additional cost.
 
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They were forced to implement a lot of network features and security so it sort of makes sense that they had to up the price to cover it. But double is way more than I expected I figured like $99 a year at most, certainly not $120, that was well outside my expectations.
 
This only affects new Gold users, and as noted it exists primarily to drive more people to Game Pass. It’s a bad deal because it’s supposed to be. Since it doesn’t affect anyone already using these services, people are upset because ??? Play games on PC is you don’t want to pay for online services.
 
Aren't xbox sales basically in the toilet every generation?

I guess they have to make money somehow.
 
Are you console users done yet? Playstation 5 games are now $70 and Xbox Live Gold has doubled in price. Your consoles maybe cheaper than a PC but you'll spend more on games and online play.

ImpressiveParallelFantail-small.gif
 
"[UPDATED on 1/22/2021 at 8:52 PM PT]

We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold pricing.

We’re turning this moment into an opportunity to bring Xbox Live more in line with how we see the player at the center of their experience. For free-to-play games, you will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play those games on Xbox. We are working hard to deliver this change as soon as possible in the coming months.

If you are an Xbox Live Gold member already, you stay at your current price for renewal. New and existing members can continue to enjoy Xbox Live Gold for the same prices they pay today. In the US, $9.99 for 1-month, $24.99 for 3-months, $39.99 for 6-months and $59.99 for retail 12-months.

Thank you."

Well, seems like the backlash hit the spot.
 
"[UPDATED on 1/22/2021 at 8:52 PM PT]

We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold pricing.

We’re turning this moment into an opportunity to bring Xbox Live more in line with how we see the player at the center of their experience. For free-to-play games, you will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play those games on Xbox. We are working hard to deliver this change as soon as possible in the coming months.

If you are an Xbox Live Gold member already, you stay at your current price for renewal. New and existing members can continue to enjoy Xbox Live Gold for the same prices they pay today. In the US, $9.99 for 1-month, $24.99 for 3-months, $39.99 for 6-months and $59.99 for retail 12-months.

Thank you."

Well, seems like the backlash hit the spot.
Microsoft just remembered they make this thing called Windows where people play the exact same games on PC for free online. They messed up big time.
 
The only reason they get away with the cost in the first place is the free games. Otherwise, even $60 would be ridiculous for online play.
"Free" games - great, so we get to pay money to beta-test games on their platform for them. :p
 
Just when you thought Microsoft couldn't sabotage the Xbox brand further. I can see a small increase, $5-10, maybe even $20, but to double it is crazy. Doubling the price of any service in one go seldom works well. Even dumber when people are deciding which console to get for the next 5-7 years.

Yes they reversed this decision, but Microsoft's extreme inability to have any marketing sense in the consumer market never ceases to amaze me.

And if you build the machine yourself, you have control over the actual hardware costs. You can go as mild or as wild as you want to. You can spend a few hundred to several thousand dollars if you wish.

Overall you're going to end up paying more. Even with the added costs of online and games, you've out at best $450-500 or so for 6-7 years. But consoles simply don't offer the same experience so it all balances out. You don't game on PC for lower costs but for the experience.
 
The difference is where we pay. For PC's its our initial hardware costs which usually exceed consoles. In some cases, by ten times as much. After that, PC gaming is certainly cheaper. We tend to pay less for games and don't have monthly costs for XBOX Live etc.
10x $500 is $5000. What ignoramus would spend $5k on a gaming PC? You would need to buy the most overpriced scalper products to reach that amount.
 
Yes they reversed this decision, but Microsoft's extreme inability to have any marketing sense in the consumer market never ceases to amaze me.
Me thinks that Microsoft sees their customers as dum dums. What idiot is going to pay double for Xbox Live Gold? Microsoft will probably just increase the price by $1 like every other service did in 2020.
 
10x $500 is $5000. What ignoramus would spend $5k on a gaming PC? You would need to buy the most overpriced scalper products to reach that amount.
Yeah, that's a little much. I probably spent around $2400-ish on this rig and it's a pretty high-end build. I guess if you wanted to get ridiculous and unnecessary with dual 3090s you could hit $5k.
 
10x $500 is $5000. What ignoramus would spend $5k on a gaming PC? You would need to buy the most overpriced scalper products to reach that amount.
$5000?
Pffft, that might fetch a used RTX 2060 these days. ;)

In all seriousness, though, it isn't outside of the norm, nor difficult to spend over $5000 for a decent gaming system, and ironically enough, with most of that going to the GPU with the current market.
Don't get me wrong, a good gaming desktop can be built for well under $2000, it just depends on what one needs the system for, and how far they want to push the graphics, tasks, etc.
 
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10x $500 is $5000. What ignoramus would spend $5k on a gaming PC? You would need to buy the most overpriced scalper products to reach that amount.
My rig is about $5,000.
$1000 for the monitor
$1000 for the speakers
$1200 for the mobo, cpu, ram
$800 for the GPU
$1100 for hard drives and SSD's
$250 for the sound card
$150 for the case
$500 for the cooler, fans, controller and leds.

IMG_0373.JPEG
 
The difference is where we pay. For PC's its our initial hardware costs which usually exceed consoles. In some cases, by ten times as much. After that, PC gaming is certainly cheaper. We tend to pay less for games and don't have monthly costs for XBOX Live etc.
If you are content with console fidelety on PC then certainly not by ten times. Of course you can't get any GPU now, nor consoles, so it's practically invaluable.
 
A big tech company being held accountable......is this real life?!?

Too bad you can't put a price on freedom....otherwise people might have said something.

(I did buy a CDkeys Brazil 12 month yesterday at the old price out of reaction to the initial announcement...looks like I didn't need it, but was still lower than normal price)
 
"[UPDATED on 1/22/2021 at 8:52 PM PT]

We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold pricing.

We’re turning this moment into an opportunity to bring Xbox Live more in line with how we see the player at the center of their experience. For free-to-play games, you will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play those games on Xbox. We are working hard to deliver this change as soon as possible in the coming months.

If you are an Xbox Live Gold member already, you stay at your current price for renewal. New and existing members can continue to enjoy Xbox Live Gold for the same prices they pay today. In the US, $9.99 for 1-month, $24.99 for 3-months, $39.99 for 6-months and $59.99 for retail 12-months.

Thank you."

Well, seems like the backlash hit the spot.
Oh wow what a shocker.

So double the price for the same service was a bad idea.

Strange.
 
Are you console users done yet? Playstation 5 games are now $70 and Xbox Live Gold has doubled in price. Your consoles maybe cheaper than a PC but you'll spend more on games and online play.

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oi, this again.

we’ll just ignore all the sales that happen on both platforms.

are you still playing games on a $400 PC you built in 2013 and never upgraded? Just want to see if you can put your money where your mouth is.

you can still build that $500 PC and we’ll compare it against a PS5 in five years.
 
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oi, this again.

we’ll just ignore all the sales that happen on both platforms.

are you still playing games on a $400 PC you built in 2013 and never upgraded? Just want to see if you can put your money where your mouth is.

you can still build that $500 PC and we’ll compare it against a PS5 in five years.
Can I have all my components at rock bottom prices with barely any margin from AMD too?
 
oi, this again.
You from Australia or...?
we’ll just ignore all the sales that happen on both platforms.
Don't forget the sales of all the graphic cards.
are you still playing games on a $400 PC you built in 2013 and never upgraded? Just want to see if you can put your money where your mouth is.
Lots of people are doing it.

you can still build that $500 PC and we’ll compare it against a PS5 in five years.
Gamers Nexus did a video that shows that the PS5 is equivalent to a GTX 1060, 1070 Ti, and 1080. If you avoid buying Nvidia's RTX or AMD's RX 6000 cards it's certainly doable.
 
You from Australia or...?

Don't forget the sales of all the graphic cards.

Lots of people are doing it.


Gamers Nexus did a video that shows that the PS5 is equivalent to a GTX 1060, 1070 Ti, and 1080. If you avoid buying Nvidia's RTX or AMD's RX 6000 cards it's certainly doable.


It's just unfortunate to see you beating the old drum over and over again.

Look, we get it. You hate consoles. You want PCs to have a total monopoly in gaming and to kill choice in the market. It's not enough for you to simply say you prefer PC gaming; you genuinely believe you have the only right answer, and want to force your views on others. It's tired, it's narrow-minded, and it's only going to galvanize those of us who get plenty of enjoyment and value from consoles.
 
Can I have all my components at rock bottom prices with barely any margin from AMD too?

nope, you gotta pay retail price like any other customer. Which is the point.

no one is arguing that the PC is a less capable platform. But to seriously claim it is somehow also cheaper?

the only way to do that (because again, we need to just ignore the sales prices of games, as sales happen on both PC and consoles and it is a lopsided argument to talk about sales on Steam but assume all console games always cost $70 and never go on sale) would be to add up the cost of your PC hardware over an 8-year span that covers the lifetime of, say, an Xbox One.

between November 2013 and now, an Xbox One would have cost you... $500. If you subscribed to Xbox Live that’s another $420 over 7 years. Plus all the free games it included.

so, in that same 8-year timespan, did you spend less than $920 on your PC hardware? Did that also include Over 300 games?

if so and if it did, then oops, I was wrong and the PC is actually cheaper. But I have a feeling you did not spend just $920 and get a full gaming PC and 300 games.

again, the PC is a more capable platform. But it isn’t cheaper.
 
nope, you gotta pay retail price like any other customer. Which is the point.

no one is arguing that the PC is a less capable platform. But to seriously claim it is somehow also cheaper?

the only way to do that (because again, we need to just ignore the sales prices of games, as sales happen on both PC and consoles and it is a lopsided argument to talk about sales on Steam but assume all console games always cost $70 and never go on sale) would be to add up the cost of your PC hardware over an 8-year span that covers the lifetime of, say, an Xbox One.

between November 2013 and now, an Xbox One would have cost you... $500. If you subscribed to Xbox Live that’s another $420 over 7 years. Plus all the free games it included.

so, in that same 8-year timespan, did you spend less than $920 on your PC hardware? Did that also include Over 300 games?

if so and if it did, then oops, I was wrong and the PC is actually cheaper. But I have a feeling you did not spend just $920 and get a full gaming PC and 300 games.

again, the PC is a more capable platform. But it isn’t cheaper.
The great thing about PC is that you CAN be cheaper if you want to. Its very flexible.
I just helped someone spec out a PC for ~$700. He doesn't expect to be playing on max settings with raytracing, and yes he already has a couple things like a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and a case.
His previous specs was a platform from like 2009 (X58 i7 940, 6GB RAM) except the GPU (AMD 280 non x 3GB).
He has a VR headset and wants to upgrade so he can have a better experience with it. Run newer games at more acceptable settings.

I have a Nintendo Switch, the cheapest console as far as the price of the unit, $300, + 4 games ($50-$60 each sadly) add $220. another joycon set + $70. Charger dock + $20. 2 "Pro" controllers + $100 = $710 before tax.

A PC, can also do other things that people might need, like work related stuff, edit videos, school, etc.
A PC is a much more cost effective device for a budget minded user.
Also, Its not hard (at least for me) to not have to buy some PC related things since I have a job in IT. Someone always has a 1080p monitor somewhere lying around. Windows Keys? I hoard them lol, not to mention I could ask some buddies. Routers and switches? same.

In my situation, for a console to be cheaper, I would have to limit myself to a few games and controllers, not to mention online gaming with friends. And I would still need a PC to do my school work and such...
 
This only affects new Gold users, and as noted it exists primarily to drive more people to Game Pass. It’s a bad deal because it’s supposed to be. Since it doesn’t affect anyone already using these services, people are upset because ??? Play games on PC is you don’t want to pay for online services.
I mean I've had gold since 2004? I canceled in 2016/2017 because I just wasn't using it much anymore. I already pay for PSN and Nintendo Online-- and have gaming PCs. I've already got a PS5 and this just made me want to pass on an XSX. I was on the fence previously. Probably just get a shield and stream my PC to my TV in the living room. No xbox live gold needed.

I know the prices weren't raised but it was enough to push me back to my senses. the Xb1 wasn't that great of a console.
 
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nope, you gotta pay retail price like any other customer. Which is the point.

no one is arguing that the PC is a less capable platform. But to seriously claim it is somehow also cheaper?

the only way to do that (because again, we need to just ignore the sales prices of games, as sales happen on both PC and consoles and it is a lopsided argument to talk about sales on Steam but assume all console games always cost $70 and never go on sale) would be to add up the cost of your PC hardware over an 8-year span that covers the lifetime of, say, an Xbox One.

between November 2013 and now, an Xbox One would have cost you... $500. If you subscribed to Xbox Live that’s another $420 over 7 years. Plus all the free games it included.

so, in that same 8-year timespan, did you spend less than $920 on your PC hardware? Did that also include Over 300 games?

if so and if it did, then oops, I was wrong and the PC is actually cheaper. But I have a feeling you did not spend just $920 and get a full gaming PC and 300 games.

again, the PC is a more capable platform. But it isn’t cheaper.
So I can't have all the same deals MS and Sony get that make their console way cheaper because AMD actually wants to make money from something?

Can I buy the same APU that ms and sony use then?
 
So I can't have all the same deals MS and Sony get that make their console way cheaper because AMD actually wants to make money from something?

I don’t understand the point you are trying to make. it sounds like you are saying that it’s unfair that consoles are cheaper than building a PC because Sony and Microsoft set lower prices for their systems than you can build a PC for. Boo-hoo?

but that’s also my point. Consoles are cheaper.

Can I buy the same APU that ms and sony use then?

sure. It’s called buying a console.

you want to buy a PC, you pay PC component prices at Newegg or Amazon or wherever.

you buy a console, you pay MSRP at Best Buy or wherever.

you have an issue with component pricing, take it up with nvidia or asus or msi or etc

Rockenrooster you’ve included the cost of games with your switch but not the PC you mention.

(I don’t bother including cost of monitor, keyboard, mouse etc because it adds up the same way as getting a TV to play console games; in the same way that the cost of games on either platform is largely equivalent).

To your point of doing other things with a PC? I have said- the PC is a more capable, more flexible, more powerful system setup for gaming. That’s not up for debate.

but it’s more expensive than a console. Over 8 years it’s more expensive than even a console with a $60/year subscription*. A high-end video card these days is enough to buy a console, extra controller and a dozen games at full price. And you still need a PC to use that video card.

* - the common refrain from PCMR types is “lol you have to pay to play games online”, which again, completely ignores the 300+ free games that have been given out with those subscriptions over the past ~8 years. I consider this the console equivalent of buying a few dozen games at a time during Steam sales for a few dollars each.

And to the other point that usually comes with it - “some of those games aren’t good and I wouldn’t play them anyways” - Unless you are managing to play every single one to completion is really just saying that you prefer PC because you can choose which bunch of games you buy and won’t ever play, instead of just getting whatever has been made free-to-own that month.

(I would argue that this is actually worse, because it leads to gamers spending money on games that are “on sale” and never actually playing them, which is wasting money but also giving the developers and publishers the impression that the games are more popular than they are).
 
Me thinks that Microsoft sees their customers as dum dums. What idiot is going to pay double for Xbox Live Gold? Microsoft will probably just increase the price by $1 like every other service did in 2020.
You would think they learned from the bs they tried with the Xbox one E3 presentation. Having a sudden price alone is tough pill to swallow. Now double it and during a pandemic? You need to fire who ever though that would fly.
 
Consoles are cheaper, which is cool, but anyone who has the option to play on a UW display or a LG OLED, on a PC, is never going to pick a console over a PC.

30-60 fps is unplayable for me; let alone the terrible graphics; at the worst, it just feels laggy. I don't want to feel like I'm in a powerpoint slide. At least money spent on hardware goes to your gaming experience, not a 'gaming network' which should be free.

Lets not pretend the shops aren't massive ad-blocks generating revenue... and worse even probably takes a cut of the sale. Paying for that privilege... smh.

Like the old saying goes.. buy cheap, buy twice.
 
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My rig is about $5,000.
$1000 for the monitor
$1000 for the speakers
$1200 for the mobo, cpu, ram
$800 for the GPU
$1100 for hard drives and SSD's
$250 for the sound card
$150 for the case
$500 for the cooler, fans, controller and leds.

Well lets call it a $3k rig then. Because when comparing to a console no one is factoring in the cost of the TV they're playing on, maybe they go full LTT and play on an LG OLED that cost $2500, and who knows maybe they got a $2000 home theater system too, then they're paying on a "$5000 console system" :D
 
Rockenrooster you’ve included the cost of games with your switch but not the PC you mention.

Here I go, quoting my own post.....

I just helped someone spec out a PC for ~$700. He doesn't expect to be playing on max settings with raytracing, and yes he already has a couple things like a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and a case.
His previous specs was a platform from like 2009 (X58 i7 940, 6GB RAM) except the GPU (AMD 280 non x 3GB).
He has a VR headset and wants to upgrade so he can have a better experience with it. Run newer games at more acceptable settings.

I have a Nintendo Switch, the cheapest console as far as the price of the unit, $300, + 4 games ($50-$60 each sadly) add $220. another joycon set + $70. Charger dock + $20. 2 "Pro" controllers + $100 = $710 before tax.
"I just helped someone spec out a PC........ ~$700" Not to mention that he is currently using this build now...
"I have a Nintendo Switch............. $710 before tax."

Oh you meant games....
I've actually spent money on only 3 games the last 4 years, that add up to about $50, that's pretty insignificant.
That same timespan, I've acquired way more than 20-30 games for nothing... Yes about 10 of them are from EGS...
Games with mods are also pretty fun....

PC games are often cheaper for the same game not to mention...
 
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