Games For Windows Live Is Now Free, Should Xbox Live Follow Suit?

Microsoft’s decision to make Games For Windows Live free is a step in the right direction, one which should be well received by gamers and developers alike. Paying 5 dollars a month for Xbox Live, however, may seem too much for some, but is it justified?

Before we head right into it, I would like to say that Games For Windows Live was already free. Paying for Gold enabled cross-platform play (PC vs Xbox 360),  and even it was free if you had a Xbox Live Gold subscription.

Something Smells Wrong Here

Dropping the fees altogether seemed to point out something was seriously wrong with this model from the start. For starters, PC gamers have long accepted the fact that online multiplayer gamers are and will always be free – that’s the industry norm. Further, the Games For Windows initiative was not properly executed. Inconsistent features, bad user interface and a lack of support from major developers doomed this program right from the start. To add even more insult to injury, strong competition from rival (and better, free) services such as Steam took up a great chunk of Microsoft’s business.

It’s Different On Consoles

But things are a tad different on the console side. Firstly, we’re paying to play across the same console, it’s not like 360 vs. PS3 players (although that would be wicked awesome!). Still, paying 5 bucks a month for Live is justified in many ways. Facilitating the communication between different consoles scattered all over the globe and ensuring that the service is ‘always on’ take up considerable resources. Live has become so reliable that whenever we turn on the box, we expect it to be there. Always.

To quote Microsoft, much of the revenue generated from Live Gold goes towards paying for the bandwidth used to access content available on Xbox Live marketplace, a large proportion of which is free, including game demos, trailers and movie clips.  In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, John Schappert, Microsoft’s corporate VP of Live, Software and Services, said “One of the nice things is that if you buy a piece of content from [Xbox Live] you can continue to re-download it even if you delete it off of your hard drive. And the majority of content that we have on our bandwidth is free content”.

Free doesn’t necessarily mean better, however. Although the Play Station Network (PSN) service is improving with every new firmware upgrade, but from experience, matchmaking in Live still has an edge over PSN. Even more, Xbox Live boasts a plethora of features that help knit a strong and close social community of gamers, weeding out the bad ones in the process. And most (not all) of these features were missing on the Windows platform, pressuring Microsoft to drop the fees altogether.

Just Because Microsoft Can

Another reason for not dropping the fees is, well, just because Microsoft can. After wrapping up the Halo 3 campaign our fingers are twitching to have a frag match with buddies. And what better way than to cash in on this urge by making us pay for online play? This is perhaps going a bit off topic, but when buying the Xbox 360 (over the PS3), most of us won’t factor the cost of the year-on-year fees of Xbox Live (which adds up to a significant amount if you’re a long-time hardcore gamer). This is a sly way of Microsoft to squeeze the last bit of profit out of every paying customer, as we’re swayed by the extensive catalogue of killer titles and the relatively low price of the 360 (the 360 Arcade retails at around $280). It can also be argued that ads are displayed on the 360 dashboard, irrespective of whether you’re Gold or Silver. but I’ll leave you to that.

But Is This A Dying Business Model?

In the short run, no. The original Xbox Live pioneered the pay for online play structure and Live on the 360 improves it even further. It’s rather the opposite trend, with Live subscribers up from 6 million to 12 million within a year. And Microsoft’s partnership with Netflix, among others, mean we’ll get more bang for our buck.

In the long run, however, Microsoft may face increasing pressures from PSN and Wii online play to make Xbox Live totally free. As we’ve already seen, hardware specs alone play a less vital role in determining the winning console. It is innovative games that take full advantage of the accompanying online services that make up a great gaming experience. Once we’re in the Xbox 720 and PS4 era, one of the deciding factors will be a console’s online strength. And having to pay for online play then will be a great blow to Microsoft. But don’t count on it anytime soon, the current Xbox Live service has no reason to be free, at least not right now.