| Rant | When Xbox Live Goes Down On The 29th, MS Will Earn $1.6 Million |
Talking on his own blog, Xbox’s Major Nelson has said that the Xbox Live service will be down for up to 24 hours on the 29th “in preparation for the new Xbox experience which will be available later this fall.”
On Monday, 9/29/2008 from 12:01 AM PST for up to 24 hours, Xbox Live will be offline for maintenance. As a result, Xbox LIVE and the ‘My Xbox’ section of Xbox.com will be unavailable, and the Xbox forums will be in read only mode (you won’t be able to post.) The remainder of Xbox.com will be available with limited interruptions.
This got me thinking. Last time Xbox Live went down, we got Undertow, and a whole lot of fanboyish and dumb arguments discussions on the price of Xbox Live. Microsoft have the only console with which you have to pay an annual subscription, to unlock many games full services.
Many people argue the point that just 1 day of down-time costs me, the user, around $0.20 (£40/365 and converted to USD via google). As it’s such a tiny amount, making a fuss about it would crazy and I need to STFUAJPG.
But then I thought about it from a different perspective, and I used maths.
Rough estimation (i.e. my estimation based on the most recent figures I could find) sets the number of paying users of Xbox Live to at least 8 million.
$0.20 x 8,000,000 = $1,600,000
It’s a very rough estimate, but it looks like Microsoft will be earning well over a million dollars, even when you have no access to their services. Which makes me feel just a little bit cheated out of my money. And I’m already non too happy about paying the price of a full game once per year and still not being able to have a reliable service (See CoD4).
Anyone else out there feeling deserving of Undertow 2?
Via: Dtoid
[As pointed out to me by P3t3Y, $1.6 million is roughly the same as 130,000,000 Microsoft points, 80,000 copies of Castle Crashers or 162,500 copies of Mega Man 9 (that's more than 14.5 million Mega Mans!)]
|
|
ur a fucking dumbass, get over urself, dont be such a nerd that u cant leave live for 1 day, so what if microsoft is gunna make 1.6 milli? how the fuck does that affect ur day? it doesnt they’ve given u great games and a great platform and a great online experience which they are trying to make better for U, stfu
Thanks you “so stupid”
Arseholes like this is what keeps the flamewars alive. All this sh!t is going to do is get the PS3 fanboys to talking sh!t and create another pointless fanboy whin-a-thon.
John “wardrox” I agree, just STFU and do so more math by could on a scale from 1 to 1 billion how jacked up your life must be for you to think this sh!t up. Additionally, using the math that you are using it’s 13 cents per day.
NOW GO FIND A GIRLFRIEND.
@Vavoom: Google tells me it’s still $0.20, but I’m converting from UK Pounds to US Dollars, I think that might be the confusion.
Also, I would STFU(AJPG), but this is why I made this site. So that I, or others, can have a little shout about the things that annoy us, hence the name. It’s also why I’m happy to let people such as “So Stupid” have their say. If I’m having a bitch about something, and somebody bitches right back, then we are having some kind of, admittedly loud and often unproductive, discussion.
Also, how do you expect me to level up in “Dinosaur King” for the DS if I’m out meeting girls? hmm!? :P
MS could just not upgrade the service ever and there would never be any downtime. Would that make you happier about the situation?
This is a common occurence and is an upgrade to the service. They also announced it in advance. Perhaps you should go complain and make articles about how your ISP makes a crap load of money when they are down for half a day. I bet you pay your ISP almost as much over one month as your Xbox Live subscription for a year. You do have high speed internet right?
What the hell? He has no girlfriend because he does math? If you don’t like what he says, argue the point instead of drawing weak parallels that likely reflect your own problems… And by the way, I’m pissed that microsoft makes money for doing nothing too…
Since when is microsoft giving us anything but a reaming? You losers up there with your flamewar bullshit, go fuck yourselves seriously.
I can’t believe this blog was posted to bitch about 1 day and .20 If this annoys you then you need to take a serious break because this is a joke. You spent your time to come up with a figure and you got a game system in your home? Wow.
All you did was calculate the total revenue they will be making for that day. Revenue does not equal profit.
Profit= Revenue - Expenses
You only got one part of the equation right. They are taking in 1.6 million dollars. There is a cost to providing a service. They don’t shit out money and pay for the cost. The revenue covers all the expenses of providing the service and whats left over is profit(what they actually make)
By the way can you give us the figures when the ISP service which you pay monthly vs a year cost us consumers when they say the service when down because weather. Oh wait what about Directv and Dish.
Dude seriously, did Microsoft molest you as a child? Do you ever hate on Sony for stupid piddly shit like this? You are such a fanboy phony its just pathetic.
Do us all a favor and go wait beyond and don’t write anything else you think about the 360 or Microsoft, just play with your BS3 and pretend there is no Xbox 360. The stuff you write is just fanboy fodder.
well u know what i think those guys just didn’t have anything else to say, so they chose to go after the writer instead of MS. this is true that MS is getting paid off every customer that they have and if i was just giving someone free money then i would be angry as well. now for those who do not mind just giving money away then to each his on but in this case MS is not giving a choice here their just doing what they want….and people plez learn how to debate……
@Darkie: “Do you ever hate on Sony for stupid piddly shit like this?”
yes :)
Bad idea writing this article.
You just made the 360 fanbrats cry.
This is clearly some pissy PS3/Wii fanboy bullshit. This aint cool. Microsft needs to make a profit. XBOX Live is the numba 1 online gaming/social service out (besides Myspace). Microsoft deserves the money, they have earned it. PS3 and Wii online services are no where as gud as XBOX Live and to be tha best its gonna take effort, when u put in effort you get rewards. Your also complaining about it being shut down for a day!!???? Well go do sumthing LIKE BEAT YOUR MEAT!!!!!
You idiot they are probably spending more upgrading xbox live than they are making having it down for a day.
Retard…
But everyone should realize what they agreed to when they paid that $49.99. I’m fairly certain that in the user agreement that includes down time and what not.
If anyone here thinks that MS needs our subscription fees to run Live, think again. They make money from every piece of content downloaded and from charging a premium for advertising space. They probably charge the devs to have Live features in their games. We already pay our ISP’s for bandwith and it’s our 360’s that are the servers for the games we play. Live is just a big network hub.
Live is churning over a ludicrous amount of cash and it’s pretty rude that they charge us for it at all. What was the last huge profit MS were bragging about?
All Live offers that PSN doesn’t is in game chat and more lag in games. PSN counters in game chat with up to 6 way audio or video chat. PSN also goes offline for a few hours a few times a year but it’s free.
I think the point that you’re trying to make is simple: they’re charging for a day where you don’t have access to the service you’re paying for. It’s a disappointment and any normal person would complain about that situation if you didn’t tell them the figures. I understand where you’re coming from and I know you’re not going to go sending threat letters to CEO’s or anything. I read a lot of your stuff and I think you’ve got some valid points. I agree with some and disagree with some but I always read what you have to say. Just wanted to let you know that.
WOW! 20 fucking cents. Would it make you happy if MS would send you 20 cents for the downtime? Are you not going to be able to sleep that day? Cheap-ass bastard! All this for 20 cents Why don’t you try to get laid that day instead of crying.
apparently wardrox, they think you need an std before you can have any reason to bitch about anything.
once you have a scratch in your pants it puts 20 cents in perspective… lol
The 8 billion figure is for both gold and silver accounts. Microsoft does not release the information regarding how many people have each level. So your mathematics are entirely off based on the fact that half of the users may just have silver accounts, but are still considered live users…
Props to John for taking a stand. Profiting from a service that is not available is just wrong. Remember how upset the internets were over the last big patch of downtime, what was it xmas? I really can’t remember the time but i can remember how upset everybody was. Whether the maths are right or not, you will still be paying but not using the service. Still if you don’t mind that, insist on sending ALL your money to MS. You clearly don’t know better.
[...] When Xbox Live Goes Down On The 29th, MS Will Earn $1.6 Million. This guy is flat out WRONG. No bones about it. Not only would I bet my LIFE the contract you digitally sign when you sign up for LIVE say there will be downtimes in the service, who expects there never to be any downtime to fix problems, implement new features, etc. I’m sure MS is just pulling the plug for fun. You know how companies love to intentionally anger their user base. /sarcasm. [...]
@Get Real:
It is called business. Been around a looong time. Get over it.
@Discombobulator:
Taking a stand for .20. What are you or anyone doing on Live if you can’t afford one day of .20. I can understand if this was about gas prices, the government buyout but .20 for entertainment?
@mboojigga: for taking a stand against this corporate bs that says “you may be the customer but we are right”. Its not about the value of that one live account at all. Its the value of them all combined on that day. If you think only about your one personal account then MS has already convinced you that you get a good service and i aint gonna waste my time trying to tell you otherwise. PS, i don’t use live cos of stuff like this. Feel free to tell me how stoopid i am and then maybe slag off PSN;)
You are paying for them to update and develop the service. 1.6MM isn’t really that big of a deal when you factor out development costs, maintenance costs, etc.
Does it cost them 1.6MM to develop/test/maintain the updates they are putting into place on the 29th? I don’t know…. it’s possible…. but, without knowing what their net profit is, it’s a little early to go for the throat, isn’t it?
You know, this generation of consoles has been one hell of a ride. So much has gone on since the Xbox 360 was released followed by the Wii and then the PS3. But this article is hilarious. If Micro$oft need to shut down Xbox Live for a day, then so be it. And anyone who’s sad enough to hunt Micro$soft down for compensation because you hadn’t anything else to do because Xbox Live was down, you’re even sadder…
While that seem like a crazy number, for a company the size of Microsoft, it’s just a drop in the ocean
I don’t think this about taking a stand for .20. It sucks that live will be down and for anyone to pretend that they’re not a bit peeved about it is a bit silly. My 360 is my favorite system but MS is famous for charging people up the ass. If they’re going to have a day when LIVE is unaccessible then they should simply add an extra day to everyone’s live accounts. I mean, as you all say since it’s only .20 a day it shouldn’t be a big deal to MS right?
Yeah, how about they keep the entire system the way it is now and keep charging people for an online service that never changes or improves. That would totally be worth the $0.20/day.
Or, instead, Microsoft can unfortunately inconvenience people for a day and let them end up with a much improved service in the end.
@Discombobulator:
Since you don’t use Live you shouldn’t even care or bitch about this blog on this subject.
@Discombobulator:
Also, with your spelling I don’t think I need to pointed out who is stupid(stoopid)
I have a PS3 too. I just have a preference for multiplatform games and Live vs PSN. Been on Live for 7 years now.
Take a qoute from Jay-Z
“What you eat don’t make me shit”
@mboojigga: Thanks for that dude, i neede a chuckle. The mistake was deliberate, and also obvious. Its called a pun. Also it only makes you look silly by critisising spelling. It might look better if your grammar was worth a damn my friend. ;)
John - Thanks so much for coming to my site. You’ve got a great one. You made a really good point on my site. You are 100% right in that there is no reason for them to be down all day. That’s was a good point and one I missed and should not have. Thanks for pointing it out.
The reason I was so “harsh” I guess was the cheated comment you made. I’m sorry if you were upset with my posting. The word cheated, to me, means you feel wronged. Whether or not that is unlawful is completely debatable.
Thanks again, and keep up the great writing.
they should probably stop forcing you to use their service. i cant believe they snuck into your house and signed you up for xbox live and continued to renew your service for you.