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Microsoft Talks About Xbox Live Price Hike
Since it launched in 2002, gold memberships for Xbox Live have held steady at about $50 a year. During that time, the service has evolved from being focused on enabling online multiplayer to serving as an online hub for the Xbox 360. That added functionality, which includes streaming music and video and most recently support for live ESPN programming, comes at a cost, though. Microsoft announced back in August that it would be increasing the annual subscription fee for gold members to $60.
Even when it was first revealed, Microsoft has held to its position that the added fee is in line with what it offers.
“Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same,” wrote Major Nelson on his official Xbox blog in August when the price increase was announced. “We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.”
In an interview with Gamasutra yesterday, Xbox Live marketing senior director Craig Davison reiterated that same point.
“Now in 2002, it was strictly multiplayer gaming,” he says. “Now we get those Call of Duty map packs before anybody else does. We’ve got Gears and Halo, of course, as exclusives. We continue to get exclusives on the service as well. And we’ve gone from 400,000 members in our first year to 25 million."
“So during that time, we’ve definitely got to fund it, and we want to add more and more and more. ESPN is a great example. No extra charge for Xbox Live Gold members. But we want to continue to bring that content in. We also want to continue to innovate on all dimensions, whether it’s social, entertainment, or gaming. So there you go.”
That’s a fair point, even if it was a dodge to the question of how that cost compares to the free offerings on the competitor PlayStation Network. We have to take issue with the line “No extra charge for Xbox Live Gold members,” however. Even if that $10 doesn’t directly pay for that service, the response makes it seem as though it’s certainly subsidizing it in some form. Last time we checked, $10 isn’t the same as no extra charge.
What do you think? Does $60 seem like a fair price for what you get from Xbox Live, or would you rather forgo some of its ancillary services in exchange for a cheaper subscription rate?
