Vergil Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 52 minutes ago, POEman553 said: I'm somewhat surprised that Microsoft reversed course this quickly. The next thing they need to do is make online multiplayer on Xbox 360 and Xbox One free, but this may be a 'throw the baby out with the bath water' situation and they can't. Either that or sunset Xbox Live Gold altogether and have Game Pass Ultimate be the only way you can get it. Plus, you get access to their library too. They will never do it. Nor Sony nor Nintendo. Its just too much money to give up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ZitMeatloaf Posted January 23, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 23, 2021 This whole thing reeks of being a false sale stunt - raise the price, then lower it back down to the original price to make people think they're getting a discount. Also, I don't understand why some people are giving Microsoft kudos for reversing course on this. They deserve criticism for bringing the idea up in the first place, not props for allowing things to remain the same. "Hey, I was going to punch you in the face. Now I've decided not to." "Wow, really? Thanks! Kudos to you!" 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJxx66 Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 26 minutes ago, ZitMeatloaf said: This whole thing reeks of being a false sale stunt - raise the price, then lower it back down to the original price to make people think they're getting a discount. Also, I don't understand why some people are giving Microsoft kudos for reversing course on this. They deserve criticism for bringing the idea up in the first place, not props for allowing things to remain the same. "Hey, I was going to punch you in the face. Now I've decided not to." "Wow, really? Thanks! Kudos to you!" this is exactly what it is. And then on top of retracting the price increase for gold they announced that FTP games will no longer need Xbox live gold? Yea 1000% a stunt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozalia1 Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Best to not attribute this to being some conspiracy by Microsoft to give themselves promotion, good rep, or whatever. You don't just damage your rep this badly and quickly on a stunt like that. The positive news of them finally allowing free to play to be free will all note their efforts before this which caused them to do the change. Many people are simply not going to forget this and I've seen people, anecdotal granted, say they are regretting they got the Series X/S or if they don't have one, considering if picking up a Series X/S is wise considering the people behind this attempt are still present in the company and clearly will still want Gold killed/prices increased. Ultimately though Microsoft is last place in whatever metric you want to use. Units sold, games sold, profit, interest, whatever. As such they have little reason to actually tell us the real story on this. It is possible that what some people think, that someone above Spencer (2 people above him at Microsoft) ordered it and he had no choice but do it, and if so it likely means he'll be taking the bad rep and blame for it too. It certainly does appear to be a very strange move for him to do considering all of his efforts to gain Microsoft positive PR all this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St-Lonit Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 they will try again later when there will be a bigger thing to worry about, it's the game industry's way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matttrent101 Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 7 minutes ago, Lonitx said: they will try again later when there will be a bigger thing to worry about, it's the game industry's way I absolutely agree. They wanted to do a big sweep of extra money but now they will do heaps of little price hikes over the next few years. I think they had no intention of actually having the price go up. I think they wanted to see the reaction of what it would be before they do it for Game pass. Now they know what is too far they can do it in smaller steps and people will probs complain but still pay it. Just my 2 cents 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordguwa Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 120$ year is too much if they needed to raise the price. they could've done it more modestly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milanbarca82 Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 (edited) Testing the waters, eh Microsoft? It's absurd how many fall for the corporations trying to be your friend tactic. There is no need to celebrate them for this, they just want your money. "We always try to do our best for you" Yeah, right ? Edited January 24, 2021 by milanbarca82 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightVege Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 In regard to Sony potentially trying this, I don't think I've ever paid full price for PS Plus anyway. I just get a discounted year's subscription for around $30 from sites like Eneba in Nov/Dec, and I've never had a single problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecnal1 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Ms got scared of customer leaving for other platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluefalcon2210 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Can't say I'm surprised they went back on it but they are doing everything they can do to get people to sub to gamepass so I wouldnt be surprised if one day they got rid of Games With Gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 "Pro-consumer" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gruffiiti Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 100% a marketing play. Micro$oft PR aren't stupid they knew if they put out a statement with an insane jump in GOLD price it would get everyone's attention and give them a platform to maximize their audience. By putting out a "We were wrong and we are listening to you" message to the community they are appealing to the emotional side of marketing and the biggest reason we as people buy what we buy. The more we as consumers believe a company has our backs, the more likely we are to support them and align ourselves to their cause. I see this as being phase 1 in a marketing campaign to try increase their user base at the start of this next gen console launch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreakon13 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 (edited) I genuinely don't think it was a stunt. They wanted to raise the price as a way to "encourage" people to switch to Game Pass, got an exceptionally bad response to it, and changed course. You could argue they did it to gauge the reaction for future price hikes, but it wasn't a ploy to generate any kind of positive PR with their retraction IMO. It's not the first time they've tried to push something too soon or too aggressively and changed their mind... see: wanting to charge money for Games for Windows Live when it first launched, the Xbox One announcement/disc drive fiasco, etc... most of which hurt their image long term, and culminated to a lot of their good will generating the last few years. This one is just a little weirder, because they did put all that effort into their image recently. They're dumb, they don't seem to run these plans through any sort of PR test before announcing them, they'd try to get away with murder if people didn't call them out on it and people should probably remember that... but they do listen to feedback. For that much, I say kudos. Edited January 25, 2021 by Dreakon13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaivRules Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 4 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said: They wanted to raise the price as a way to "encourage" people to switch to Game Pass, got an exceptionally bad response to it, and changed course. I would love to be in any room when someone suggests, "We really want to show people how good this one service we offer is... so we're going to double the price on this other service we offer that has some over lap. That'll really sell people on how good this one really is!" It's almost worse if that's in any way similar to the way anyone in MS was thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreakon13 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Just now, DaivRules said: I would love to be in any room when someone suggests, "We really want to show people how good this one service we offer is... so we're going to double the price on this other service we offer that has some over lap. That'll really sell people on how good this one really is!" It's almost worse if that's in any way similar to the way anyone in MS was thinking. I think it was less about making Game Pass look appealing, there's enough rumble around about Game Pass being the "best deal is gaming" to take care of that for them... but more making Gold look unappealing. Like, why spend $120 for a year of Gold, if I can spend a little more and get all of Game Pass with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaivRules Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 1 minute ago, Dreakon13 said: but more making Gold look unappealing. I don't think that's any better a stance. That substitutes incompetence for arrogance. "If we double the price on this, that's not going to piss off people because they already love us, they'll have to find another way to stay with us and then we'll have this other thing ready for them to buy." All I would be thinking (and do think whenever a company has a drastic price increase) is: "It's only a matter of time before they drastically increase the price on everything else. Better have an exit strategy!" Any company that makes the decision that their products are in more demand than they want and so their best decision is to double the price, instead of making people understand why their other product is a better value is a company that doesn't deserve whatever supporters it has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreakon13 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 (edited) 7 minutes ago, DaivRules said: I don't think that's any better a stance. That substitutes incompetence for arrogance. Which has been the reason for a few of Microsofts missteps over the years IMO. Which also seems to happen every time Microsoft has something to hold over their competitors. They got bold with charging for Games for Windows Live because it worked on Xbox and having Windows chokehold on the PC marketplace, before Steam completely took over. They got bold with the Xbox One announcement with the Xbox 360's early lead/strong performance throughout its generation. They got bold with their pricing strategy when they see Game Pass selling consoles and it being something Sony is struggling to compete with. I agree it's a lousy, embarrassing plan though. Plans that Microsoft have had before and totally will have again sooner or later. Edited January 25, 2021 by Dreakon13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnuR10Ly Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 I can't believe MS actually requires gold to party chat with people. Thats literally paywall to be able to talk with your friends. But yea pro consumer company.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigma999 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 They at least backed out in their decision to double the price thanks to all the backlash it was storming about that increase and for good reasons. People spoke , they have seemed to hear at least. Let's see what they're next move will be to "benefit" the consumers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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