Microsoft Games Division (XBOX) and Your Wallet

Pointing out Microsoft's flaws has been low hanging fruit to grumpy geeks everywhere for almost a couple decades now, and it doesn't look like Microsoft (or the grumpy geeks) will change any time soon with the complete technical and marketing folly that Vista has been. Despite this, it is Microsoft's relatively young games division has rapidly become the worst of the bunch. The first Xbox was a test bed for their Xbox Live! multiplayer service, and it was far beyond anything that had been on a console at that point. It was a unique feature at the time, and users had to pay a premium for it. It was a relatively simple service, that was relatively ad-free and reliable.

Today, Microsoft has the Xbox 360 and it is difficult to argue that it hasn't been a success. It took about six months before we saw decent games, but they did arrive, and the titles coming out today are both plentiful and relatively high in quality. The games are now roughly $10 more, but gamers everywhere timidly accepted the claim that games simply cost more to develop these days. But the real coup was Microsoft's marketing of the revamped Xbox Live. Somehow, in SOME way, they were able to convince average Joe console gamer that it was OK- that it was worth it- to pay $50 for an online service- a service that is entirely peer to peer after the match is started. This results in quite a number of serious issues, such as unbalanced play (whoever is the host has a 0 ping), very limited player counts, and overall lag. This is simply not right, and it is sad that so many gamers happily fork over the cash to fuel the fire that is the Gold Subscription model of Xbox Live.

To make matters worse, a recent post by Xbox Live's Major Nelson demonstrated that they weren't done. Free demos are now going to be delayed for Xbox Live silver members. The most interesting aspect of this story is that they attempted to spin it into sounding like an advantage for the Gold members, and not surprisingly a huge number of gamers ate this up with a grin from ear to ear. It is this group of gamers- a group of people that have a mindless and unwavering loyalty- that will cause Microsoft's marking department to get bonus checks a bit larger than usual this year. As easy as it is to hate Microsoft's gaming department, it is difficult to consider them anything other than genius.

The nickel and diming doesn't end there, however. Microsoft still charges a fee for your avatar (a little JPEG), "themes" (wallpaper for your Xbox GUI), and even a fee to modify your username. What's worse is their insistence for the end-user to pay for downloadble content, such as small packs of expansion maps. It started with horse armor, but now it has become ridiculous. Not only should this be free, as it has been standard since online gaming really caught on with the PC, but it also segments the player base. In other words- both those who DO buy the maps, and those who DON'T get SCREWED when a fewer amount (or no amount) of people use this multiplayer content. Some content has been ad supported, but further attempts have been squashed as free content from one publisher (Epic) obviously makes the rest (Ubisoft) look bad.

The games already went up by $10. The volumes have been incredibly high. The service is STILL peer to peer. Enough is enough. The solution to all this would be the following:

1. Remove the tiered service. One tier, one price: $0.00. Support the service with ads (which is going on already, despite the fact that gold members are paying for it).

2. Support ALL DLC with ads. Segmenting the player base doesn't do anyone any good. It has been proven time and time again that multiplayer games with longevity have SALES with longevity. Epic knows this, but Microsoft refuses to believe it.

3. Treat your customers with some respect and dignity, instead of cattle lined up for slaughter.

But what ultimately has to happen is the player base needs to wake up. The problem is that the majority of them are either too young or too new to online gaming to know any better. Do not support nickel and diming, and eventually they will stop. However, if you continue to blindly hand over your cash, they will take it every time- and then ask for more.