Xbox Live Silver Accounts Nerfed
- Scribbled on December 6th, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Microsoft Xbox 360, Press Release, Xbox Live Marketplace
It was an occasional penalty for free Xbox Live Silver accounts, but now, according to Major Nelson, it’s policy:
All free stuff on Xbox Live Marketplace will be delayed one week for Silver accounts, while paying Gold accounts will get it immediately.
Microsoft probably feels that there should be an advantage to owning a Gold account aside from online multiplayer, and is nudging Silver Xbox 360 owners into paying the $50/year to get to the next tier.
Some questions: for those of you who reside in the Silver account tier, is having to wait a week for free content enough to convince you to pay up? Is it annoying, despite what Nelson insists is not Microsoft’s goal? And if there’s Silver and Gold Live accounts, are there any Bronze ones?
December 6th, 2007 at 2:41 am
“Xbox Live IS free, everyone! It’s silver! You just need to bend over this table, and we have a deal!”
December 6th, 2007 at 2:54 am
Well, it’s a delay of a week for FREE stuff. You don’t have the delay if it’s paid stuff.
Here’s the real question: will Microsoft waive the waiting for Bringing It Home? Bringing It Home is awesome — it helped me feel like I was at E3 and the TGS and ComicCon.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:25 am
Microsoft needs to rethink their LIVE service or it’s going to stall and die. MSoft is trying to move it over to PC, where gaming on-line is already free and has already been. I shouldn’t be paying for this content. Especially when Steam is doing everything their doing, and better now for free! I only hope that they realize that and then the free moves to XBox. They cane make all the money they need to by providing a forum and advertising, no need to dig their nails in to us as well…
December 6th, 2007 at 7:21 am
The major flaw here is that they are taking something away that was already there for Silver members.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:14 am
They’re not taking anything away. They’re just delaying it.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
And it is free… So you know, don’t expect much… Which is a shame, as the console environment seems to be how best to rip off your customer base, on the PC side all these things have to be given away or your base revolts…
December 6th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
It’s not “ripping off”. It’s just giving priority to people willing to pay for the privilege.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
It just seems that way to PC users, I guess…
December 6th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
PC users also spend twice as much, minimum, on their system than 360 owners.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
[...] they’ll sell the new map pack for 5 Microsoft Points so everyone gets it at the same time. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
April 29th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
[...] excitement, this will be a good chance for Silver members to experience the Gold experience, aside from not having to wait a week for free content. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]