Xbox Live Pricing Revealed

Xs writes "For those of you wondering how much it will cost to play online when your year of free Xbox Live runs out, listen up. Microsoft has just unveiled their pricing plan for Xbox Live. Pretty cheap, too! You will be given two options: one is to pay for a full year of service, that will cost you $49.99. Second option is to pay by the month, that will set you back $5.99 a month. The Xbox Live starter kit is also getting a new price of $69.99. Plus, MS will also start selling the voice communicators by themselves - they'll retail for $29.99." Sounds like a pretty good deal.

the trick here

[toddhunter]

Is to see what the price will be in one or two years time if it takes off. The price was always going to be good to start with. All the better to get as many people using it as possible.

Re:the trick here

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the price for the service will stay the same in the long run, but more games will have their own monthly fee on top of the Live fee. MS has said over and over again that the individual games can charge their own monthly fees above an beyond the Live fee, so it's only a matter of time.

5$/month is a good deal for something like this, but as soon as it becomes an 5$/month + 10$/month * any number of games you're playing, it will no longer be a good deal.

Re:the trick here

[demyen]

Yeah I like the new pricing as well. Your right about individual games charging extra. Take for example Phantasy Star Online.

Great News

[Babbster]

Before I start my gushing, I will offer this IGN interview [ign.com] which goes into more detail about the changes and includes some digging at the Sony online situation. I really enjoy zealous PR.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to first say "nice job" to Microsoft for not trying to gouge its users by charging something more along the lines of $10 a month for the service. I would also like to thank them for finally revealing this so that Xbox Live proponents like myself can answer what is a very basic question about the service: "How much does it cost after the first year?"

As a snippy aside, I'll close by saying "I told you so" to the many folks who kept insisting that I was an idiot when I suggested that Microsoft probably wasn't going to significantly increase the price of the service after the first year. There's no telling where it will go in future years - especially if their next console meets with quick success and they have not only the incentive but the ability to gouge XBL users - but Microsoft is demonstrating that they understand how to grow this service instead of turning its users off.

Re:Great News

[nobodyman]

As a snippy aside, I'll close by saying "I told you so" to the many folks who kept insisting that I was an idiot when I suggested that Microsoft probably wasn't going to significantly increase the price of the service after the first year.

I'm inclined to agree with your post, but the starter kit is 40% more expensive than one year ago.

Generally speaking, kudos to Microsoft for an online scheme that rages over it's competitors at a good price. However, I don't get the decision to announce a price hike o

Re:Great News

[Babbster]

I write this off for a few reasons:

1. Microsoft wants to recover the subscription fee (or the bulk of it) with every starter kit purchase. Given the inclusion of a game, demos and hardware, leaving it at the same price means that those subscribers are getting a discount on a service that's already rolling nicely.

2. The price hike means slightly less pain for Microsoft if current subscribers decide to abandon their current account in favor of getting a new starter kit, because they want the included game, they've ruined their rep on the service or both. They'll still lose a bit on packaging and the software included, but a lot less than if they included the hardware (as in #1).

3. They can justify charging more (if you consider it a price increase rather than finally getting charged for the hardware) for the service because it will be more mature, have many more subscribers and will have many more games than at the start.

Finally, I'd just say that the price increase is NOT immediate. You can go out and get a starter kit today for the $50 price with the hardware. Even if you don't want to sign up right away, you can buy it and simply hold it. Unless I'm mistaken, the current version of the kit (the one that comes with Tetris) has a subscription code that can be activated anytime between now and October 31st. By then, there will be a game type to please just about anyone and people who do it this way will still [hopefully] have several months of Halo 2 action(first quarter 2004 is the current release projection). :)

Re:Hardly an "interview"

[Babbster]

You've got me there. I always assume that everything at IGN (often including the "reviews") is directly from a press release and so I automatically look at things somewhat whimsically. I figure that gamers should know that themselves. In any case, I should have noted that more clearly. :)

Communicators

[DarkKnightRadick]

Will they work with a standard PC sound card? I could use a good (sic) headset to replace my mic and speakers when I want to chat with friends via Gnomemeeting [gnomemeeting.org].

Re:Communicators

[Babbster]

The headset that comes with the Xbox Communicator has a standard 2.5-mm "stereo" (in/out channels instead of left/right) plug. IMO, the headset that comes with Xbox Live is a piece of garbage. Fortunately, I have a couple of much nicer headsets that work just fine with the Communicator module.

To answer your question more directly, no, the headset won't work out of the box with a standard PC sound card where you need two 1/8" connectors. I'm sure there are adapters that could make it work but you can ge

Re:Communicators

[DarkKnightRadick]

Ah, okay, thanks. :)

My take

[jvmatthe]

Posted my take [curmudgeongamer.com] on the new system earlier today. The short of it is that the pricing structure is good from a business point of view, as it allows a modest increase in pricing that can be sold reasonably well to the consumer (i.e. the consumer won't feel like they're being completely ripped off and might actually feel they're getting a good deal).

The increase is not just in the starter kit. Renewal is $50, but that's for service only. Remember that the first year was $50 and included a headset and game.

I'll pass, with no regrets.

[presearch]

Sure, I'm trolling but..

In countless times, both with my purchases of Microsoft products,
as well as with their customers and partners, MS products and services
always seem enticing at first, but always end up disappointing or a
complete burn. They just can't help themselves.

As interesting as the Xbox might be, I just can't bring myself to invest
in any more MS technology. I know I'll eventually regret it.

Excuse me?

[gesualdo]

"Pretty cheap, too!"

"Sounds like a pretty good deal."

Why the fruck do You not feel like You're being screwed with XBox Live? Why are You paying for a service which should be included with the $50 You spent on the game in the first place.

Anybody who feels that $50/year (on top of broadband and game purchase costs) is acceptable for playing games online NEEDS to spend some time playing online PC games. For a taste, download America's Army [americasarmy.com] (for free) and see what it's like to play against 32 people at on

Re:Excuse me?

[vaguelyamused]

I don't think $50.00/year is unreasonable for hack/cheat-free online gaming, something you don't get on the PC. Additionally if you look at the economics of it from a non-PC owner perspective, (You mean I have to spend $1200 on a PC to play Half-Life 2 online but after that it's free?) the X-Box is a pretty good deal (especially after the upcoming price drop). There is practically no motivation for someone who doesn't own a PC to purchase one just to game as opposed to a console. I've really enjoyed PC gaming but the upgrade cycle is can be pretty steep. I've been very tempted to purchase an X-Box, it'll be cheaper than my last video card and a lot cheaper than the upgrades my older PC would need to keep up with the system requirements of some of the newer games.

Re:Excuse me?

[DocStoner]

Aren't cheating YET... It's only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to use a pc for cheating in between the x-box and the network connection. I'm thinking they'll do something similiar to the old days when they used a seperate pc as a proxy for aimbots.

disclaimer: I don't cheat and I'm not that informed on the specifics of it.

Re:Excuse me?

[prockcore]

hello and welcome to Punk Buster. I've not seen any hacks or cheats in the games that support it.

Please let me know how to cheat in Enemy Territory.

Re:Excuse me?

[vaguelyamused]

While cheating on the X-Box Live is possible, it's not going to be easy or probably very widespread. Punk Buster works for now and there is essentially an arms race between the it and those trying to hack. However unless PC prices come down dramatically or are subsidized by the gaming industry (as the X-box essentially is) I think we'll see decreasing development of PC games and increasing development of online console games. The console game market continues to grow and the costs of developing a console

No cheating

[Quill_28]

You mean online gaming where people aren't cheating like dogs...

Actually looks promising for that reason alone.

ami missing something here

[mapmaker]

sounds like a pretty good deal

Spend $40 for the PS2 network adapter and get free online gaming in perpetuity.

Spend $70 for an Xbox "startup kit" and get online gaming for one year, $50 more for each year thereafter.

How is the Xbox option a good deal?

Re:ami missing something here

[VividU]

Your missing something big.

I currently have three Xbox games I can go online with (Unreal, the great MotoGP and the even greater MechAssault). For the pleasure of playing these games for as much, and and as long I want, I get to pay the grand total of zero.

I also get my global buddy list.

Correct my if I'm wrong, but each PS2 game has its sign-up, its own registration, its own monthly bill? Is it also true that I'm playing with 56k'rs? Will I be able to talk to my friends outside of a game (Xbox Live 2.0)

Re:ami missing something here

[ShwAsasin]

The PS2 has no hidden registration or annual fees, making it *free* to play after buying a network adapter. The network adapter doesn't even need to be from Sony either (I use a USB Linksys adapter).

Why would you want to talk to your friends on an X-Box? There are a gazillion different online chat programs in the world, yet you chose to talk to them at 640x480 graphics? An online chat program for $50 a year seems rather steep.

Re:ami missing something here

[toopc]

Spend $40 for the PS2 network adapter and get free online gaming in perpetuity.

Perpetuity?!? ...dream on. You'll be lucky if they're still free next year.

Pay for Web games?! [cnn.com]

It may not end with the Web-based games, either. In the same conference call, EA president and COO John Riccitello hinted that many of the online features today's gamers enjoy for free might be something they have to pay for down the road - particularly on console online games.

A What deal?

[briancnorton]

wow, what a great deal, I get to pay for service AND pay for games. Kinda like buying HBO and then paying to watch movies on it. Sorry, but monthly fees aint happening in my house.