Microsoft increases Xbox Live Gold prices to $120/year

[-Dmeister-]

Summary

Microsoft is increasing Xbox Live Gold prices, likely to make Xbox Game Pass more appealing.  The cheapest price is the 6-month option at $60.  This means the price is doubling from the $60/year that Microsoft previously charged for their 12-month option (which they discontinued).

 

Quotes

Quote

"The one- and three-month plans aren’t much pricier at $11 and $30 respectively (up $1 and $5), but six months now costs you $60 — well above the $40 you used to pay. And when there’s no longer a 12-month membership, you’ll be looking at $120 per year if you insist on Gold."

 

My thoughts

It is clear that Microsoft is trying to push Game Pass (which includes Xbox Live Gold) by increasing the XLG prices, but while Sony still only charges $60/yr for PS+, I can say I will not be buying another Xbox.  It will likely be PC only for me.

 

Sources

Microsoft increases Xbox Live Gold prices for new members | Engadget

[Tristerin]

1 minute ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

You keep the games with Gold, so I guess it does make some sense. 

So if on Gold, you have the right HDD space, you can download it all, cancel gold and still use those games???

[TetraSky]

I thought I read some times ago that they were apparently planning on phasing out Xbox Live entirely... I see that wasn't true. They just got rid of the yearly pass to make it more expensive.

 

At $10 per month, is it really worth it? Usually, as you subscribe for longer, the price goes down... But now 6 months is the same as taking 3 months twice...

At $120 USD per year, that's $1200 in 10 years. Could get a decent PC out of just that.

[Skiiwee29]

Update: 

 

 

 

[SeriousDad69]

Happy they're backtracking on this and keeping regular gold the same price, as gamepass isn't a good deal for most people imo. Everyone I know doesn't have the time or drive to actually play 100s of "free" games and Microsoft exclusives haven't been that good since the 2012 era.

Just looking at a list of what you actually get with gamepass ultimate, 99% is just filler from indie devs and ancient AAA games(Oh boy! I can play Fifa 15 and Zuma's revenge on gamepass ultimate?!?!?! Wowie! lmao). Most of the games on there that I wouldn't consider filler, like Doom Eternal, don't even come with the DLC it looks like. (So you have to buy DLC for games you don't own?)

Honestly gamepass is the most overhyped service ever, and you know they're going to eventually jack the price up to $20-$25 a month as soon as they start actually putting heavy hitters on it like Elder Scrolls 6 or Halo 6. Most people only play 1-2 new $60 AAAs a year, so once game pass is at $20 a month most people would be better off just saving their money and outright buying the games they actually want to play.

[jaslion]

They are really trying to get as much money out of console gamers with doing as little as possible. I keep seeing the people bring the server argument but like barely any games use their servers and spoilers the devs pay for those and that cost is payed by you the player through the extra 10$ on top of the price to include the fee to release on that console (and some other stuff) and that subscription you pay to sony or ms is literally you giving them free money.

 

Sure you can give the argument but they have to maintain their store, infrastructure,... They'll be fine just look at pc every publisher basically has their own store and they don't charge you extra for giving you access to buying from it (as it's basically all included in the game price and it's monetization strategies). So in the end you are literally paying sony or ms for a console, a higher price on games so devs can offset the costs for releasing on the console and then to play your bought game online you have to pay money to play it online. Except for f2p games which really just feels as rubbing even more salt in the wound.

 

I didn't mention nintendo because I saved them for last they are the biggest proof of you are literally paying for nothing. They don't even have game servers for their games it's all p2p. They didn't even have a subscription in the first year and when it came around people thought online would get better but obviously it did not. All it did was be a lock to allow you to play online and to make it seem less worse they did the thing the others do by giving you some random old games. In case of nintendo it was some random roms running in an emulator from decades ago and most are just crap with a few being at best ok.

[Kanna]

 

8 hours ago, Skiiwee29 said:

- - snip - -

this will help me when I don't have a subscription but I still need gold for party chat so in game chat it is

[Jet_ski]

8 hours ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Update: 

 

 

 

They are backtracking to not hurt new console sales. This may have been their plan all along. In their response, Microsoft complained that Gold Live prices hadn’t changed for 10 years.

 

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but for $180 per year you can buy tons of used older games on eBay.

[Sauron]

Wait - this is that thing you need to pay to even use your internet connection on an xbox? Starting to sound like a really bad deal to get a console...

[Commodus]

24 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Wait - this is that thing you need to pay to even use your internet connection on an xbox? Starting to sound like a really bad deal to get a console...

You don't need Gold just to use the internet connection on an Xbox — it's just that some things have been gated behind it.

 

Keep in mind that you don't just get those online features. On Xbox, you get "games with Gold" that are yours to keep even if you stop subscribing. So it's really $X per year with a whole bunch of games thrown in, and not just leftovers. PlayStation Plus is similar, although you do have to stay subscribed to access your expanded game library.

 

With that said, it's pretty clear Microsoft wants Xbox owners to subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate. It's $15 per month, but you get all the Gold perks plus that instant library and cloud gaming.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

21 hours ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

Last time I checked it needed an active Live subscription to actually play them (Gamepass or Live Gold). Gold also has some discounts, which I believe Game pass doesn't have.
 

Game pass basically gives a discount on all gamepass games if you want to buy them to use is you cancel the subscription.

[bcredeur97]

Opportunity cost calculator:

$120/year factored in as a extra $10/mo in your retirement account for 50 years(600 months) @ approx 8% gain per year:
$79,317.25
actual cost: $6000

a gain of 1221.93%. 

Imagine the opportunity cost of all the subscription services put together lol

[AirbusA220]

Microsoft has reversed the Xbox Live gold price.

https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/1352845180735393793

[jagdtigger]

3 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

Opportunity cost calculator:

$120/year factored in as a extra $10/mo in your retirement account for 50 years(600 months) @ approx 8% gain per year:
$79,317.25
actual cost: $6000

a gain of 1221.93%. 

Imagine the opportunity cost of all the subscription services put together lol

Add in that you basically paying to play online with your PC (because lets be honest here, consoles are basically desktop PC's in a fancy case now), its just dumb beyond description....

[Helpful Tech Witch]

27 minutes ago, jagdtigger said:

(because lets be honest here, consoles are basically desktop PC's in a fancy case now)

Nope.they have pc ward ware, somewhat, but things like the ddr6 ram, the CPU and GPU sharing the same ram, and not how PC's work

[Andreas Lilja]

It's been reversed.

 

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-23-xbox-u-turns-on-gold-subscription-price-hike-after-fan-backlash

[jagdtigger]

2 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Nope.they have pc ward ware, somewhat, but things like the ddr6 ram, the CPU and GPU sharing the same ram, and not how PC's work

Actually yes, IGP's and APU's do this for ages now. The only new thing is the DDR6 memory but thats about it.

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, AirbusA220 said:

Microsoft has reversed the Xbox Live gold price.

https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/1352845180735393793

 

Your thread has been merged to origjnal news topic. For couple of reasons. Updates happening in short-period from original aren't worth of their own threads. Your thread didn't match the guidelines we have for the Tech News (lacked personal input). And in general seemed just quick link to shove to forums. Which is something we don't really like overall. If you don't have anything personal to add to link, pic, video etc. its better you don't post it as own thread.

[dalekphalm]

On 1/22/2021 at 1:02 PM, gabrielcarvfer said:

You keep the games with Gold, so I guess it does make some sense. 

 

On 1/22/2021 at 1:04 PM, Tristerin said:

So if on Gold, you have the right HDD space, you can download it all, cancel gold and still use those games???

 

On 1/22/2021 at 1:17 PM, gabrielcarvfer said:

Last time I checked it needed an active Live subscription to actually play them (Gamepass or Live Gold). Gold also has some discounts, which I believe Game pass doesn't have.
 

I believe Gabriel is correct - the Games for Gold games are only available if you keep your subscription up to date.

 

With that in mind, if you let it lapse then renew it later, you get access back to the games you had before.

 

Also GamePass does offer the same Gold discounts, plus additional ones.

 

I sub to GamePass Ultimate on my XBO because it's not much more than Gold and you get a hell of a lot more out of it.

[Commodus]

14 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

 

 

I believe Gabriel is correct - the Games for Gold games are only available if you keep your subscription up to date.

 

With that in mind, if you let it lapse then renew it later, you get access back to the games you had before.

 

Also GamePass does offer the same Gold discounts, plus additional ones.

 

I sub to GamePass Ultimate on my XBO because it's not much more than Gold and you get a hell of a lot more out of it.

Games With Gold lets you keep your games — it's PlayStation Plus that yanks access if you cancel.

 

I actually don't mind Sony's approach since it's a fair exchange and often includes some great titles (Fall Guys premiered as a PS Plus freebie), but there's no doubt that Xbox Live Gold is better if you want to keep your games after you walk away.

[dalekphalm]

4 minutes ago, Commodus said:

Games With Gold lets you keep your games — it's PlayStation Plus that yanks access if you cancel.

 

I actually don't mind Sony's approach since it's a fair exchange and often includes some great titles (Fall Guys premiered as a PS Plus freebie), but there's no doubt that Xbox Live Gold is better if you want to keep your games after you walk away.

Do you have a link to indicate when this changed?

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/get-free-xbox-games-with-games-with-gold-28b9440a-b98e-e04d-1881-a109d73293a0#:~:text=Your Xbox Live Gold membership,and two on Xbox 360.&text=Xbox One games are yours,games are yours to keep.

 

According to the Microsoft FAQ, 360 games you get to keep, and XBO games are yours as long as you're a subscriber.

[Commodus]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

Do you have a link to indicate when this changed?

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/get-free-xbox-games-with-games-with-gold-28b9440a-b98e-e04d-1881-a109d73293a0#:~:text=Your Xbox Live Gold membership,and two on Xbox 360.&text=Xbox One games are yours,games are yours to keep.

 

According to the Microsoft FAQ, 360 games you get to keep, and XBO games are yours as long as you're a subscriber.

Huh! Not sure when that changed, but I do remember getting XBO games to keep. In which case... one less reason to switch from one platform to the other.