Microsoft: 68 Percent of Live Subscriptions Sold at Retail

September 2, 2011

Microsoft claims that over two-thirds of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions purchased are obtained at retail, as opposed to using Xbox Live to renew subscriptions or buy new ones. According to what Microsoft tells MCV, 68 percent of the premium subscriptions for Xbox Live are purchased via retailers.

Robin Burrowes, marketing manager for Xbox Live, also said that Microsoft is "very respectful" of retail, and has no plans to simultaneously release Xbox 360 titles at retail and via digital download at the same time.

"We are very respectful of the retail environment, in that we have a window between the release of a retail game and the digital one," Burrowes told MCV. "There’s no immediate plans to change that. We are continuing to talk to retail in different ways. We are looking to introduce new digital innovations to drive more business. We’ve been testing electronic software distribution in a couple of places."

"We will be testing point-of-sale activation, which is similar to buying cards in store and being able to redeem that code at the point of purchase," Burrowes added."We are introducing new digital tokens and are working very closely with retailers."

Source: Gamasutra

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Comments

Re: Microsoft: 68 Percent of Live Subscriptions Sold at Retail

Submitted by Algus on Fri, 09/02/2011 - 19:33.

No auto renewal and Amazon is ALWAYS cheaper than it is to buy direct.

This one is a no brainer. But, hey maybe it is some secret back door agenda on Microsoft's part to "support the retailers"

Re: Microsoft: 68 Percent of Live Subscriptions Sold at Retail

Submitted by TK n Happy Ness on Fri, 09/02/2011 - 17:37.

There are reasons why it's better to go retail.

1. You don't have to worry about somebody else getting your credit card information.

2. People don't have credit cards so they buy them with cash in-store. Mainly this applies to kids and teens.

Re: Microsoft: 68 Percent of Live Subscriptions Sold at Retail

Submitted by olstar18 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 12:32.

That last part isn't really true. Most of my graduating class don't have credit cards. They simply do not want them because of the problems we have seen them cause.

Re: Microsoft: 68 Percent of Live Subscriptions Sold at Retail

Submitted by Papa Midnight on Fri, 09/02/2011 - 12:53.

At the risk of being billed on my credit card with no chance of cancelling without an AOL style hassle, I'd renew via retail as well.

----
Papa Midnight

Re: Microsoft: 68 Percent of Live Subscriptions Sold at Retail

Submitted by Neo_DrKefka on Sat, 09/03/2011 - 14:05.

I disagree it's worse since Microsoft uses an India Call Center that no one wants to deal with.

Again after calling an canceling since they disabled the feature online and India said it was canceled and I was billed again. I don't ever think I am going to use my credit for their live service again well you know what I take that back I will use the PSN since it's free but not Xbox Live Gold. Seriously it's not a service at all

Also I prefer to buy my games digital when I can and will be holding off purchases for the majority of the games I like because I am living with family and I know how bad it is when family or anyone steals your items

Buying Digital helps me out tons but again I prefer buying on the PSN then on Live for the simple fact I put a large Harddrive for 90 bucks to give me 600 gigs rather then paying over an hundred for a 360 only HDD. It's just too bad the PSN rarely releases a full game on their network.

Poll

Shout box

E. Zachary Knight: New Humble Bundle Weekly Sale. Alan Wake: https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly No Linux or Mac support. :(05/22/2013 - 1:46pm

E. Zachary Knight: Microsoft talks about the lack of backward compatability. You're backwards. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192801/If_youre_backwards_compatible_youre_really_backwards.php05/22/2013 - 1:39pm

E. Zachary Knight: That is absolutely nuts there. As bad an experience XBox Indie Games was, the problems weren't with the self published side of things. Forcing a publisher onto independent studios is not going to help.05/22/2013 - 10:43am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-22-microsoft-wont-let-indies-self-publish-on-xbox-one And the hits just keep on coming.05/22/2013 - 9:20am

E. Zachary Knight: AE: You beat me to it. That's what I get for taking the night off.05/22/2013 - 7:40am

E. Zachary Knight: To continue the confused and convoluted messaging system present in EA, They are making Wii U games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192753/EA_is_working_on_Wii_U_games_after_all.php05/22/2013 - 7:33am

Imautobot: I gotta admit, I seriously believed Microsoft was going to "Bring It" with this new console. But they failed, and I think that failure might be Epic.05/22/2013 - 7:27am

Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm

Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

All shouts

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