Limited-time Xbox Live Gold price cut for Silver subscribers

by Randy Nelson on Mar 4th 2009 4:56PM

Microsoft is offering a $10 discount off Xbox Live Gold subscriptions to those currently set up with free Silver accounts. Ads for $39.99/year Gold accounts have popped up on Xbox.com and within the Xbox 360 interface, causing some confusion as to whether this is a permanent price drop.

Contacted for comment, Microsoft told us that it is "currently running a promotion in-dash that gives Silver members a special opportunity to upgrade to the full benefits of Gold membership at a reduced price for a limited time." Specifically, it's being extended to all current and new Silver accounts, redeemable via the 360's dash and on Xbox.com, and ... doesn't have a set end date, according to MS. But it is time-limited. (Love those invisible time limits!)

Some retailers, including Amazon.com, are offering physical 12-month -- actually, 13-month -- account cards for the same $39.99 price. When asked, Microsoft said that this is no indication of a planned permanent price drop for yearly subscriptions. Sony's PSN crew just smiled.

[Thanks, Will!]

Tags: deals, microsoft, Xbox-360, xbox-live, xbox-live-gold

Reader Comments (62)

Wait what is this? I just bought he gold messenger pack deal at best buy yesterday.

hahahaha... that sucks man... don't worry im sure there will be a great deal for you next time. lol...

If you didn't punch in the code card yet, sign up for the $40/year deal and then punch in the code. It should tack onto the end of the 12 months you just signed up for.

you should have purchased live for $30. Its ok though. You are slowly learning how to be a thrifty shopper.

I've seen it for less than $30 for 13 months at multiple stores lately. I think that's a sweet price point.

Bought 13 months from some guy on eBay for 32$. He just emailed me the code, and that was that. You rarely see it for the full 50$ anymore. I have the feeling this price drop will be permanent, even if they dont officially announce it.

I bought my 13 month card for $30 months ago and I still deals pop on my dealnews alert. Paying more then $30 is whack.

....It's still more than I pay per year for Live.

Whats a subcriber?

A subscriber is someone who really enjoys playing online multiplayer games but who most likely only owns an Xbox 360.

Because of this, the subscriber is being bottlenecked into paying for a service that could just as easily be free like the majority of Microsoft's other internet based communication services.

That just went right over your head.

A subscriber is someone that enjoys a working party system, and a working friends system.

See Killzone 2 for the opposite of a subscriber

(GREAT game, awful matchmaking and party system support)

Awful matchmaking in Killzone 2!?!?!? ROFLMAO!!!!

I agree it needs a party system. but I'm sure they have a reason for leaving that off. Possibly a party system is about to be added to the PS3 via a firmware update.

The reason it was left off is because they see no revenue from it, so they have no incentive. You get what you pay for. Or don't get, as the case may be.

If the price keeps dropping it might eventually become interesting. Really, for me, I'm mostly interested in Netflix support. I would consider paying for a Netflix account to use on my 360 but the fact that I have to have a Gold account keeps me from doing it. At the times I have a Gold account I don't ever really play online so it's just not worth it. Makes me wish they had something between white and gold. I might pay for an account that let me do things like Netflix but no online gaming (or maybe only XBLA games online).

At the current findable price fo $30 for 13 months.

$2.31/month is too much to stream?

Hah! Still not paying for it. Nice try, sukkaz! :P

I bought a 13-month card from Amazon for $40 before my account autorenewed in February.

Come on MS just start including a 1 month card with every new game... a great way to trick people into buying more games.

I don't understand why "Sony's PSN crew just smiled."...

Im guessing its because the PSN group would see the price drop as a direct effect of PSN.

No, it's because it's a temporary deal. Microsoft indicated no permanent price drop to it's yearly subscription and that would make the $ony fanboys laugh just a little, flaunting their free (inferior) online capabilites.

Because your ethernet cord somehow works better in your Xbox 360 than mine does in my Playstation 3.

Go bash your head against a wall a few times and then come back and tell me how the 360's 'online capabilities' oust those of the PS3's. Better yet, tell me what these capabilities are without giving me opinionated statements.

Can I try first though? My guess is that the 360 'upscales' the broadband connection. I bet when people lag online or disconnect randomly on the 360 it does it with much more class than while on PSN.

yea im with Jarhead. i've played on both the PSN and Live and i have to say that i don't really see anything that Live does that the PSN doesn't do (aside from Party Chat and more users). people that have never used the PSN before need to stop spewing useless dribble about it based on propaganda.

Joystiq should do a point by point comparison of the two. i really don't think the separation between the two is as much as everyone thinks it is. even features like NetFlix streaming can be done on the PS3 for example (through the 3rd party PlayOn Media Server). plus that would get plenty of hits for the site since it's grade A fanboy bait. think about it Joystiq.....

I've used xbox live for years, I got a ps3 tried joining a friend in warhawk, and apparently that's an obstacle in itself. There is no, guide->goto friend->join,

nope it's a whole lot of dumb instead.

Simple market theory: if people see good value they will pay for it.

Looking at the numbers Live has an install base of ~30 Million and growing.

1,000,000,000 Halo 3 matches served.

I would call it a success and assuming anyone is smiling I imagine it would be MS as they saw the fiber-optic light years before Sony and invested in infrastructure accordingly.

i know its been said before, but i havent paid the full price for live since the crimsons skies bundle i got for christmas years ago. for the past 3 years ive paid only 30 bucks.

Whaaaaat!? The offer here is £35! I mean that's not as expensive in comparison as it used to be, but still... ;-;

So they're still ripping you off, just less so. I can buy physical sub. cards any time I want... paying less for more service.

Honestly, I don't care how amazing Live is - it's just a way for Microsoft to make you pay for a game twice. You already paid for the game disk, but unless you pay more money, you can't use the entire game. It's right up there with paying for DLC that's already on the physical disc - it's what I call being "ripped off"

I'm guessing u don't play any subscription based games then. I see live as a much better deal, compared to something like WoW.

Next your going to say that ms is ripping you off on internet fees.

@ducttapeBigSexy,

Well, yeah... only, no, not really. Most every game (afaik all games, but I cannot be certain) that have any kind of online multiplayer aspect ALSO offer system-link, aka network play. So all the multiplayer features are still available.

The only things you don't get are the things Xbox Live brings to the table: matchmaking, stat-tracking, friends lists, etc etc.

Of course, I realize the reality of the situation isn't nearly as fun as being paranoid and delusional, so by all means carry on. :)

@Gun Barrier
I could see playing a subscription based game if the game itself was free, but I refuse to buy a game and then pay again just to play it. That'd be like saying "Well, I bought this DVD for $15 - but I have to pay $5 every time I want to watch it"

@BxGT
Microsoft isn't an ISP. I have no clue what you're talking about.

@AoE
I'll agree with you half way - being able to play locally is at least fair. However, I'm not a fan of games that only support local multiplayer via system link - it's far more work (on my part) than plugging in a second controller and playing split screen. And, honestly, it's far more fun when your friend is sitting on the couch next to you and you're both using the same TV. But, then again, by not supporting split screen, developers can sell more copies of games, so there's no real incentive for split screen anymore.

And, I'm guessing I'm not the only person who thinks this way - Sony clearly is banking on this idea by having PSN be completely free. But, whatever, you guys enjoy spending $40 a year to play the games you own - I'll be buying an extra game instead.

@ducttapeBigSexy,

Right there are plenty of split-screen games too. I was only pointing out that games that can be played over xbox live can ALSO be played over local network (or services such as xlink kai), since you seemed to be under the impression that you had to, as you said "buy a game twice" to access its multiplayer features. I enjoy split-screen myself, and there are many great xbox titles that support this, I'm playing through OneChanbara with a buddy currently in fact :)

There are still plenty of games that support split-screen however, and you'll find a full list at co-optimus. But split-screen disappearing as a feature in games certainly isn't a problem specific to any one console. To whit, Killzone 2: no co-op, no split-screen; and this is a AAA flagship first-party title.

It's $2.50 a month unless you're not a very shrewd shopper. Get over it. Do you complain that the cable company has different programming tiers and has the audacity to charge you for internet, TV and telephone? Maybe they should just give it all to you for free since you expect MS to maintain Live for free. For the price of a cup of Starbucks every month, Live is a bargain. Your loss.

@AoE
Okay, that's a valid point and I'll accept it. Actually, thanks for the heads up about Co-Optimus :) And, yeah, I don't mean to pin this all on Microsoft - I'm not happy that split screen is disappearing from PS3, too. One of the excuses I've heard is that split screen can't be done because games today require too much processing power, but I'm not buying that for one minute. The N64 could do 4 player split screen, and it's a heck of a lot less powerful than the 360 and the PS3.

@marauder800
And PSN is $0 a month. I'd say that's an even better bargain.

@ducttapeBigSexy,

Yeah, I can't stand the excuses for lack of split-screen either, it seems like because there's an online component developers just get lazy and drop co-op. I don't buy it for one second either. The truly shameful thing is sometimes when they do bother to implement it, they fuck it up still! Halo 3 for some unknown reason has 2-inch black bars on all sides of the screen when playing co-op! That's the only mode of that game that has any value for me, and they ruined it. And Although I appreciate Capcom adding co-op split-screen to RE5... the way they're doing it really irks me... I feel like i'd need a 60" screen to feel comfortable with the way they're breaking it up...

If gears of war 2 can support splitscreen then so can other games (easiest example in my head, there's probably many others ;)

Its more a budget constraint than a power constraint. Seriously, I hate the lack of split screen. Its just so much more fun.

After two years of Wii-only online game play, even $50 for a fully functional online gaming community is a small price to pay for this recent convert.

Though I agree, finding the $40 and $30 varieties are much more palatable.

Hmm.. I wonder what's going on. This, plus the several brick and
mortar price cuts makes me think that something is about to happen..
Like they want to sell XBL Gold to anyone willing to buy it while it
still costs money.

Or, that in today's economy, non-essentials, like subscription based services, tend to be the first to go from consumer budgets?

Though, I like your idea more...

My bet is adoption rate to system sales is slowing and they see this as a good way to boost live membership. Cause $50 a year from 8mill (400) is not as good as $40 from say 12 (480). Plus MS is probably betting on the fact that people on gold, spend more on XBLA content.

dang, my account just automatically subscribed me for another year, i would have used my silver account.. I lost my memcard recently anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered.

Hope it stays that way, but I bought the 12 month chat package with PGR4 and the chat headset & keyboard. I like the keyboard. So I don't feel too cheated if the price drops.

Unless the revenue gained from Gold Memberships decreases drastically over the next couple of years, it' here to stay.

As long as there are enough people that don't see anything wrong with paying to access something they already paid for (the console's interface and individual game) Microsoft will continue.

my Free month is up in a week or 2, now $30 was tempting at the various stores I seen the last month or so but damn if $39 is tempting. I'm still going against paying for access to play Gears 2 online. I REFUSE!!!

I know right, fuck that extra $9.

...buy yourself 1 extra meal at taco bell per year instead.

I dont even LIKE Tacos and I know that they menu consists of shit for less than $4 so what you talkin bout???

point is I dont thinkCross-game chat is worth it. I mean hell thats the ONLY thing XBL has over PSN. when will y'all get that??

yea I agree it is stupid. God forbid Sony try to do it with the PS4, I'll just stop gaming on consoles altogether

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Limited-time Xbox Live Gold price cut for Silver subscribers

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