So they're are going to charge me for the game to try it out and then make me pay $15/month to play? That is INSANE. Their website FAQ makes it clear there will be an upfront cost of the game. What this charge will be is unclear.
You should be able to downloaded and try this for free for X days. No question. To make you BUY the game to try it is a disgrace when a monthly fee is also attached. Even WOW and EverQuest figured out how big a scam that was. Both can be downloaded and tried for completely free. It's been that way for YEARS. I could even live with a 7 day trial, but DO NOT charge me for the privilege to try your game.
If they do charge it had better be only for the disc copies of the game and it had better be just enough to cover the disk, packaging, and shipping of each disc, plus any fees they might have to pay Sony/Microsoft for the console editions . The MOST they should charge upfront is $20. Period. A penny more and they're ripping people off.
Charge for the add-on and expansions later because then people know what they are into and if they want to continue. If they make the cost of entry so high and no one joins, they can't blame Microsoft or Sony. They can only blame themselves and their predatory pricing.
@ohjtbehaaave @mlavinder It doesn't bother me. They are giving customers what they want one way or another and it is a positive change. I just think the timing is convenient for them, but transitioning to real currency has to have all sorts of legal and financial complexities. They have, essentially, been selling a fake currency. The exchange rate of points to money will vary from country to country. They are trying to get it right and it probably won't matter. Someone, somewhere is going to sue them over this saying they were ripped off during the transition.
My point wasn't they're lying to everyone but that the timing is as good as it is going to get for Microsoft.
@ohjtbehaaave I don't think this is related to E3. Windows Marketplace exists now for mobile and Windows 8. It makes sense to basically make Windows Marketplace the engine for the Xbox Marketplace and that uses real currency.
Honestly, I think this is just Microsoft simplifying things for itself and running one store instead of two.
@sladakrobot @frylock1987 @1blackone Interesting. Microsoft now has Windows Marketplace which sells stuff for Windows Phone and Windows 8 using real currency. So whatever this guy is referring to has probably been taken care of in the last few years, making it easier to sell Xbox games using real currency.
I am not so cynical about the whole thing. My guess is we will be buying games through Windows Marketplace on Xbox360 and Xbox One in the coming months, whether in name or function. It doesn't make sense for Microsoft to run 3 or 4 different stores.
There is whaling and gnashing of teeth from Sony fanboys as Xbox One sells better than they expect (the word "morons" will be quite popular to describe Xbox One owners in comments and on forums).
Wii U is still a dud.
This generation will be decided in 2014 and beyond, not this year. Count on it.
@victorcom We know they are both sold out. We don't know how the back orders stack up. What is clear (and I suspected as much) is the the Xbox One is not a flop. People are kidding themselves about how poorly it will do. It is like 2001 and 2006 over again. I can wait for the next Xbox so we can do this all over again.
That said, I'll be surprised if Sony doesn't win the holidays with a $100 cheaper price point. Microsoft could always throw in free games to sweeten their deal, but in the end, $100 is a lot and many people (especially parents) will reach for the cheaper option.
Has it occurred to anyone that family sharing was the reason they did the DRM?! Frankly, I am glad to see family sharing gone because it means the DRM is truly gone.
Everyone was and is so busy accusing Microsoft of doing this just to rape gamers that no one has thought about what the real reason for the DRM was. They had to be looking for SOME sort of deal from publishers, so dropping it means something HAD to go. In the end, the DRM would have sucked for gamers, but no matter what you think about why they did it, they did it to get special treatment. Not just to screw people over (that was just a side effect).
No doubt, Microsoft thought they could make more money if they offered all digital sales and family sharing. The publishers wanted stronger DRM to accept that.
Microsoft's mistake was believing that stuff mattered at all to gamers, but digital sharing is never going to happen without insane DRM. That's what publishers require to accept digital sharing.
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