Xbox Live: Scamming You For 15 Years And Counting

Paid online is a scam and in a just world wouldn't exist.

Thank goodness it never became the norm on PC. I remember Xbox Live for Windows.

jerry seinfeld GIF
 
Paid subscriptions are everywhere as is GAAS.

We did it to ourselves by paying, and also horse armor.
I remember we got shouted down when those of us called it the beginning of a slippery slope.

Yet here we are, here we are. We only have ourselves to blame as a collective of gaming consumers.
 
I'd argue it was worth in the 360 era at the beginning sort of. It was a pretty good service compared to the competitors and had some neat features. I never regretted buying Gold back then, anyways.

Console players really shouldn't be forced to pay to play online, though. You already pay enough for the internet itself. This is one great thing about PC Gaming.
 
Fuck XBL. Fuck PSN. Fuck whatever Nintendo has. Never paid for it and never will.

I am not paying to use my console (which I paid for) to play my games (which I paid for) on my internet service (which i pay for).
 
We got cloud saves as the norm out of it as well as standardized cross games friends list.
I'm not that bothered.
 
with gamepass ms should let gold go....
Best advertising they can paid themselves (do that and cancel next power your dream like next crap)
 
Last edited:
Well I agree, but when all of you motherfuckers paying that shit, I do have to do it too.
 
Well Microsoft did start paying for online service, Sony didn't have to follow but they did
I know, I mean....everything does not have to be taken that seriously, it's 1:33am. I am not looking for fulfilling conversation, about what corporation is worse. I mean fuck them, I just play the Cyberpunk. So fuck *cough*

#FUCKTHECORPORATIONS
 
Not exactly professional in the sense of it being a neutral article, right? :rolleyes:

Of course he's right, but - Sony is in on this at least as much as Microsoft, so it's a bit unfair to nearly exclusively pin this issue on Microsoft in title and content of the video. :pie_diana:
 
Last edited:
Worst thing about live is that Sony and Nintendo don't require you to have their subscription services for F2P games like Apex and warzone but microsoft still does. It's some grade A BS on that part.
 
Well Microsoft did start paying for online service, Sony didn't have to follow but they did
Corporations are scummy by nature, it's up to consumers to not encourage scummy practices. And XBLG was one of those things that people should not have allowed, period.

BTW, neither did Nintendo. But they did too.
 
Last edited:
Worst thing about live is that Sony and Nintendo don't require you to have their subscription services for F2P games like Apex and warzone but microsoft still does. It's some grade A BS on that part.
They recently announced they'll free up F2P too now. After being called out on a major price hike.
 
Not exactly professional in the sense of it being a neutral article, right? :rolleyes:

Of course he's right, but - SONY is in on this at least as much as Microsoft, so it's a bit unfair to nearly exclusively pin this issue on Microsoft in title and content of the video. :pie_diana:
It took Sony more than 7 years of watching MS getting away with this before giving in to the temptation.

They would have never even considered anything like it if the precedent hadn't been set and the practice normalized by Good Guys Microsoft.

I also see that nobody in the thread is calling out Nintendo. They charge for online multiplayer too now, remember? Why is nobody blaming Nintendo?
 
Last edited:
It took Sony more than 7 years of watching MS getting away with this before giving in to the temptation.

They would have never even considered anything like it if the precedent hadn't been set and the practice normalized by Good Guys Microsoft.

I also see that nobody in the thread is calling out Nintendo. They charge for online multiplayer too now, remember? Why is nobody blaming Nintendo?
So we're judging companies now by what they did not do in the past but not by what they are doing now? :pie_thinking:

They had no exclusives like the legendary Halo games, on which people where crazy to play, what multiplayer game would they have cashed in on to begin with? Microsoft was simply the first company out there to blackmail the players with "It's either paying for Xbox Live or no Halo multiplayer for you and your friends, boy.", Sony had nothing back then! :LOL:
 
So we're judging companies now by what they did not do in the past but not by what they are doing now? :pie_thinking:

They had no exclusives like the legendary Halo games, on which people where crazy to play, what multiplayer game would they have cashed in on to begin with? Microsoft was simply the first company out there to blackmail the players with "It's either paying for Xbox Live or no Halo multiplayer for you and your friends, boy.", Sony had nothing back then! :LOL:
They are all doing it now.

The time to stop this was back then when only one was doing it. That would have sent a clear message.

A few of us warned the lot of you, but you didn't listen...
 
So we're judging companies now by what they did not do in the past but not by what they are doing now? :pie_thinking:

They had no exclusives like the legendary Halo games, on which people where crazy to play, what multiplayer game would they have cashed in on to begin with? Microsoft was simply the first company out there to blackmail the players with "It's either paying for Xbox Live or no Halo multiplayer for you and your friends, boy.", Sony had nothing back then! :LOL:
Lol no, ps had a lot of multiplayers that people who actually had a PS3 really enjoyed _ Killzone 2 and 3 for me, Uncharted, TLOU, MAG, not to mention the third-party CODs of course.
But that is not even the point _ ps plus born as a service to give you discounts on games and monthly freebys and only this past generation got the multiplayer pay wall. Thanks to that, Live that was just a pay wall, start giving monthly games to their subscribers too.
 
Lol no, ps had a lot of multiplayers that people who actually had a PS3 really enjoyed _ Killzone 2 and 3 for me, Uncharted, TLOU, MAG, not to mention the third-party CODs of course.
But that is not even the point _ ps plus born as a service to give you discounts on games and monthly freebys and only this past generation got the multiplayer pay wall. Thanks to that, Live that was just a pay wall, start giving monthly games to their subscribers too.
Killzone might not exactly be the best example to put Sony together in a boxing ring with Microsoft; in fact it's so unpopular that there are no remasters and it never arrived on PC since there's no interest in this to begin with. It's like Sony even wants to forget about its failures.
 
Hackers/cheaters have taken over and ruined MP gaming on PC. I'm not a fan of paid monthly services either but the fact that cheating is mostly or entirely eliminated depending on the game makes the paid systems a necessary evil if only for their far better security.

On a related note, I still wish Xbox would make the first move and modify online play as free on a basic XBL "Silver" account and reserve other step up features and monthly games for the paid "Gold" tier. But right now it seems all they care about is driving people to Game Pass about which I have mixed feelings. It's a great value but obviously not everyone wants or needs the expense of a "Netflix of Gaming". As much as I've grown to love it, many people just want to play Madden and COD online with their buddies. Making that free would make the Xbox super competitive and force Sonys hand to do the same on PS4/PS5 (like they still do with PS3).
 
You could plausibly justify the cost of XBL 15 years ago on the basis that MS was using the money to expand and to improve network infrastructure. But that part's kind of done. I mean, you don't see any ISP with its ass on fire trying to throw fiber optic in the ground right now.

But the money's got to come from somewhere to run all this shit and Microsoft isn't going to give time on Azure to anyone for free. Even if it's just a game about maintenance and capacity, somebody's got to pay that bill.

And don't give me the I use Google for free garbage. Your data and the ads you see is how Google pays for it.

So I don't know, It just seems really crazily naive to me of anyone to suggest that XBL should be free. Why should some business that only needs local copies of office be seeing any of that licensing fee go to maintaining XBL?
 
You could plausibly justify the cost of XBL 15 years ago on the basis that MS was using the money to expand and to improve network infrastructure. But that part's kind of done. I mean, you don't see any ISP with its ass on fire trying to throw fiber optic in the ground right now.

But the money's got to come from somewhere to run all this shit and Microsoft isn't going to give time on Azure to anyone for free. Even if it's just a game about maintenance and capacity, somebody's got to pay that bill.

And don't give me the I use Google for free garbage. Your data and the ads you see is how Google pays for it.

So I don't know, It just seems really crazily naive to me of anyone to suggest that XBL should be free. Why should some business that only needs local copies of office be seeing any of that licensing fee go to maintaining XBL?
Every service needs to be paid for, you are absolutely correct, well done Sir.
 
Every service needs to be paid for, you are absolutely correct, well done Sir.
If you rip out XBL or PSN, console peer-to-peer networks won't get better. All the disadvantages of peer-to-peer will still be there, just without a uniform backend. Because security and account authentication and license verification isn't important. I mean, some YouTuber told you they aren't, so how can they be, RIGHT? And all those little messaging and sharing hooks you love? That NEEDS to be free! A YouTuber told me that!

You clearly weren't around for the SOCOM on PS2 days, so I forgive you.
 
Somebody tell Gabe Newell that Steam users should be paying for the priviledge of playing online and all those nice messaging and sharing little hooks. After all, these things cost money, and operating income does not exist! Valve could go bankrupt any day now!

At least that's what some very insightful posters here are making me realize...
 
Last edited:
With how terrible PlayStation's network was during the ps3 era, I figured the difference had to be that Microsoft was using that Xbox live money to support their network and make the online experience solid. So I just shrugged and said that must be what it takes to have a good online experience so I will pay it

that's not the case anymore though, but now it's like we're all used to it and it sucks... I havent paid for Xbox live in years and likely never will again tho, I wish more people would follow that trend. Would love to play some of my Xbox games online again.
 
Last edited:
With how terrible PlayStation's network was during the ps3 era, I figured the difference had to be that Microsoft was using that Xbox live money to support their network and make the online experience solid. So I just shrugged and said that must be what it takes to have a good online experience so I will pay it

that's not the case anymore though, but now it's like we're all used to it and it sucks... I havent paid for Xbox live in years and likely never will again tho, I wish more people would follow that trend. Would love to play some of my Xbox games online again.
A lot of people I know fell off paying for XBL last gen and won't re-up now because they see it as being of a time now past. There's nothing wrong with not paying for it.

I always thought MS and Sony would do more with people who maintained subscriptions for a long time, but they haven't. I signed up for PSN day one in NA. Did that get me a Sony invite to buy a PS5? Nope.
 
Top Bottom