MS Points now sold in $5 increments

by Richard Mitchell on Apr 9th 2010 4:13PM

Do you smell that? Can you taste it? That, dear readers, is the sweet taste of freedom. In more exact terms, it's the taste of never being forced to buy extra Microsoft Points again. The problem with Microsoft Points has always been summed up pretty accurately by the age-old hot dogs vs. hot dog buns debate. If you wanted to buy a 400

($5) Xbox Live Arcade game, you were forced to buy 500

from Xbox Live Marketplace, leaving you with 100 nearly useless points. And let's not even start on the inexplicable fact that 80

is equivalent to $1, making the whole process that much more confusing.

Thankfully, at least part of that has been rectified, as tipster Chuck points out that Microsoft is now selling MS Points in increments of $5 through the Xbox Live Marketplace on Xbox.com and through the console itself. Previously, the only way to get exact dollar amounts was to purchase physical point cards at a retailer, but not anymore. As evidenced above, users can now buy points in 400, 800, 1600 or 4000 point bundles, coming in at clean $5, $10, $20 and $50 price points. That's right, never again will you have to purchase some stupid gamer picture just to spend those spare points on something.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, is a good day.

Tags: microsoft, microsoft-points, ms-points, xblm

Reader Comments (57)

SWEEEEET SWEEEET JUSTICE SWEEEEET JUSTICE INDEEEEED

Yeap.. now when the next CoD map pack comes out, people will only get screwed by Activision, not by microsoft's point system. :P

A good day, indeed.

I'm happy. I was tired of buying points in odd increments.

I've been doing this through Zune Marketplace for ages.

Same here.

I'm glad they added the 800 point option. Now I don't have to use Zune.com and buy 400 points twice.

Still the same crappy totals for us Canadians.

Not to mention the price gets jacked up because our dollar is worth so much less than the American dollar...ohhhh wait.

Here's what Marketplace on xbox.com gives me at the moment.

Xbox LIVE 500 Microsoft Points bundle - $7.25
Xbox LIVE 1000 Microsoft Points bundle - $14.50
Xbox LIVE 2000 Microsoft Points bundle - $29.00
Xbox LIVE 5000 Microsoft Points bundle - $72.00

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Even your song sucks.

Despite the fact that the different between the CAD and the USD is .005

Extortion

you also failed to check how much the usd to cad conversion was and out dollor has been up in the 90's for a while now their is no diffrence for the past few weeks for the cad vs the usd so really it should have reflected on their for cents so befor you bitch about the price because were in canada you should bitch why it happens to be out dollor is just as much as their yet were paying a 2 3 dollar mark up

Not to bash anyone, but this happens to come out within a week of the MW2 maps coming out. I know of a person who had to spend 20 for the 15 dollar maps. And he ended up buying some CoD stuff for his avatar. So that sucks that they do this now.

Kind of how they banned all those people after ODST came out... :/

Well he could have just left those extra points in his account and waited until the next DLC pack was released.

why didnt he buy a 5 and a 10 like me?

Same goes for us UK gamers. It's still 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000 and same amount...

It's about time.

Excellent!

Now they have to allow us to 'gift' points and content to others from within the dashboard.

i.e. I'll be playing a game that has a map pack and I'm playing against a nephew... it's 2 am and he doesn't have a credit card... I should be able to directly buy him the content or transfer points. That would be cool... if not just to give someone a quick gift.

gifting points used to be possible. they removed the feature somewhere along the line. here's a link to the original announcement:

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/12/23/give-the-gift-of-points.aspx

I'm pretty sure they took out gift pointing because if you steal someones account you can just gift out hella points to friends and yourself. It was prolly abused that is what i'm saying.

if you want to gift DLC and points, it's easier via Amazon.

Amazon.com > Movies, Music & Games > Video Games > Xbox LIVE

I've done that a few times before.

So, how long until the MSP model goes out the window and they just take plain-old money?

We will never get rid of Microsoft points, That is unless your willing to get rid of the contest they have on the dashboard and winning prizes for 1 V 100. Its a legal thing so that under-aged gamers can win money.

I weep, weep, weep for joy! My tears of joy flowing down my arms and onto my Xbox 360 controller as I peruse the Xbox Live Marketplace for content. As I wipe away the salt, I think I will finally buy I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1

Not that I don't approve of this change, but was it really that big a deal? Unless you're convincing yourself that you just made your Very Last Purchase every single time, there's no reason not to just hold on to that extra hundred.

These points are money. Yes, they're more like a gift card, but it's one you're going to keep refilling out of your own pocket. If you're pissing them away on "some stupid gamer picture" because you have a need to zero your balance, you should really consider re-examining your financial priorities. Or seeking treatment for your OCD, whichever.

you kind of don't know if it's going to be your last purchase. what if your xbox kicks it and you decide to try out the PS3?

As well, why would someone give them money that hasn't been spent yet? Do you give any other company money for services or items you have not received and don't know if you will receive?? It's ridiculous!

Plus, on a large scale it's just bad financially, that money is worth more to me in my bank (collecting what little interest it will) than MS's bank, where they collect interest and invest with MY money.

They can have my money when I make a purchase, and not before.

Is it just me, or does the one point seem to be missing from this article?

i.e. that they knocked a penny off the purchase price.

Why would anyone NOT just buy numerous 500 point packages now? Even miniscule savings are savings.

You're still paying sales tax on these points. Or at least, anyone in Texas is. The stupid thing is that you won't know how much tax you're paying until you get your credit card statement. No receipt from Microsoft will list the sales tax on it.

Hey MS, how about making it cheaper to buy larger quanties of points? Not saying I'll do it. But I'd be better off if I knew I was going to spend 1600 points to buy 400 points 4 times instead of 1600 points at once. Yes, that's a whole 3 cent savings, but still...

But what do I care. I usually buy points when Best Buy has them on sale so I can get Reward Zone points.

dont say that, next thing ull see is a heavily upped 400ms price but the 5000ms price will be the same. there, that is your incentive they will say with a smirk on their faces

I would like it if MS Points were like PSN purchases -- you purchase that number of points when you buy a game. If you want more points, you buy it in those incrediments.

And can we please end the practice of XBLA Deal of the Day being for Gold subscribers only? Yes, they buy their membership for $50 a year....but giving them a discount on a game is not an incentive. How about the discount for the game be FREE and Silver members get a reduced purchase price?

Great, terrific, awesome. Now when can I use real money like a fucking adult?

If I could, I'd sit here up-voting you all day. At least Sony allows me to pay in actual dollars.

its not what you do, its the way that you do it, that's what gets results! (Works for B&Q anyway (p.s. that is a UK reference, if ur not in UK you prob wont get it))

MS has lost so many sales from me because I've refused to play their micro-transaction game, so this is good news for them.

The point is, the whole structure is still misleading. There is no reason for them to equate 80 points to one dollar except to confuse people to the point that they're not sure what costs what anymore.

Nice to see, but I was never bothered by it...I've bought MS points on at least 20-25 occassions, and it's not like the points ever expire.

I've got to say that I think the whole MS Points and Wii Points thing is kind of silly. I'm a much bigger fan of the way Sony does the PSN, where items are sold using real money, and aside from a minimum $5 per addition of funds there are no levels, so you can make a purchase for $7.39 and not have to worry about change.

Finally

Now give us a 1200 ms pts for $14.99 option, microsoft.

or better yet make an option to buy $5 - 100 worth of MS points, $1 = 80 pts anyways...

Had the same 200 MS points for a year now, and its starting to tick me off. Though, thankfully I now can just buy two 500 pt packages and POOF - Shadow Complex is mine with NO points left over. :D

And hopefully xbox.com takes paypal... lol

Um this is the first time XBOX LIVE is offering 400 MS points but the Zunes website has been having 400 MS points since it launched. When I want to get content without going over to much I log into Zune and buy it that way. Zune also has 1200 points for $15 bucks as well as 2000 ($25) and 4000 ($50)

How do I get to this "Zune"?

Go to zune.net sign in with your passport account which is the same one that's tied to your gamertag.

What the hell? I never understood this complaint. So what if you have 100 extra points? Here's a thought: instead of spending them on a gamer picture, how about saving them so that you can eventually use them on something you actually want? You could, you know...use your four 500-point purchases to buy five 400-point games.

I swear, some people just love to bitch.

Here's the complaint. I know it's hard to understand.

Imagine if I go into McDonalds and want to buy a Cheeseburger for $1.09. I go ahead and do that but then I'm told before I can buy that cheeseburger, I need to buy a $10 McDonalds Gift Certificate since they don't trust my real money and prefer to have their own currency. I then sigh heavily, say fine, and start to move on with my life. But now that Cheeseburger has forced me to buy $10, just so that I can spend $1.09. Now why would this never, ever, ever happen in the real world? Because people simply would not stand for it since it's a system forcing you to buy more than you want to spend.

Why do gamers love to bitch about this? Because the only place to acquire MS Spacebucks in an even denomination as supported the bulk of the marketplace is at a store. Which means if I want to buy an 800 point game, I have to get up, drive to a store, and pick up a card to pay for my digitally distributed game. That is, in fact, over the rainbow levels of retarded.

No, it's still an idiotic complaint, and your McDonald's analogy is flawed, for two reasons: one, you are not being forced to spend ten times as much as the item costs; two, unlike (I hope) with McDonald's cheeseburgers, 360 owners generally seem to make purchases on the Marketplace often enough that the extra points are bound be be used up quickly.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be better if they just allowed us to purchase things directly for exact amounts. What I am saying is that the degree to which it's annoying does not justify the high level of gamer whininess on the subject. It's a minor irritant, and nothing more.

Some people don't like that feeling of "wasting money." I don't. I don't like having left over microsoft points. Congratulations to you for being superior.

"Wasting money"? Get serious, dude; the money doesn't just vanish. That's like saying you "wasted" eighty cents because you used two ones to pay for a $1.20 item.

Soon enough, the extra points add up to a full purchase for which you don't have to buy more points at all. It's not that big of a big deal.

There is a reason why I put it in quotes. Alright, I'm tired. You win. We're all wrong, someone will mail you your prize shortly.

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MS Points now sold in $5 increments

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