Topic: The everything Xbox thread

@Eel
With $120 we can buy both vanilla version of Pokemon Sword and Shield. 😂

Not after taxes!

Perhaps just one of the games plus the DLC and some snacks.

To be fair, it could very well be a plan to both kill interest in Gold so people move to GPU (and have an excuse to get rid of Gold), and get as much money as possible out of the people who stick with it while it lasts.

Well it would not be free, it would be tied to Game Pass.

It has been reversed and Gold requirement for free to play games is being removed:

"
[UPDATED on 1/22/2021 at 8:52 PM PT]

We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold pricing.

We’re turning this moment into an opportunity to bring Xbox Live more in line with how we see the player at the center of their experience. For free-to-play games, you will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play those games on Xbox. We are working hard to deliver this change as soon as possible in the coming months.

If you are an Xbox Live Gold member already, you stay at your current price for renewal. New and existing members can continue to enjoy Xbox Live Gold for the same prices they pay today. In the US, $9.99 for 1-month, $24.99 for 3-months, $39.99 for 6-months and $59.99 for retail 12-months.

Thank you."

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/01/22/update-on-xbox-live-go...

Ah they didn't wait at all. Normally companies would wait a few days before the "you spoke, and we listened" act.

Anyway, yay. I suppose!

That's one way to generate good press I guess. Do nothing, and people are happy anyway!

Lol they genuinely reversed it because people complained? What kind of weirdass business strategy is that? Did they expect people to praise them for the price increase?

Bad marketing strategy i guess.

I suppose the removal of the F2P paywall is the biggest gain from this reversal. It's something that should have happened a long time ago. Anywho, I suppose my enthusiasm for PSO 2 NG is back on. And I look forward to purchasing an XSX...whenever I'm able to get one at msrp without leaving the house.

2023...maybe, if I'm lucky.

@Dezzy They probably saw the backlash spread so quickly that it was comparable to the E3 2013 Don Mattrick mess. People cancelling subscription renewals, credit cards/Paypal being removed from Microsoft accounts, gigantic increased interest in PS5, etc.

@Grumblevolcano Microsoft leadership wouldn’t get info like subscription cancels and PayPal being removed etc in real-time, given how quickly the change was it was social media driven backlash/cancel culture.

I thought I saw on Twitter the new $60 for 6 month Gold subscription cards in shops. If I can find them I’ll link them. It would seem odd if these are real, that Microsoft would mass produce retail subscription cards at the new price if they were doing this for a PR stunt - so I’m leaning into the whole thinking that someone or multiple people at Microsoft actually thought this would be a great idea and never imagined the huge backlash.

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of people buy into Xbox and PlayStation for one or two annual games - COD & FIFA/Madden so they wouldn’t be interested in moving over to Game Pass.

I don't remember what happened there?

I think it's when they announced that the Xbox One would be online-only, and that its physical games would be permanently tied to the console that first used them? And the forced kinect integration?

I remember some people being kinda insulted by the notion that if you don't have a permanent stable online connection, then you're probably not part of their intended audience.

@Eel @Dezzy Yup, that was it. All the DRM and always online related stuff, which resulted in a less than favorable first reception of the Xbox One, and which basically enabled Sony to overtake them.

Funny story: Sony had actually planned the EXACT same thing, even right to the point of having a mandatory camera included, but when they saw the backlash that the Xbox One launch created, they quickly removed that camera from the standard bundle, enabling them to cut the price, and the rest as we know, is gaming history.

@ThanosReXXX is Series X selling well?

Because as far as I know the DRM on it is the worst one yet.

You need Internet connection after installing any game even from disc.

If it is selling better than the One I guess people do not care much about that anymore.

@ThanosReXXX

Yeah I remember responding quite negatively to it. The always online part especially was such a terrible idea.
I have places inside my own house that can't even receive a good internet signal, even though my internet is really fast.

@Dezzy Yep, it was probably one of the worst Microsoft presentations ever, besides the Windows 98 blue screen of death disaster...

@Zuljaras Well, it's continuously sold out, so that should already tell you something.

Besides that, the online disc check was only ever a minor offender in the whole Xbox One launch disaster.