Xbox: it's everywhere you want to be

by Ross Miller { Aug 2nd 2005 at 3:34PM }

Here in the States, it's becoming more of a rare commodity to find a teenager without a credit card. That may end up being the case in Germany, a country where even many parents do not have credit cards, if Microsoft has anything to say about it. In an effort to boost its Xbox Live! service in Germany, Microsoft is marketing prepaid Xbox Live! Visa cards so that children can sign up for Microsoft's online community. And not content with simply giving kids the option to give them more money, Microsoft is charging 2% on the prepaid balance - which, in all honesties, isn't that bad.

Imagine if this sparked a boom in credit card usage in Germany, and then Microsoft would get to say that they were the ones who managed to single handedly popularize credit debt in the country.

[via GameInsider]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Efren Abrego @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

They should have something like that in the US. Only have it be a real CC, and every time you use it, you get a littlke credit towards your annual Xbox Live fee. Or maybe you earn free microtransactions?

I'm THERE!

Belgand @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Personally I'm 23 and have made it through college without a credit card. I really detest the concept and don't want one. Quite frankly my debit card (which I admittedly use all the time for pretty much anything over $5, meaning I only need to carry $20 cash for the rare cash-only purchase) does a much better job. Rather than incurring rotating debt the money just comes out. Combined with auto-paying bills and direct deposited paychecks I never really need to handle currency and my checkbook is a long-forgotten waste (in 6 years I've used just over 1 book of checks).

In my opinion if you can't afford it when you buy it, you can't afford it at all. Credit is evil.

Jeremy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Credit is not evil, if you pay your balance every month.

It's really fun when you earn 1%-5% cash back on all your purchases. It's like making money off of the credit card companies.

It's great! :-)

haman @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

do you planning a car or a house #2? suprise! those among other things are considered a debt, much like a credit card. unless of course you can pay cash for it...

TJ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Odd move by Microsoft.

The XBOX is lagging in third place in Germany, that coupled with countries apathy toward CC's makes this seem like a bit of a stupid move.

Then again I'm not on a enourmous paycheck studying the feasability of such a venture...