Microsoft on Xbox Live Price Rises

Craig Davison, Senior Director of Xbox LIVE Marketing at Microsoft has explained the reasons behind the price rises for Xbox Live membership that came into play with the Xbox 360 update yesterday.

Essentially the rises, which see UK Gold membership up from £4.99 to £5.99, but were more wide ranging in the USA, Canada and Mexico with a one month membership moving from $7.99 to $9.99; three months rising from $19.99 to $24.99, and 12 months from $49.99 to $59.99.

Says Mr Davison, "As you can imagine, the costs associated with maintaining a service at that level and making sure all of those features are consistent, we're hitting that quality bar, we're adding the customer service infrastructure necessary, we're accommodating all of the same social features and functionality too, there's a cost. Infrastructure costs, of course. And we're continuing to bring more and more content."

So, it's infrastructure? Not totally, "In 2002 it was strictly multiplayer gaming. Now we get those Call of Duty map packs before anybody else does. We've got Gears and Halo, of course, as exclusives. We continue to get exclusives on the service as well. And we've gone from 400,000 members in our first year to 25 million."

So, it's exclusives? Not totally, as Mr D' explains, "So, during that time, we've definitely got to fund it, and we want to add more and more and more. ESPN is a great example. No extra charge for Xbox Live Gold members. But we want to continue to bring that content in. We also want to continue to innovate on all dimensions, whether it's social, entertainment, or gaming. So there you go."

So, it's add-ons? It's all three actually. It's also the first price rise since 2002.

Full interview at Gama.