Microsoft has a pretty solid reputation for monetizing anything they can and so far, they’ve stood pretty firm on the issue of Xbox Gold costing us money. The carrot they’ve dangled in front of consumer so far has pretty much been the “online multiplayer” carrot. If you want to play online multiplayer over Xbox Live, you need an Xbox Live Gold account. With the recent announcement that Games For Windows Live is moving to a free online multiplayer model, a player of some of the cross platform Xbox 360<->PC games has noticed that he can now play those same games online on his Xbox 360 using his Silver account. While some folks are excited that this might mean the end to “for a fee multiplayer gaming,” I’ve got a much more down to earth explanation of what’s likely going on here.
The way I see it, there are a few likely scenarios, not the least of which is Microsoft simply making a mistake. I mean really, if they simply went down a list of the Games for Windows games and flipped the proverbial bit that makes them playable on Silver accounts across the board (instead of simply on the Games for Windows platform) who would notice? I mean really… I’m having a hard enough time believing this guy’s story because I doubt there are enough people out there PLAYING those games on the Xbox 360. I mean really, who plays Shadowrun, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition, or Universe at War: Earth Assault? Out of the three, Lost Planet has the best Metacritic scores and it’s nothing to write home about.
This leads me to my 2nd most likely scenario… Microsoft is “all about choice” remember… they’ve said it MANY times, when hocking HD-DVD to us instead of Blu-ray, then when switching their directive to digital downloads instead of Blu-ray. They’re all about choice… as long as we choose what they’re offering. Well, maybe this is a test of theirs… to see if consumers really want free online-multiplayer. I mean really, I can see it now; in two or three months, as we head into the holiday game season, we’ll see Aaron Greenburg crap out a quote like “We’ve given customers the chance to play online multiplayer games for free and you know what? The overwhelming majority of them wanted to support our for-fee model in Xbox Live Gold. How can we argue with our customers supporting us like that? They have a choice and they chose Xbox Live Gold.” I think I just puked a little bit in my mouth simply MAKING UP that scenario.
For the folks getting excited over the possibility of Xbox Live multiplayer going free, I would ask you what in the hell would you have left to tempt you to pay if you could play online multiplayer games with Xbox Live Silver? Netflix’s upcoming sub-DVD quality instant move streaming? Getting demos sooner than your multiplayer-mooching Silver friends? Simply having “gold” in the name of your membership? People fall for crap like that, don’t laugh too hard.
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Keith K // Jul 28, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Rothbart, you just don’t get it. Don’t you realize that if Sony charged for online multiplayer, that everyone would get a free BT headset? Developers’ own dedicated servers would be immune to malfunction. Champagne would flow from the heavens and booth babes would celebrate our every point and victory from the comfort of our own homes!
You get what you pay for and paying for online multiplayer makes you 1337! Get with it man!
2 Zakupilot256 // Jul 28, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Aaron Greenburg makes everyone puke in their mouth a bit.
3 Legendary Hooligan // Jul 28, 2008 at 12:36 pm
good rant, all very good points. unfortunately, we informed gamers can’t control the minds of those uninformed people who will unwittingly provide financial support to the greedy methods of corporate America.
4 KillYourFM // Jul 28, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Rothbart, always love your rants, but can you come with a few varieties of the phrase “I mean, really…”
5 Sean "Rothbart" Workman // Jul 28, 2008 at 1:08 pm
@Keith K… it’s kinda ridiculous to equate “Pay PSN” to “Everyone gets a free headset and developers will give a damn”. I wouldn’t make that leap…
@KillYourFM: That’s your ONLY complaint? I mean, really… I would’ve expected something a bit more substantial.
6 KillYourFM // Jul 28, 2008 at 1:42 pm
@Rothbart: Well, I’m low on my caffeine I.V. drip - my only major complaint atm is leveraged at Sony. At least Microsoft doesn’t make us PAY for Demos. (I’m looking at you Qore)
7 andyg // Jul 28, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I honestly think what we pay per year for XBL is not that bad at all… The one month free cards give you an idea if XBL is right for you, if its not, you don’t have to pay for something you wont use…
Plus, c’mon, a 12+1 month card is 49.99… that’s the equiv. of $3.85 a month… Plus if you hang out, you can get an overstock.com or amazon.com deal for $35 for those cards. Only thing i disagree with is having a gold membership and having to pay for non-community gamerpics, themes, and also seeing ads… We should only have to pay for community created content if that community wants money…
Also, if Gears of War wants to put their map packs out for free, let it be free for gold members…
8 Sean "Rothbart" Workman // Jul 28, 2008 at 4:21 pm
@KillYourFM: They make you pay if you want them sooner than your free (Silver) service… how is that any different than Qore? If you waited, you got Naruto for free. The Qore versus Live fee is a silly misplaced argument. Really… it is. Qore doesn’t represent some missing segment of PSN, it’s a digital magazine, plain and simple.
9 Canibal Duk // Aug 3, 2008 at 3:25 pm
yes please
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