Gaming News: Why Xbox Live Gaming Should Be Free For All

At the Gamefest 2008 event on Tuesday, Microsoft announced that all Games for Windows Live multiplayer features are now free. These features — including multiplayer achievements, matchmaking, cross-platform play with the Xbox 360, GFW voice chat, and more — previously required a GFW Live Gold account. The change is effective immediately and across all GFW titles, both past and future. 1

No other player could compete with the Xbox for overall value and it would put huge pressure on Sony to do something more then be the high end player. If Microsoft offered Xbox Live for free and then added an option to buy an external Blu Ray player for HD movies and gaming on the 360 they why buy another system besides some exclusive game title? 2

The basic argument is that if Xbox Live Gold memberships were free, instead of $50 per year, Microsoft would have a lot more online players, which they could sell advertising against, which would make up for the loss of revenue. Plus, playing multiplayer online games on the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii is free, making the Xbox the only major console that charges for the privilege of playing online ? Reisinger makes the argument that Microsoft would sell more consoles if online play were free. 3

Xbox Live enables Xbox 360 users to find each other and play against (or cooperatively) online, if they pay for a “Gold” membership. All Xbox 360 users are given a free “Silver” membership that enables them to log on, exchange e-mail with one another, view game statistics and download games and movies, demos, trailers and tv shows (though most of the content outside demos costs additional money to get). 4

So what does Microsoft need to do to right the ship and really turn things around? Announce that all Xbox Live memberships will be free and all gamers can play online without a hitch. It’s radical, for sure, but it’s the best move Microsoft can make right now. 5