Yep. It only makes sense if they had a high subscriber count to offset the huge revenue loss from dropping gold. 10 million subs with gamepass is not going to cut it and especially hearing it's not profitable atm
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MS: "No plans to change Xbox Live Gold"
- Thread starter Theorry
- Start date
In that case, Microsoft would just be setting up a dark pattern to usher users to a more expensive subscription by hiding the existence of a yearly sub from its communications with users. That is a level of cynical deception that I would not expect from them.
If they can convert a large chunk of those into Game Pass subs, they still retain the revenue stream while giving an advantage over Sony and Nintendo when it comes to paid online (they already have the cloud save advantage). Anecdotal, but some of my PC friends who ditched consoles because of that paywall are raising an interested eyebrow at the possibility of MS dropping it. They said that would help get them back as fans of online MP titles.
They will probably keep it as long as there are enough people paying for it to make it worthwhile. Although they may evolve and change what you get with it.
If for example, they have 15 million people paying $60/year for Gold that are choosing not to upgrade to game pass, they are not going to decide "You know what, we really don't need that 900 mil in revenue.
If for example, they have 15 million people paying $60/year for Gold that are choosing not to upgrade to game pass, they are not going to decide "You know what, we really don't need that 900 mil in revenue.
You could argue it would push people to PS that much easier as well.
From working with various retailers under similar circumstances, there is a communication system whereupon the cards at purchase are activated via network with the card issuer (in this case Microsoft, Sony, AMC Theatres, TGI Fridays, whoever), and it's synced with their system and at that point it becomes valid.
Before then it's just a hash of numbers that's blocked off.
So to begin with they might block off a million, ten million codes etc. Print cards, distribute them to partner retailers. At this point, the retailers are not charged at all. It's just a value add to be a part of that network (eg; customer might come in to the store/visit site to buy something else, and decide to buy a card too, or come to buy a card, and buy something else while there, win/win).
Then if/when a card is purchased, the code for the card is entered into the network connection with the card issuer, and activated, and then that retailer is on the hook for their portion of the card price back to the issuer (95%/99%/100%) of sale value, deals vary.
Unsold cards, stolen cards, lost/destroyed cards have zero value, they are just numbers on a reserved but worthless block until sold/paid/activated.
I said I didn't understand why they'd leave all that money on the table in that other thread and seems like MS agrees.
You don't drop a sure thing for a maybe.
You don't drop a sure thing for a maybe.
That all makes perfect sense. Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me.
Stop making sense ! Sony really doesn't have anything to worry about in the end.
They should charge you every time you turn the console on, just giving away free money for zero advantage.
No gold might mean they earn $2 billion instead. That's why they would do it but whether the numbers add up, only Microsoft know.
I agree that it would be great is at least f2p stuff no longer required Gold, but it would be weird if they increase the price from $60 to $100 a year while removing one of the things included in Gold.They would be asking people to pay more money for something that has become less valuable.
And that a price increase to $100 a year would push that to a billion and a half per year. Pretty healthy increase if they can get people to accept it. It would definitely go a long way towards shifting how shareholders view their Xbox business.
If enough who are Xbox loyal see the light with GP, having their Gold converted, and then choose to reup, that's going to pay huge for MS down the road. Discount purchases from the store of course, but microtransactions in their ecosystem from games on GP. Expansion with XCloud and all that brings, their newfound success branching into PC like they never have before with first party. They might easily see those numbers made up with this path. Who knows.
They want to solidify Gamepass as the top service, like Netflix. They'll know what numbers they have to hit and whether they are on the right trajectory to pull the trigger on axing Gold. Time will tell.
No problem :) I should add that I have no real opinion on the subject in this thread other than a loose feeling that it's unlikely for MS to give up so much easy money, but wouldn't rule out some kinds of reorientation on value and services to some extent.
One thing that can and does happen with cards already distributed but not activated is that with changes to their issuer, they can become unsellable. I've seen this with certain monthly and minutes plans for cell phone companies, where they get bought out, the plan details change, etc. Directives are sent to retailers, but sometimes they don't get pulled from the sales floor or websites on the customer facing side. Then when someone attempts to purchase them, it just rejects the sale because the network authentication of the purchase on the issuer side can't complete the activation for a plan/code that is no longer offered. This is more common with stores like Dollar General, but I've seen it happen at Walmart, Target, etc from time to time as well.
I do more back-office stuff, but following the whole bigger picture is kind of interesting to me.
Because they never said anything about the thing people want but for some reason many think the thing is going to happen? It's to the point where it didn't happen and so many will be pissed when they never said anything about it.
Anything could happen and changes could be made but they're essentially saying it's here to stay and you have people saying nah this thing is still happening even if you say it's not.
MS Insiders like Tom Warren and Jez Corden are basically unofficial MS PR. They don't know anything MS doesn't want them to know but occasionally they overstep and make a bad prediction. In this case, they were totally wrong about online being free and should just take the L.
Ohhh, true. I keep forgetting about the removal of the one year.
It's not impossible that they are talking this just for confuse us and then surprise everyone, expectations are already setted anyway.
But, in my opinion (which is not as relevant as the marketing and business team's opinions), it would make more sense to just remain silent about this, even if we already know the possibility due to insiders and other hints, everyone would go crazy after ending the paywall.
Let's wait, something might change for sure.
But, in my opinion (which is not as relevant as the marketing and business team's opinions), it would make more sense to just remain silent about this, even if we already know the possibility due to insiders and other hints, everyone would go crazy after ending the paywall.
Let's wait, something might change for sure.
I dont think anyone will roast Microsoft more than the other companies for this, but it does kinda make sense that the focus might be on Xbox Live Gold since thats what the rumor has been about after all, and people might have expectations to changes for Xbox Live Gold, but not for PS+ and Nintendo Online.
My thoughts exactly. Hopefully we will know sometime this month.
Well, other companies didn't discontinue their one year offer to play online, so the current situation (aka Online play more expensive on Xbox) is on them.
To me it's Gold not required for F2P
Stretch goal. Gold not required for online if you have Gamepass. Gamepass Ultimate has xcloud so that's a swap
Stretch goal. Gold not required for online if you have Gamepass. Gamepass Ultimate has xcloud so that's a swap
The thing about the one year is truly bizarre. As noted, the 1Y plans are still widely available from partner retailers and etailers. They could be cancelled by the issuer on demand at any time, because they are not distributed on a prepaid basis, but are just codes with zero value until sale and activation.
But they haven't, as of yet, been pulled even from the largest sites and retailers around, which just leaves us with a truly mysterious, inconsistent situation.
The problem with MS insiders to me is that they're also basically mega fans, so they overhype everything to a crazy degree so even when MS just has a "good" conference you still feel massively let down
Looking at Sony's financials, they made $670 million from subs this past quarter. That's over $2.5 billion every year. MS is probably half that. I just dont see MS getting rid of $1 billion in revenue, and no you just cant make it up elsewhere. This is sheer profit. The cost of running XBL Gold services is pretty much nothing. The store pays for itself, third parties pay for their own servers or do P2P, and party chat is also P2P. Cloud saves servers dont cost millions of dollars.
I really dont see them losing out on their main source of profit on the eve of the next gen console launch which is bound to lose money while also supporting Gamepass which is also losing money. All for what? To please Era? I just dont see it.
I think this is a stealth price increase. 3 months is $25 a month which makes this a $100 a year service. Doing it this way is an easier pill to swallow than announcing a $40 increase in price.
I wouldnt be surprised if Sony also increases the price again.
I really dont see them losing out on their main source of profit on the eve of the next gen console launch which is bound to lose money while also supporting Gamepass which is also losing money. All for what? To please Era? I just dont see it.
I think this is a stealth price increase. 3 months is $25 a month which makes this a $100 a year service. Doing it this way is an easier pill to swallow than announcing a $40 increase in price.
I wouldnt be surprised if Sony also increases the price again.
Yeah, thats also a good point. I wonder why they dropped the 1 year subscription if they're going to keep having Xbox Live Gold as before. I'm looking forward to see if there will be any changes or not.
I'm expecting they'd allow f2p games, also
Insider mumblings have pointed to it being rolled up into GP.
Anyone expecting them to drop it completely (after this PR) somehow is just being delusional imo.