Reactions to word that LIVE users would be paying a price increase for subscriptions as of November 1, 2010 is already causing an expectantly vehement reaction around the Interwebz – if you need to check a bit of that out for yourself you can pay the Major’s post a visit.
It’s easy to have a kneejerk reaction to the announcement, there’s never a good time to ask gamers for more money – especially when the cost of gaming seems to offer the impression that many could be eventually priced right out of the industry. Coming up with an honest and appropriate cost breakdown of what LIVE offers takes a bit more time and depends entirely on whether individuals derive any use from the features Microsoft feels entitled to more money for providing.
And that’s really what should be emerging out of this news, questions about whether an increasingly wide breadth of features should be turned into packages tailored to different needs and priced accordingly as opposed to the one size fits all plan that has gotten us this far. For instance, if we’re being asked to pay for usage increases Kinect may cause, I might like the option to opt in or out – I don’t expect clarification or price plans of course given that a mass exodus from the service is highly unlikely.
For now you can catch the pricing details as they affect Canada, Mexico, the United States and the United Kingdom after the break, and as always let me know what you think about the news.