Why do we pay for Live?

[jacobf5]

Some may say that the server we get is better than that of PlayStation Network, however, i still personally don't think it's right that we are paying to play online, whilst over at PlayStation they get it all for free! PlayStation do have a lot of failures with the server though, which is supposedly why it's just free, but should we have to pay for the online gaming experience on our Xbox 360s just because it's faultless?

 

[BlackSolaris]

I would think that the reason is exploiting that mentality of "if it is expensive, then it must be worth it". And a lot of people don't see that Xbox Live is bad, specially because of the customer support (or the lack of it) and the ads everywhere.

 

[sillylucy]

I hate that fact that you need Live to use some of the apps. The Crackle app is FREE! I can watch Crackle movies for free on the web, but if I want to stream them via my xbox then I have to get Live. Ugh, so annoying. I am ready to hop on Playstation with hacks and all. I love my xbox, but then I hate the whole Live system. I hate how they don't really do anything when you report other users. It's a weird system.

 

[Dleeven]

I understand where XBox Live is coming from, but I don't think we should have to pay for it, considering that other consoles and platforms don't have to pay for the online services. Look at PC gaming too, we don't pay to play online. We pay our internet bill, but that's different. We shouldn't have to pay twice to play online. An MMORPG subscription is not the same, because you're paying the gaming company, not the ISP, or OS provider.

 

[alycat32]

I hate it as well we have a playstation but do most of our game play through Xbox. It's lame that you can play for free on playstation but we need a live subscription to do the fun stuff on Xbox.

 

[Murray]

For a long time its felt like I've paid to have access to Netflix but now I don't need the Xbox to do that. If my buddies keep using it for multiplayer gaming then I'll keep getting live. I'm not all that romantic about using it for much more than Netflix and multiplayer games though.

 

[alycat32]

That's what I feel like I use my devices and consoles for the most often is Netflix and Hulu. If it wasnt for the fact that our friends want to multiplayer ( as does family half way acrossed the country) with us, and we need live for that we'd not bother with it at all. We normally only have a live subscription half the time.

 

[Esperahol]

I understand where XBox Live is coming from, but I don't think we should have to pay for it, considering that other consoles and platforms don't have to pay for the online services. Look at PC gaming too, we don't pay to play online. We pay our internet bill, but that's different. We shouldn't have to pay twice to play online. An MMORPG subscription is not the same, because you're paying the gaming company, not the ISP, or OS provider./

1.) Sony is charging for PSN + with the coming PS4.
2.) PC gaming with an online component is one of the more expensive ones - Blizzard charges a substantial fee per month, whereas Live is one fee of 60 bucks for the year.
3.) As I said an MMORPG subscription is worse than what a Live subscription for the year will cost you. And it is less understandable since it isn't dealing with the same level of security, people, diverse activity or number of requirements. Xbox has to host hundreds of different games which all need support teams and server space and monitoring for years at a time. It also hosts a store and the little bonuses you get for purchasing new or in advance.

 

[purpleguardian]

I only really still pay for it because of Netflix and as someone else said I don't really need the Xbox for that anymore so I don't really see why we have to pay for it still, I never liked the idea from the beginning tbh.

 

[alycat32]

We actually ran into this issue again earlier. My son wanted to watch Dr Who on Netflix, so I put the Xbox on the Netflix app, forgetting you need live for it. Pffft! So we walked downstairs and watched it on playstation. Such a weird thing.

 

[Landshark]

I think of the Xbox being similar to a smartphone. I mean both devices can do a lot without the internet, but people buy data plans for smartphones in order to access stuff that's online, including free services like crackle and netflix. It makes the experience better overall.

Remember that Microsoft is making a profit with the Xbox while other competitors are not (with their consoles). In a sense, while it seems like you shouldn't have to pay for Xbox Live, realistically the business model that allows the console company to make a profit requires these incentives to buy into the paywall (XBL Gold subscription). Without these type of paid subscriptions and incentives (netflix, crackle, etc requiring XBL Gold), Xbox Live wouldn't be the world leading gaming network and we wouldn't have 300,000 servers for the Xbox One.

 

[Bigbenny]

Finally there is someone who is bold enough to talk about the elephant in the room (it's not an elephant alright maybe mouse but all the same) I don't think we should pay for playing online, it doesn't make sense at all and like you have said it should totally be free stable servers or not.

 

[Brad]

I have a playstation and the servers are all complete failures, ddosers constantly, lag and just general hacks and everything we got hacked xbox didn't so obviously xbox have better servers.

 

[StingerNLG]

Finally there is someone who is bold enough to talk about the elephant in the room (it's not an elephant alright maybe mouse but all the same) I don't think we should pay for playing online, it doesn't make sense at all and like you have said it should totally be free stable servers or not.

Then who pays for the stable servers? There is a reason Sony is now charging for online play. Because they, and publishers, cannot afford to do it themselves.

Besides the fact that your 5 bucks a month (which is all this amounts to) is helping invest in the overall infrastructure of Xbox Live and helping developers/publishers get top rate dedicated servers at a much lower cost, you get many more apps in XBL than you do the free PSN.

For example, while PSN does offer these:
Amazon Instant Video
YouTube
NetFlix
NHL
MLB
Hulu Plus
Crackle
CinemaNow
Vudu
Epix
Crunchyroll
Neon Alley

And a couple of apps Xbox Live doesn't, XBL has all those above AND:

AOL
CNET
Comedy Central Stand-Up
Dailymotion
ESPN
Fox News
FoxNow
GameSpot TV
Gametrailers
HBO Go
IGN
iHeartRadio
IndieFlix
Last.fm
Machinema
Manga
Maxim
MTV
NBA Gametime
NBC News
Nickelodeon
Paramount
PopcornFlix
Redbox Instant
Rhapsody
Slacker
Syfy
TMZ
NBC Today
Twitch
UFC
Univision
Verizon FIOS TV
VEVO
WWE
WSJ Live
XFINITY


So there were a ton more apps, a TON more.

 

[Soku47]

I honestly don't mind paying for Xbox Live, as it does seem to offer alot more options then its other competitors. Also, even though the Playstation network is free, it seems to be more buggy and not an overall better experience then Xbox Live.

 

[StingerNLG]

I honestly don't mind paying for Xbox Live, as it does seem to offer alot more options then its other competitors. Also, even though the Playstation network is free, it seems to be more buggy and not an overall better experience then Xbox Live.

Not to mention on the PS4 online play will no longer be free.

 

[SiNAR 212]

Not to mention on the PS4 online play will no longer be free.

Still alot of people I have talked to have not heard of that news yet. Its going to be a rude awkeing on launch day when they go to play GHOSTS or Killzone and that message pops up. Spending a non-planned $50 bucks after $460 already....would make me mad. Thats me though lol.