• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

No Changes to Xbox Live Gold Pricing, Free-to-Play Games to be Unlocked [Update]

cosmicom

Banned
well let's say that Sony, given the strength of the brand and thanks to groups of die-hard fans, can afford to do much more than others ... after all, they completely lied about "we believe in generations", has increased cost of the exclusives by a lot, continues to charge remasters when the competition practically gives them away, continues to mess with the enhancements of next gen games (just look what happened with spiderman) etc etc etc and I don't want to bring up crossplay and other stories. let's just say that the Sony community raises their voices on the mistakes of others competitors instead of make Sony understand what it should fix or stop doing
playstation fans always criticize Xbox, and xbox consumers receive the benefits, but they receive nothing¡¡ what a deal¡¡
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Uhmm.. you seriously think that Sony would make a similar change WITHOUT informing audience and just... I dunno, hope no-one noticies? They were not hidding the 60 to 70 price increase.

I'm pretty sure that if Sony would've made the same 100% price increase, they'd be unrest/uproar on the internet. Hopefully, we would never have to voice the concern like this in the future.
playstation fans always criticize Xbox, and xbox consumers receive the benefits, but they receive nothing¡¡ what a deal¡¡
2006 - 2013: Hey look! PS3 has free online! Xbox charges $60 for MP Gold. And the optional PS+ sub plan has tons of free PS3 and Vita games.

E3 2013: Jack Tretton announces PS4 requires PS+ to play MP. And over the years the number of free PS+ games has reduced.

(Dead silence)
 

cosmicom

Banned
Playstation fans get back to back goty winning exclusives, xbox fans get craig.
Phil spencer listened... to sony fanboys and now Xbox is the biggest AAA gaming machine... and all games day 1 in game pass
 
Last edited:

Phase

Member
Fake goodwill. They were testing the waters and now they'll get f2p purchases from people who won't pay for Live.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
Fake goodwill. They were testing the waters and now they'll get f2p purchases from people who won't pay for Live.
gold is a dying service i don't understand how people aren't realizing. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make it to 2022
 
Last edited:

kyliethicc

Member
... after all, they completely lied about "we believe in generations", has increased cost of the exclusives by a lot, continues to charge remasters when the competition practically gives them away, continues to mess with the enhancements of next gen games (just look what happened with spiderman)
wrong. so so wrong.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
Great now maybe they can start putting some new first party games out for their new console.

(preface: i own both consoles, and actually use my series x more than my ps5, but sony has more first party games releasing this year than microsoft so im more excited about the immediate future of ps5. Hopefully this changes next year. Microsoft really dropped the ball hard with their launch line up
 

Phase

Member
gold is a dying service i don't understand how people aren't realizing. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make it to 2022
They're probably going to milk it as long as possible though. Being a PC gamer since I was young it always felt like it wasn't worth it. I already have internet, I'm not paying for it again. I remember collecting those free gold cards back in the day lol.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
wrong. so so wrong.
yes i know i wrongly forgot things in fact I forgot .. the Cloud save only by paying, the half backed bc after years of requests from the world community .. the barriers against other communities "for the children" ..but actually I didn't just want to lengthen the post unnecessarily. it was already clear. Let's say that Ms is obviously much more under scrutiny by a certain part of the users. But if that gave us the f2p ... gamepass and Bethesda that's fine!
 
Last edited:

FrankWza

Gold Member
2006 - 2013: Hey look! PS3 has free online! Xbox charges $60 for MP Gold. And the optional PS+ sub plan has tons of free PS3 and Vita games.

E3 2013: Jack Tretton announces PS4 requires PS+ to play MP. And over the years the number of free PS+ games has reduced.

(Dead silence)
You can point to any one issue because no company is perfect. Sony has garnered a pretty good amount of goodwill in the last decade. Regardless of your position as a consumer and where your allegiance, if any, sways. This move by Msoft was indicative of their reputation on the whole. They attempted to give it to everyone in their ecosystem in the hole. ;)
 

FranXico

Member
"Oh but they've increased prices in $10 for games". K, but I hardly buy more than 2 new releases from them per year ,so its hardly something really bothersome for me. I agree thst this is not cool, but nothing major.
Games, especially physical format, naturally drop their price well below "standard" over time.
I don't know about you, but I've never seen these subscriptions drop in price beyond very short-lived temporary promotions.

I hardly ever buy a game on launch, which just means I'll wait even longer before buying games from now on, and don't subscribe to PS+ (only MP I ever played in a long time was only in f2p games).

You disagree with something, you don't buy it. It's really that simple.
 

kyliethicc

Member
2006 - 2013: Hey look! PS3 has free online! Xbox charges $60 for MP Gold. And the optional PS+ sub plan has tons of free PS3 and Vita games.

E3 2013: Jack Tretton announces PS4 requires PS+ to play MP. And over the years the number of free PS+ games has reduced.

(Dead silence)
You never got more than 2 console games a month, 24 a year. Now its sometimes 3 a month, so its actually increased. The Vita games never mattered to me as a PS3/4 owner.

And trust me, plenty of people were mad when they required PS Plus for online. I was. It should be free on all platforms obviously. Thanks Microsoft. Even Nintendo charges now. Xbox's gift to gaming.
 

Guy Legend

Member
Hard to trust Microsoft again after this sequence of events. Will think twice of supporting gamepass or live in the future.
 
Last edited:
A lot of people said the same thing back in 2013, but here we are...
There is less of them now. Each generation the number of fans drop. It does mean those that are remaining are diehards, but diehards can't prop a gaming ecosystem up alone.
Anyway, I am just curious now what their backup plan is. Because doubling the price of Gold was suppose to bring in either money or increase Gamepass subscriptions. So now that is gone up in smoke, there must be some other plan. I hate to say it, but i have a feeling whatever that is classified as Plan B just might be WORSE than doubling the price of Gold.
 

MayauMiao

Member
If the Live service increase was incremental, perhaps adding more value to the service, maybe the backlash wouldn't have been brutal but holy shit Xbox lost it with double the increase with no added value at all.
 

GhostOfTsu

Banned
Phil spencer listened... to sony fanboys and now Xbox is the biggest AAA gaming machine... and all games day 1 in game pass
Ok so when are they coming out? By the time all our GPU expire? Most of us did the GPU conversion months ago and their only AAA exclusives (Gears5, Horizon 4) are now bargain bins 10$ or free. Not worth paying a subscription.

I'm never subscribing long-term again it's not worth it. I guess I'll trick the system every once in awhile with a 1$ trial when they have a new release and that's it.
 

93xfan

Banned
Ok so when are they coming out? By the time all our GPU expire? Most of us did the GPU conversion months ago and their only AAA exclusives (Gears5, Horizon 4) are now bargain bins 10$ or free. Not worth paying a subscription.

I'm never subscribing long-term again it's not worth it. I guess I'll trick the system every once in awhile with a 1$ trial when they have a new release and that's it.

I love Gamepass, but I think they need a new model.

$10 for Gamepass that includes online play.

$15 for Gamepass Ultimate that add in EAPlay, gives you Games w gold (and maybe also has Ubisoft)

With this model, they can get rid of the one-month subscription for gold (or keep it if someone prefers the Games With Gold to Gamepass).
 

reinking

Gold Member
2006 - 2013: Hey look! PS3 has free online! Xbox charges $60 for MP Gold. And the optional PS+ sub plan has tons of free PS3 and Vita games.

E3 2013: Jack Tretton announces PS4 requires PS+ to play MP. And over the years the number of free PS+ games has reduced.

(Dead silence)
That is not true. I remember many people being vocal about it. What are they going to do? Microsoft had set the precedent and made it normal to pay for online play. As for the number of games on Plus. Of course it reduced when they were no longer supporting previous consoles. If you haven't notice since the PS5 launched they have added at least one PS5 game per month so far.
 

reinking

Gold Member
I love Gamepass, but I think they need a new model.

$10 for Gamepass that includes online play.

$15 for Gamepass Ultimate that add in EAPlay, gives you Games w gold (and maybe also has Ubisoft)

With this model, they can get rid of the one-month subscription for gold (or keep it if someone prefers the Games With Gold to Gamepass).
How about no. If nothing else, drop Gold and roll it into the $10 Game Pass. No need to strip features from the $10 level.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
That is not true. I remember many people being vocal about it. What are they going to do? Microsoft had set the precedent and made it normal to pay for online play. As for the number of games on Plus. Of course it reduced when they were no longer supporting previous consoles. If you haven't notice since the PS5 launched they have added at least one PS5 game per month so far.
Vocal? Really?

If so, why are PS+ subs growing at huge numbers since paid online was started?

So because MS had paid Gold, just suck it up and pay for PS+? Where was the big stand off making Sony keep free online like PC and Nintendo (at the time)?
 

93xfan

Banned
How about no. If nothing else, drop Gold and roll it into the $10 Game Pass. No need to strip features from the $10 level.
They still need to keep $60 yearly subscriptions for Xbox Gold in this scenario. I’d be OK if they got rid of the monthly Gold, but some may be upset still if you get rid of the 3, 6, and 12 month options.

With all the backlash they’ve gotten, they’ll have to tread lightly.
 
Hi guys, is it worth reading all pages to see how Sony fanboys were delighted at the very beginning, and then they could only swallow the news about price remaining the same? 😉
 
Did these idiots think people wouldn’t complain about a price hike? They could have raised the price by five cents and people would flip.

Make a decision and stick with it. This backlash was predictable. If you didn’t anticipate it, there are larger issues. If you did anticipate, still went for it, then backed down... Come on.

There is clearly a major leadership disconnect between Xbox division and the MS overlord(s). Impossible to say what the internal politics of this decision truly were, but it ain't a good look and comes off as somewhat rudderless and 100% tone deaf to their customer base. That letter justifying the price increase in lawyer-ese was straight up embarrassing.
 
Last edited:
Hi guys, is it worth reading all pages to see how Sony fanboys were delighted at the very beginning, and then they could only swallow the news about price remaining the same? 😉
Yeah, and then there's this little added bonus. You just gotta roll with it n laugh it off...warriorz gonna warrior.

Looking at this objectively I'm happy we as consumers got the good ending while scratching my head at just how in the fuck a decision this mind-numbingly stupid was grrenlit in the first place.
 

Aidah

Member
I really like Xbox and its leadership. Always nothing but the most measured and careful decisions. They really know what they're doing, and it always shows.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
Requiring a service to play F2P games was asinine. Some people don't care for these services but wouldn't mind trying an F2P game on a system they payed 500 bucks for. Does Sony force this crap? I wanted to try Genshin Impact on my PS5, but I'd gladly get pissed off and play it on my PC instead if they are cunts like MS were.
 

Velius

Banned
1) They shouldn't have done it to begin with.
2) Flinching every time the masses cry is going to take you places nobody wants
 
well let's say that Sony, given the strength of the brand and thanks to groups of die-hard fans, can afford to do much more than others ... after all, they completely lied about "we believe in generations", has increased cost of the exclusives by a lot, continues to charge remasters when the competition practically gives them away, continues to mess with the enhancements of next gen games (just look what happened with spiderman) etc etc etc and I don't want to bring up crossplay and other stories. let's just say that the Sony community raises their voices on the mistakes of others competitors instead of make Sony understand what it should fix or stop doing

Well, some of those things aren't really related to driving finances, but moreso to differing tastes. I remember the Spiderman remaster stuff with Tom Holland and remember the outrage, actually, but that wasn't related to milking prices. If there's more to that controversy than I'm aware of though I'd like to know.

Things like games going from $60 to $70, like I said it sucks but that's "only" a $10 increase, it's not a 100% price increase like what Microsoft just tried with XBL Gold. They did get flak for the "we believe in generations" reversal; actually I was more upset sites like Gamespot and IGN didn't go back and apologize for all the vitriol they ginned up against Microsoft for being more upfront about their cross-gen focus.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Requiring a service to play F2P games was asinine. Some people don't care for these services but wouldn't mind trying an F2P game on a system they payed 500 bucks for. Does Sony force this crap? I wanted to try Genshin Impact on my PS5, but I'd gladly get pissed off and play it on my PC instead if they are cunts like MS were.

Sony never did require you to be subbed in order to play MMO or F2P. Always works without Plus.
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
Requiring a service to play F2P games was asinine. Some people don't care for these services but wouldn't mind trying an F2P game on a system they payed 500 bucks for. Does Sony force this crap? I wanted to try Genshin Impact on my PS5, but I'd gladly get pissed off and play it on my PC instead if they are cunts like MS were.
Yes because pay to win should get special treatment over games people spent 69.99 on lol. Either all games are behind a paywall or not. If any became free it needed to be the ones people spend 69.99 not pay to win moble junk.
 

reinking

Gold Member
Vocal? Really?

If so, why are PS+ subs growing at huge numbers since paid online was started?

So because MS had paid Gold, just suck it up and pay for PS+? Where was the big stand off making Sony keep free online like PC and Nintendo (at the time)?
Not sure why you expected a big stand from Playstation players when you did not get it from Xbox players back then. They either paid it or they did not play their PS4 online. The same thing happened when Xbox Live Gold was introduced. I was manager of an EB Games when that happened and there were many people not happy about it but they still purchased the kits. Look how that service grew from nothing. I am not sure what you are wanting unless it is just something something Sony bad/worse than Microsoft.
 
2006 - 2013: Hey look! PS3 has free online! Xbox charges $60 for MP Gold. And the optional PS+ sub plan has tons of free PS3 and Vita games.

E3 2013: Jack Tretton announces PS4 requires PS+ to play MP. And over the years the number of free PS+ games has reduced.

(Dead silence)

This is kind of a false equivalence though, because these things didn't happen in a vacuum. Yes a lo of PS gamers during PS3 used "free PSN" as a bullet point against MS but it didn't stick much because even though MS were charging for online, they were ALSO providing games (including many exclusives and the best version of 3P titles) and ecosystem features that for the vast majority of 360 owners, justified the fact they were charging for online play. Or at the very least, made that reality much more tolerable and worth putting up with.

When Sony announced paid online for PS4, in a vacuum it seemed like a bad decision for more profit grabs, BUT people were looking at that in relation to not only what they had already revealed with PS4 (including its price) at that E3, but ALSO how badly Microsoft dropped the ball with their XBO reveal and rollout, confirming all of the restrictive features that had been rumors up to that point. Those things were easily worst than Sony charging online for PS Plus, especially considering they also positioned PS4 $100 cheaper than XBO while being more powerful. The "this is how you share games" video garnered them even more goodwill while exacerbating Microsoft's mistakes with XBO, acting as even more of a buffer to "get away" with charging for PS Plus and not getting too much kickback.

That's ultimately the difference between Sony and Microsoft when it comes to how they put out unsavory changes to their ecosystem: Sony knows how to butter their audience to minimize the pushback (through buffering bad stuff (i.e $50/yr for PS Plus, $10 increase on games) with a lot of good stuff (PS4 E3 presentation & pricing, PS5 September event with reveals for FF XVI, more 1P gameplay footage and reveals, opening up PS5 preorders). Microsoft...doesn't. They just don't, and I don't know how much of that is due to bad timing and how much is due to having people in upper management at the division who simply aren't in tune with the pulse of the hardcore/core gaming community.

Because it's the hardcore/core gamers who follow gaming news regularly that started pointing out the price increase to XBL Gold, they're the ones that eventually kept at it to where casuals and mainstream gamers and even non-gamers started to notice, and how the price increase started trending on social media for all the wrong reasons. If the upper brass at the Xbox division underestimated the ability of hardcore/core gamers to get that type of thing going as a concern among the larger mainstream, or underestimated the kickback from core members of their own community, then they paid a massive backlash because of it.

And simply reverting the decision and announcing F2P games will be paywall-free (in several months from now) is the absolute bare minimum they have to do in order to rebuild lost trust with swathes of the community, both their own and gamers outside of the community who may've become more apprehensive jumping in due to the negative attention from the proposed price increase to XBL Gold. There's even gamers now who are more alert to a potential increase (perhaps of similar degree) to GamePass and GamePass Ultimate, and it's not like Microsoft have done much to quell those increased worries.

Like I've been saying, they have a lot of work to do now to rebuild things to where they were before announcing the price hike. I don't think it's a terrible look that's done damage comparable to the DRM policies and such of XBO, but the point is it's a self-inflicted wound that never had to be made. And IMO, it shows a bit to what degree they may or may not care as intently about the Xbox brand compared to, say, Azure, Office or Windows, because they would never roll out price increases to the severity, suddenness, and brashness that they tried doing with Xbox Live Gold. That's just a fact, and the fact they did not do this with GamePass might also be a window into where their priorities lie with that compared to Xbox (as to say, they prioritize it higher).

I have faith Microsoft can do well and rebuild any lost trust; after all, Sony managed to do similar with PS3 and Nintendo eventually did with the Switch (after Wii U massively underperformed). But it'll mean that Microsoft has to care enough about the Xbox division to let them do what they need to do.
 

JLB

Banned
Professional behaviour. Business is business.

Else you can buy from other companies who don't make games you want.

By the same logic, ms can increase prices, business is business.
Not quite sure what can be tied to professional behavior out of all of this.
 

FrankWza

Gold Member
Then whats your perspective of sucking levels when Sony deletes your cloud saves after unsub from psn for 6 months.
You can back up PS4 saves to a usb drive. Ps5 game saves backups should be available when the external storage is sorted for ps5 games.
Why can’t you change your email address on Xbox without deleting the email address that’s being changed? What if your mommy signed you up when you were diddle boy or girl? Do you have to use mommy’s email address as a grown up or lose all of your achievements and gamer score and start a new account?
 
Last edited:

JLB

Banned
You can back up PS4 saves to a usb drive. Ps5 game saves backups should be available when the external storage is sorted for ps5 games.
Why can’t you change your email address on Xbox without deleting the email address that’s being changed? What if your mommy signed you up when you were diddle boy or girl? Do you have to use mommy’s email address as a grown up or lose all of your achievements and gamer score and start a new account?

Next time ill report you for low IQ.
 
Yes because pay to win should get special treatment over games people spent 69.99 on lol. Either all games are behind a paywall or not. If any became free it needed to be the ones people spend 69.99 not pay to win moble junk.
You are in denial. Paying 69.99 upfront gives you the privilege of not having to pay anymore. If you think you paid more by paying upfront, you literally know nothing about freetoplay gaming.
 

FrankWza

Gold Member
Next time ill report you for low IQ.
Ah, the new triggered emoji equivalent reply. Congratulations. But you’re a grown man and your Xbox email address is
Suburbanstretchypants@____.com

that’s a baaaaaad look
 
Last edited:

Self

Member
Then whats your perspective of sucking levels when Sony deletes your cloud saves after unsub from psn for 6 months.

Why do you people spread FUD all the time? I've been unsuscribed for over a year and all my saves are fine. I use PS+ very rarely and never had any problems.

On another forum people constantly spread FUD about needing gold for Netflix on Xbox. That's the same stupid shit of FUD quality. I was never subscribed to gold and Netflix works just fine.

Guys make your homework before shit-posting.
 

FrankWza

Gold Member
Why do you people spread FUD all the time? I've been unsuscribed for over a year and all my saves are fine. I use PS+ very rarely and never had any problems.

On another forum people constantly spread FUD about needing gold for Netflix on Xbox. That's the same stupid shit of FUD quality. I was never subscribed to gold and Netflix works just fine.

Guys make your homework before shit-posting.
I think they can. But it doesn’t mean they will. Regardless, you can backup other ways for PS4 and will be able to backup PS5 down the road.
It’s still nowhere near the anti consumer level of the email situation in the Xbox infrastructure. You’re basically held hostage with an email address change where you have a choice between losing an email address forever or losing your gamer tag and progress forever. It’s awful and completely unnecessary.
 
Top Bottom