FrankWza
Member
Zenimax IPs stay multiplat. Confirmed
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Xbox Raises Price of 6-month Gold Sub to $59.99 (Up: Policy reversed, prices to stay the same)
- Thread starter FatKingBallman
- Start date
Zenimax IPs stay multiplat. Confirmed
THE DUCK
voted poster of the decade by bots
I'm not sure what the plan was, but I was thinking about how this might be a move to push everyone into gamepass at a $10 price.
If you change this price now, and then you announce there is only "ultimate" for $10 a month, its accepted as the new normal.
So lose the ultimate people paying $15 but convert gold users up. I also think they would simultaneously make all free to play games without gold/ultimate. Connecture though.
Numbers wise this might work, if the can keep the subscribers. If the end up with say 70 million down from 90, they still make more.
Thats 8.4 billion per year in revenue.
If you change this price now, and then you announce there is only "ultimate" for $10 a month, its accepted as the new normal.
So lose the ultimate people paying $15 but convert gold users up. I also think they would simultaneously make all free to play games without gold/ultimate. Connecture though.
Numbers wise this might work, if the can keep the subscribers. If the end up with say 70 million down from 90, they still make more.
Thats 8.4 billion per year in revenue.
Knitted Knight
Banned
Thanks to the "it doesn't affect me" crowd. Or the "why did they chose this moment to do it" crowd. We couldn't have done it without you.The price change has been cancelled.
No Changes to Xbox Live Gold Pricing, Free-to-Play Games to be Unlocked [Update] - Xbox Wire
[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 […]news.xbox.com
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Blue Spring
Read my tears about xbox here --->
Good on the people that spoke out. Defenders look even dumber now.
Halo is Back
Member
It pains me to say that I will probably only get a PS5 if MS dose not change this move. Been an Xbox fan for as long as I can remember, big fucking L here
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
DarkMage619
what did you find amusing about this post?You really have to be some kindly raging fanboy loon to stand in defense of this absurd price hike.
BaneIsPain
Member
Dr. Samuel Hayden
Member
Lol, that was fast.
DarkMage619
$MSFT
Why do you care what I think is funny? I thought you were telling a joke about the f2p being more important than free cloud game saves. Especially from people who love single player, third person, story driven games. Cloud game saves affect every gamer, online play only affects online gamers.
You really have to be some kindly raging fanboy loon to stand in defense of this absurd price hike.
JunkerWoland
Member
Such a quick about-face suggests this was more testing waters than an actual plan. Good on Microsoft for canceling the price increase and allowing everyone access to free-to-play, but what will stick in my mind is this initial stunt and not them backing down.
![[Sigma]](/data/avatars/m/701/701747.jpg?1726376545){kind=avatar}
RPS37
Member
This post aged well.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Put Darkmage and Riky on ignore. They are part of a sociopathic LOL brigade who can only communicate with LOL emojis because what I presume to be some kind of stunted emotional development.
You really have to be some kindly raging fanboy loon to stand in defense of this absurd price hike.
It all started with Sleep Doctor and a couple of other fanboys who struggled to formulate replies upon being triggered by criticism of their favorite console. He got himself perma'd a while ago but Riky and DarkMage managed to catch this virus before his ban. Now putting them on ignore is the best way to rid your notification feed of these sociopath LOL givers.
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
sainraja
Member
Not a great plan when it gets you bad press! I don't think they were expecting the kind of response they got and the only reason I think they were so quick to reverse course is due to what happened during the Xbox One launch. They have to play it carefully this time around.
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I think sony will eventually raise the price of PS+ but it wont be $120. I'm betting $70 in a few years, same cost for a current gen game.
urmie
Member
Not anymore. F2P now free. Voicing up works ya see. So about those paywall cloud saves (PS, Nintendo exclusives), let's hope that goes away too if everyone voices up.
Anyway, it seems the higher ups weren't having it:
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KingdomHeartsFan
Member
If people were smart they'd stay on track and push them to get rid of the online fee completely like MS does for PC players.
DarkMage619
$MSFT
At this point no other console maker offers a better deal. I'd love for Game pass to be free too but only other platform holders can really push things forward. Free online from Sony like during the PS3 would make quite the statement.
FIREKNIGHT2029
Member
Yeah, they just backtracked on the whole thing
No Changes to Xbox Live Gold Pricing, Free-to-Play Games to be Unlocked [Update] - Xbox Wire
[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 […]
@ the clowns that were damage controlling this bullshit. Real gamers complained and they backtracked.Left to the suckers and corporate apologists in here we should eat whatever crap Phil manages to poop out as long as they are getting "value" from GPU.
People should know their rights as consumers. Doubling the price to play online in the middle of a pandemic where many have lost their jobs was an incredibly tone deaf move. If you don't complain when these multibillion dollar companies get out of line you will forever be eating shit from them. Now they are reversing this dumb move and removing sub fees from some F2P games which people have been asking for ages thanks to the power of complaining.
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KingdomHeartsFan
Member
No gamers can push for this. Microsoft tried charging PC players for gold and they pushed and got rid of it. Xbox gamers can do the same thing and you couldn't ask for better momentum than now to do it, but people are stupid.
JunkerWoland
Member
Price increases--especially to the extent originally announced--always result in bad press, which is why it wouldn't have been arbitrary; the decision would have been based on data and projected numbers, suggesting the financial good would outweigh the emotional bad. If they were legitimately committed, Microsoft would have given the increase a few reporting periods to try and prove itself. Today's immediate reversal and uncoupling of free-to-play points more to an instance of fishing for consumer sentiment, rather than attempting to alter an existing business model.
This whole flip-flop situation smacks of poor management. That said, I won't be shocked, if six months to a year from now, Microsoft announces something like a $10 increase to Gold.
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sleepingbear
Member
They were just testing the waters. They'll be back at it. MS genuinely looks more and more like they are completely clueless about this video games thing.
DarkMage619
$MSFT
Do you think Sony gamers will do the same? They outnumber Xbox gamers in significant numbers. Sony then making online free would force MS' hand.
KingdomHeartsFan
Member
You must really love Sony, you bring them up all the time in Xbox threads.
The best chance is for MS to do it first not Sony, the one in the lead is always the least likely to throw away free money for good PR. MS are the ones that need the pendulum shift, not Sony.
megreotsugua
Banned
My feeling exactly. IMO gamepass business model that MS is pursuing is a dead end. There's not much potential target audience. And among the potential target audience, many are playing different games outside the gamepass service.
Raonak
Banned
Jesus what a cluster fuck. How is the Xbox marketing department this bad...?
Are they really that out of touch that they thought this and always online was not gonna have a backlash?
Well, it's a good thing that they did a 180. Even though it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Are they really that out of touch that they thought this and always online was not gonna have a backlash?
Well, it's a good thing that they did a 180. Even though it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
megreotsugua
Banned
If you look at SIE financials, PS Plus subscription is actually not that much of a profit for Sony. It's the microtransactions and digital sales that are bringing the bulk of the profit.
I think they can actually afford to do it. But a 10-20% income is still big when all is said and done.
If removing the PS Plus would result in more MT, DLCs, and digital sales then we'll see it happen. Someone must have done the maths within Sony. They probably don't see it as a good move financially considering they have no plans of doing it.
killatopak
Member
The next time people say that complaining on forums doesn’t change anything, point them to this event.
Banjo64
cumsessed
Not sure what warrants the comments laughing at people who defended this. Look at the Xbox thread, Era podcast on YouTube, and every relevant (not batshit) Xbox social commentator. The outrage was universal except for the smallest handful of misguided people. Hence them walking it back within 24 hours. It’s good for everyone that people came together today to stop a conglomerate from shitting on them from up high. I’d be this vocal if Sony or Nintendo try this shit in the future, because all platforms are great in my eyes.
sainraja
Member
There are better ways to do that though and if it is as you say due to poor management then I would say they didn't see the level of bad press they would get (otherwise I can't see how they would risk it given how bad the press for Xbox One was.)
freefornow
Gold Member
DarkMage619
$MSFT
I'm a multi-console gamer. I win when every console manufacturer saves me money. If they are the leaders they should lead with free online. They did it with PS3 it is time for them to lead again. I'm certain MS will follow.
Who really defended the price hike though? The only thing that came close was acknowledging that every major retailer still sold yearly gold for $60. Costco has 2 years for $90. Do people really purchase gold exclusively from MS over Amazon or Wal-Mart?
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Banjo64
cumsessed
I like you mate, but any comment like this, or; ‘just upgrade to Game Pass’ or ‘this doesn’t effect me because I have Game Pass’ or ‘no change for existing recurring billing customers’ comes across as defending the practice in this instance.
It was just a dick move by MS, end of discussion really. I’m glad they’ve walked it back.
As you’ve rightfully pointed out, MS will now have free cloud saves and free ‘free to play’ online gaming, so people with an Xbox are now in a great place.
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MasterCornholio
Member
It was stupid of them to even try it. But at least this got them to drop gold for FTP games.
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
Caught with their hand in the cookie jar and the rest is just BS excuses. The damage to trust has been done.
Gamers turn their backs again and MS will try this shit again but just wrap it up in a more subtle way.
The "we learned" spiel is empty words. The problem is that they thought it was ok to push out the price hike in the first place and that gamers would just accept it... (well, clearly some like
DarkMage619
were ostensibly happy to).
DarkMage619
$MSFT
But it wasn't just a 'this doesn't affect ME' thing. It was a this doesn't affect ANYONE who can shop at Amazon or Wal-Mart or Costco or Target.
Think about this MS dropped yearly XBL Gold from their store. 6 months is $40 now I believe. That means a year of XBL Gold from MS is $80 right? That should have sparked the same outrage yet people realized there was other options. I don't like price hikes and I'm glad MS reversed course but I try and look at the big picture.
1 month is $10! So it's STILL $120 a year right? Are there any other options?!
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JunkerWoland
Member
In this day-and-age, being Microsoft, and assuming they're looking for public sentiment, nothing is going to beat releasing news then scrubbing the Internet for reaction data: it's cost efficient, since all you're doing is updating websites and making tweets; and paper-thin decisions can always be walked back, which inevitably results in some favorable impressions.
As for my comment about poor management, the problem isn't so much the actual price increase, but rather the appearance of Microsoft making decisions to which they're not committed, especially with the Xbox brand's current reputation. I'm inclined to believe Microsoft was well aware of the type of reaction they'd receive, which is why they were able to make a retraction in less than 24 hours. The poor management is merely the decision to pull these shenanigans, at the present time.
On the other hand, Microsoft now probably gets an ongoing chance to data mine how much people might be willing to pay for Gold. While I firmly believe this was mostly a stunt, depending on future pricing, maybe this wasn't the worst use of their resources.
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Shmunter
Member
Fuck me, they are even doing gold free free to play games like Sony....
Man, they got really spooked by the reaction didn’t they.....
Edit: they should have dropped it all together
. At least we can rest that Sony won’t be foolish enough to try any funny business. Also, ms definitely needs to pay for that Bethesda purchase via multi plat sales 
Man, they got really spooked by the reaction didn’t they.....
Edit: they should have dropped it all together
. At least we can rest that Sony won’t be foolish enough to try any funny business. Also, ms definitely needs to pay for that Bethesda purchase via multi plat sales
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Banjo64
cumsessed
In the initial post, Microsoft said nothing about the retail $59.99 option. It’s perfectly rational and reasonable to assume they were planning to phrase it out, otherwise no one would have paid $59.99 for 6 months. And if no one would pay $59.99 for 6 months, why do this stunt in the first place, which was the equivalent of blowing their own foot off with a 12 gauge?
Only in the turnaround post have MS confirmed the $59.99 12 month option is remaining at retail.
You can assume that the 12 month would have remained, neither of us can prove it either way. I just think logically, non of this makes sense unless they were scrapping it.
Much love mate
sainraja
Member
I think a simple survey utilizing twitter and the press would have been enough for them gauge public sentiment (and for something like this it wouldn't have taken much.) Announcing something and then walking it back makes them look worse. They should have put in the time to do some research and acted accordingly which could have allowed them to raise the price and work on the value offering. This just seems the wrong way to do it.
I would think they would try to avoid any kind of bad press right now given how much it hurt them last generation; specially with the Halo fiasco and its delay, they did not need a potential issue with a price hike. I guess good on them to get ahead of it, planned or not.
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