I have been an Xbox Live subscriber for the better part of the last decade. I’ve always shrugged off the suggestion that the service should be made available for free; people are more than welcome to take that position, but I’ve always been personally fine with paying. I’ve found myself rethinking that position over the last week, and a lot of that is Sony’s doing.
Since starting out as a service intent on delivering nothing more than online gaming, Xbox Live has expanded to offer a lot more — namely streaming video, streaming music, and video chat. As the number of extras has grown, the price of Xbox Live Gold has also increased from $50 per year to $60 per year. It’s worth noting deals can be had throughout the year on one-year Live subscriptions for roughly $35, so it’s not as if you’re necessarily paying the price of a new game for Live. Still, $35 is nothing to scoff at, and it’s a lot of money to pay when my needs can be taken care of elsewhere for free.
