US yearly membership fee is hopping from $10 to $60 as charges go up across North America, UK starting November 1; markdown prices are offered in the meantime.
Microsoft gave Xbox Live Gold subscription holders some great news and some not so good news today. The bad news is that starting November 1, the company is getting underway a wave of price hikes in the North American and UK Xbox Live subscription plans. The awesome news (for now, I guess.) is that until those hikes go through, gamers in the US can sign on to a full year of the program or extend their current subscription at a reduce price. The value of the console goes down over time, but the cost of the service sadly goes up.In the UK and Canada, only the month-by-month plans are being adjusted. Canadians will have to pay $10 a month instead of $9, while their transatlantic counterparts will see the cost of the same term jump from £5 to £6. Finally, Mexico's full-year subscription fee is also being amended, rising from its current 499 pesos to 599 pesos.
***Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich downplayed the importance of the fee hikes, pointing out that the average price of a new game has also jumped from $50 to $60 since Xbox Live's debut in 2002. He said the move would likely do little to impact the Xbox 360's momentum, or even consumers themselves, in the near-term.
**"EEDAR (Electronic Entertainment Design and Research) does not believe the $10 price increase will fully affect current Xbox Live Gold subscribers until late 2011 and beyond, as Microsoft will likely run numerous promotions allowing users to renew at cheaper rates," Divnich said.
***Statements taken from Gamespot.com
HENCHMEN IMHO'S:
The fact of the matter is that this fee increase is really minor especially considering the reliability and speed you routinely get from Microsoft servers. I think that from a marketing perspective, they should have been smart and have done a $2 increase annually to cover not only inflation but the price to install new and better servers. For those of you who ask if MS is rich enough the answer is no; it is not. And that should be the answer for any company worth its salt. That being said, MS was posting record losses in the first 4 years of the system install. Then with the RROD they instituted a pricing freeze on Live even thought their return on investment was shrinking due to the increases in cost related to operating the system. Basically, the big hike reflects the last five years of increases that should have been but never were. I think its worthwhile.
I am not surprised at they decided to raise the price but I'm surprised its so low could have defiantly raised it higher and people would still pay.
I thought ever since the 360 was launched back in '06 that it was $60 so when I got the e-mail I was initially confused.