Xbox Live subscription prices to rise; $60 for 1 year beginning in Nov. [update]

by JC Fletcher on Aug 30th 2010 12:26PM

As if to balance out the news of Nintendo's DSi price drops, Microsoft has announced via Major Nelson that the cost of an Xbox Live Gold membership will increase starting on November 1 in the US, Canada, Mexico and the UK.

In the US, a one-month Gold subscription will rise for $7.99 to $9.99; three months from $19.99 to $24.99; and a full year from $49.99 to $59.99. Check Major Nelson's post for price changes in other regions.

If you want to extend your Xbox Live membership without paying the new higher costs, you have two choices: 1) you could renew your subscription for one year through Xbox.com for for $40; or 2) load up on prepaid subscription cards, like, now!

Update: Microsoft has informed Joystiq that the $99 price will not change for the Xbox Live Family Plan, also launching this November. So that's suddenly a better deal.

Source: Major Nelson

Tags: microsoft, price-hike, pricing, xbox, xbox-live, xbox-live-gold

Reader Comments (351)

WHAT A TWIST!!!

@PR0F3TA

I was planning on finally buying a replacement 360, but i think i'll stick to my PS3 and PC if this is how they treat their customers.

@PR0F3TA

Yeah... oh well, least it seems like the general census is people hate this change, from what I gathered on the source post, though there's still a couple of peeps slurping on a certain thing and preaching that its for our own good...

@Hooch I don't believe you. Every time a game company makes a move that its consumers wouldn't like, there's always a few people that comment, saying "I was a loyal customer, but now I'm accepting that the competition is indeed superior" as if you're hoping it'll dupe actual customers into following your lead as part of some mob retaliation mindset.

I could be completely wrong, but a quick glance at your previous comments would imply an anti-Xbox sentiment. And this price hike is hardly something to get upset over. If you're reading Joystiq, odds are that you know that these subscription cards can be bought for almost half their retail price on a regular basis.

@Hooch

I really liked that comment. My words exactly!

@stubby boardman - Short of accusing others of an anti-MS agenda (some surely have one, but others are just genuinely outraged) I'd say that MS is giving people plenty of controversy to rail on them for.

I can't understand why Microsoft would raise the price on Live right on the heels of what seems like a failed PSN+ service from Sony (it's surely a failure based on popular opinion; Who knows if it is based on economics). I realize that XBL subscription cards go on sale (and I've never paid full price for one) but this will inevitably raise the price on those sales by ten dollars or so. Any increase in price without an equivalent increase in functionality is troubling. It's as if they're increasing the price just because they can.

It's a good thing I bought a couple extra cards during one of the 30 dollar sales I guess.

@BananaBoat It's not like I'm happy about it. but as Copa said a little lower on the comments list:

-FREE Netflix Streaming! (free is calculated as $0 + $120/year for Netflix subscription)
- FREE ESPN3 Service! (assuming that your cable company has already paid the licensing fee for ESPN3, which means you don't need your XBox to view it)
- FREE VideoKinect! (Because the best way to roll out s family-friendly hardware peripheral is to bundle it with ChatRoulette)
- FREE LAST.FM! (Think Pandora, except after every two songs they crank up the volume so that Major Nelson can scream at you about some XBL promotion for 15 seconds)
- FREE Facebook/Twitter Integration! (LOL, the jokes just kind of write themselves now)

$10 for that seems fair

@stubby boardman

I think you only got downvoted because they didn't read the fine print.

@stubby boardman
Yeah, you must be careful when you TL;DR. People who didn't want to read all that probably thought you were serious.

LOL Why?

This is why I never touch my 360

@Solace ditto. any game that i want and is third party and is online is an auto-PS3 buy for me.

@Solace Same here.
I like to turn my PS3 on in the morning. Not that I want to play the PS3 in the morning, but by the time it's done updating and installing.. who knows!

@edoglost
I think you may have some kind of steam-punk contraption with a ps3 logo.
That or an old Macintosh II.

@Manifest37
It's true

@edoglost

The PS3 makes me want to be more social simply because of that very reason. I once intended on playing a quick couple of games of MS Pacific Rift with some buddies, but unfortunately once I booted up the game it decided to download a mandatory patch that took about 45 minutes to download and install. Thanks Sony for sucking heavy nuts when it comes to software updates.

On topic: It's cool that software updates don't take forever or brick your console on the 360. It's not cool that it now costs $60 a year simply to play games online. :( Aren't they getting enough of our money already? Games cost $60 a pop new, Live already cost $50 a year, and now the standard price of arcade titles has shot up to $15, sometimes even more. Cut us some slack, please! Give us some free shit to compensate!

@edoglost

It is true, I agree. When my XBox360 downloads an update for a game, a bar flashes across the screen in less than five seconds, and the game restarts.

When the PS3 does it, it downloads for 5 minutes, shuts down, restarts, and then a 5 minute installation begins. I have no clue what the machine is doing during that time, or why it takes so long. The people saying you're crazy are either fanboys, compulsive liars, or both.

That all said, this new price point for XBLA is a load of crap. PS3 wins this round.

@Solace

Given how drastically the sales gap between the PS3 and 360 has eroded in the last 16 months and how few noteworthy exclusives Microsoft currently has in the pipeline for the next two years, now REALLY isn't the time to raise the price one the one feature many people find to be a selling point; remove LIVE! completely from the equation and the 360 doesn't have all that much going for it at the moment. Then again, the company seems to have developed a severe case of ADHD with how it wants to handle the system and it's developing the same amount of hubris Sony did at the beginning of this generation so we all shouldn't really be surprised at this announcement.

@greyseal
Sorry if my comment pissed people off.
I thought it was a good opportunity to reference a Mitch Hedberg joke.

No one likes to pay for stuff. I understand that.
Personally, I would rather pay for a more reliable service.
My 60gig PS3 was bricked by a firmware update, and Sony's reaction to my problem has left me a little sour.

@Lambrick

That's stupid. I actually like playing games online with my FRIENDS more than strangers, so that's why online games are always bought on 360 for me.

My 360 Friend List- 60 people
My PS3 Friend List- 8 people

And the ones I play with most are on the 360. I would never trade my friends for a strangers. I don't even think any of my friends on the PS3 have been online in at least 6 months. Also, none of my 360 friends own a PS3.

@edoglost
LOL Why?

This is why I never touch my PS3.
@Solace ditto. any game that i want and came out years ago on the Xbox and is online is an auto-PS3 buy for me.

@jackal

Well I use my PS3 for gaming and Blu-Ray, my iPod for music, my TV for ESPN, and my PC for Facebook, video chatting and basically everything else.

If I owned a 360 instead of a PS3, why would I pay for extra content I don't really need my console to do? I want it to play games. Period.

A TRUE GAMER CONSOLE SHOULD NOT CHARGE YOU EXTRA TO PLAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

And now they want to charge $10 more? It's a small increase, I know, but it was already $50 that I shouldn't have to pay to begin with.

@greyseal

When a patch installs, the bar zips (or takes a minute if it's a big patch/ multiple patches), the patch installs, and the game begins. You must be referring to a firmware update 'cause that's the only way your scenario makes sense.
Your single isolated experience has pushed you into ignorance.
Please pay $60 to continue.

@edoglost

I thought it was hilarious, but it seems too many people are so serious.

I got it.

@ItsameMatt03

Thank you.

This is how I honestly feel about playing the PS3.
http://comedians.jokes.com/mitch-hedberg/videos/mitch-hedberg---baked-potatoes

@edoglost
That potato thing was actually funny but only because you used it first.
Seriously, this guy's pretty weak. I get the feeling people are mostly laughing at him.

Now here's funny & it's relevant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8KG-YfVe38

@jackal

As revealed in other articles, Live is the primary way that Microsoft makes up for losses on 360 units. Live is Microsoft's great big cash cow that just got bigger.

Ok... WHY!?

Why? You're asking WHY? The better question is how can you afford not to spend $60 on this amazing array of services!

- FREE Netflix Streaming! (free is calculated as $0 + $120/year for Netflix subscription)

- FREE ESPN3 Service! (assuming that your cable company has already paid the licensing fee for ESPN3, which means you don't need your XBox to view it)

- FREE VideoKinect! (Because the best way to roll out s family-friendly hardware peripheral is to bundle it with ChatRoulette)

- FREE LAST.FM! (Think Pandora, except after every two songs they crank up the volume so that Major Nelson can scream at you about some XBL promotion for 15 seconds)

- FREE Facebook/Twitter Integration! (LOL, the jokes just kind of write themselves now)

@copa What he said. The service is completely worth it no matter how you break it. Don't be cheap people. It's better than paying monthly to play one game online..

@NasalBaton
Me thinks somebody never learned about sarcasm in their younger years.

@Entegy

LMAOOOOOOOOOO @ copa

Awesomeness

So, and I think I'm just realizing this thanks to the comments in this thread, but the ESPN app thing for Xbox is really just ESPN3.com.... thru your Xbox? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA wow watch 1000s of games year round, 98% of which are jack shit craptastic sporting events unable to reach ESPN 1 and 2 audiences. Wow Microsoft. Wow. And I still rememebr reading the comments here back during E3 after the announcement "sweet! there goes cancelling my cable service! Don't need that any more!" Smh...

Al we need now is Vcize in here defending this.

@copa
How convenient its right before the launch of a major console exclusive.
Yes, XBL is awesome, but for $10, I better not have to see any more effing adds for Dr.Pepper or the ARMY or any other BS POS I don't want.

You'd think with them integrating advertisements into more places in the dashboard that this cost would go down.

@Softserve
Well, since Kinect is so cheap, they have to recoup the losses somewhere else, right?

@Softserve

Yeah, it's not like other publishers will be charging for Online games either soon...

@Haggard
Well played, sir. Well played indeed.

@Softserve
Yeah. That's why I stopped playing my Xbox and told all my friends my PC aliases.

@Softserve: It'll be interesting to see the response when PSN starts charging for online multiplayer.

@MGTrey

Charging more from what? Free?

HA! They are crazy!

@Mika101
THEY'RE CRAZIER THAN ME

Thought it would go down and not up.

You're doing it wrong MS.

@ArcaneAltair

Yea. I'm out.

@ArcaneAltair
Why? You do know something about inflation don't you? When has ANYTHING gone down in price? I view my XBL subscription as I would my other utilities. $60/yr? No problem. Like the extra 83cents per month its going to stretch my wallet.

@Fermie Prime

$50 is too much in the first place, I can barely justify it as it is. I only use it for multiplayer functionality, and even that I rarely use. On top of that I just finished putting together a new gaming rig, so all multi-platform games are going to look better there anyway. Basically, I'm just tired of paying, this just gives me one more good reason to quit.

@WiredKnight
Then shut up and cancel your XBL subscription. Vote with your wallet and maybe Microsoft will listen. Like I said, if 83 cents per month is the difference between having XBL and dumping it, you either have a budget that is tighter than an emo dude's pants, or you have unrealistic principles concerning economics.

On the one hand, now I'm glad I just bought a discounted 12 month membership card. On the other hand, this is pretty ridiculous. I've got to bite the bullet and install Windows on my Mac; this kind of nonsense makes me realize why I've always been a computer gamer first.

@Maxathon
Same goes for me. My mac is running smoothly with windows. Make sure your windows side is big enough, specially if you're going to use STEAM THAT IS FREE... TO USE! FREEEE!

Oh well; here's my money. You definitely know what price elasticity of demand is all about.

@(Unverified)

Kudos for economics knowledge :3

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Xbox Live subscription prices to rise; $60 for 1 year beginning in Nov. [update]

Reader Comments (351)

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:28PM PR0F3TA said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:50PM Hooch said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:00PM DevilSei said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:26PM stubby boardman said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:28PM Hayatoblaze91x said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 2:16PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 2:50PM stubby boardman said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 8:25AM ShadowXIII said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 9:00PM s1l3n70n3 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:28PM Solace said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:30PM Lambrick said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:34PM edoglost said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 2:17PM Manifest37 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 2:31PM edoglost said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 3:10PM Liquidfingers said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 3:42PM greyseal said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 4:21PM jackal said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 4:42PM edoglost said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 5:17PM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 6:08PM The Pie Piper said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 6:38PM wallywallas said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 7:21PM Manifest37 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 8:01PM ItsameMatt03 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 8:18PM edoglost said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 5:18AM Manifest37 said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 12:36PM kentuckyfried said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:28PM Entegy said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:03PM copa said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:48PM NasalBaton said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 2:22PM jtrjuwrue5iiejie5ijeie3i5 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 2:51PM Co said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 6:15PM The Pie Piper said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:28PM Softserve said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:44PM Haggard said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:02PM Hooch said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:41PM DWells55 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 2:01PM Themoreyouknow said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 2:58PM MGTrey said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 5:10PM philmcfail said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:29PM Mika101 said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:09PM Hooch said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 12:29PM ArcaneAltair said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 1:46PM WiredKnight said

Posted: Aug 30th 2010 5:11PM Fermie Prime said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 5:37AM WiredKnight said

Posted: Aug 31st 2010 10:59AM Fermie Prime said

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