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Where on earth does our Xbox live money go?


Akuza
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As paying gold subscribers we should not be subjected to any of it. While it might not really bother people like you and me I still stand by that fact.

 

Not really a deal breaker for me when I consider how far ahead XBL is over PSN, but it really is about the principle of the whole thing really man.

 

What bothers me are the ones you can't skip during video aps like Hulu+. Seriously that is beyond acceptable to be bombarded with comercials like that and that alone is the biggest reason why I will never subscribe to HULU+. Rest assurd if Netflix ever pulls that crap, I'll be done with them as well.

 

In other words, I can tollerate the visual ads (despite the fact I still know it's wrong that we as paying members are subjected to them) but I will never tollerate ads in any video streaming service that includes ads you can't skip. That's all I really wanted to say about this.

 

For the ads in general, why does "premium" always mean ad-free? I never understood that. But, I can kind of understand your stance. So, that's one of those "cordially agree to disagree" situations. =D

 

As for during the video apps, such as Hulu+, I'm almost 99% sure that's on them, not Microsoft. I watch Hulu on both my PC and Xbox 360, and I see the same ads. So, that's not really Microsoft's issue. Fairly certain it's Hulu's.

 

The reason a service such as Netflix doesn't have ads is due (I believe) to the way the licensing works with "older" shows and movies like those offered on their service compared to newer and just-broadcast episodes of shows, like those on Hulu+. I'd be willing to bet that it either costs more which is why Hulu has the ads or advertisers want their ads to be seen just like on television and is one of the incentives networks have for licensing their programs for viewing on Hulu.

Edited by Fire Hawk D
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For the ads in general, why does "premium" always mean ad-free? I never understood that. But, I can kind of understand your stance. So, that's one of those "cordially agree to disagree" situations. =D Well to be honest with you, I'm basing this off nearly every "Website" in existence that has a free and a paid for option. I'm not basing this on ads on cable television, I'm basing this on Internet services which XBL clearly is. Oh and don't worry, I actually agree with you here, I just wanted to put out "others" viewpoints on this as well.. mainly about the principle of the whole thing. So I really wouldn't say we even disagree on anything really. :)

 

As for during the video apps, such as Hulu+, I'm almost 99% sure that's on them, not Microsoft. I watch Hulu on both my PC and Xbox 360, and I see the same ads. So, that's not really Microsoft's issue. Fairly certain it's Hulu's. Oh no, don't get me wrong, It is on Hulu's side of things not Microsoft's. I didn't want you to think I was blaming MS for Hulu's ads because I wasn't. I've used Hulu and Hulu+ on both the PC and 360 before and you're correct it's the same across the board no matter what device you are streaming it on.

 

The reason a service such as Netflix doesn't have ads is due (I believe) to the way the licensing works with "older" shows and movies like those offered on their service compared to newer and just-broadcast episodes of shows, like those on Hulu+. I'd be willing to bet that it either costs more which is why Hulu has the ads or advertisers want their ads to be seen just like on television and is one of the incentives networks have for licensing their programs for viewing on Hulu.

 

Regarding your Netflix comment, again, I was thinking the exact same thing! ;) The only thing I really can't come to grips with is the fact that why do so many people think Hulu always has newer TV shows than netflix? I'll admit I only used hulu+ 3 or 4 times but for the most part, they didn't have alot of shows I was looking for, Like Breaking Bad, Weeds, Sons Of Anarchy, and Walking Dead. Do you really feel they have all the newer tv shows though? From what I can tell they didn't.

 

Other than that the biggest thing I can't stand about the Hulu+ ads is the fact that although we can see on the progress bar on the top of the screen exactly when the commercials/ads are going to interupt us, Nearly every time an ad starts, it will interupt in the middle of a sentence of the dialog of the show or movie. Then when it is finally over it will resume right in the middle of that same sentence or even in the middle of a word. This has happened alot to me, have you experienced this too?

 

As far as Live goes, I'm only referring to the ads on the dashboard itself. When I am referring to the adds during Hulu+ playback, I was merely using that as an example of what I hope not to see in the future from any video ap.

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To be honest the ads don't bother me at all. 99 times out of 100 if I turn on my Xbox it's to play games, which is typical going to be the top left tile which is selected by default when you log in. On the rare occurrence I need to scroll through the dashboard for something else I'm still not bothered by them.

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I'd gladly pay more for xbox live if they were to offer an ad free perhaps more customizable dashboard. A higher level than gold subscription.

 

Sometimes you just go and say all the right words sir. I'd add to your comment that I'd go in a few more bucks to not be paired up with anybody under a "certain age" in a multiplayer game ever again, even though I realize that's but a dream.

 

Regarding your Netflix comment, again, I was thinking the exact same thing! ;) The only thing I really can't come to grips with is the fact that why do so many people think Hulu always has newer TV shows than netflix? I'll admit I only used hulu+ 3 or 4 times but for the most part, they didn't have alot of shows I was looking for, Like Breaking Bad, Weeds, Sons Of Anarchy, and Walking Dead. Do you really feel they have all the newer tv shows though? From what I can tell they didn't.

 

Other than that the biggest thing I can't stand about the Hulu+ ads is the fact that although we can see on the progress bar on the top of the screen exactly when the commercials/ads are going to interupt us, Nearly every time an ad starts, it will interupt in the middle of a sentence of the dialog of the show or movie. Then when it is finally over it will resume right in the middle of that same sentence or even in the middle of a word. This has happened alot to me, have you experienced this too?

 

As far as Live goes, I'm only referring to the ads on the dashboard itself. When I am referring to the adds during Hulu+ playback, I was merely using that as an example of what I hope not to see in the future from any video ap.

 

It's been my experience that I wouldn't want to rely on Hulu for anything more than checking out an episode of The Office that I missed. Hulu is an ugly experience when you compare it to Netflix or Amazon Prime.

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It's been my experience that I wouldn't want to rely on Hulu for anything more than checking out an episode of The Office that I missed. Hulu is an ugly experience when you compare it to Netflix or Amazon Prime.

 

Totally agree about Hulu+ but I never got around to using Amazon Prime yet despite having downloaded the app. Everytime I go to Amazon.com to redeem my gift cards I earned from bing rewards, I always forget to look into how Amazon Prime works and how much it costs. What is the fee on Prime anyhow?

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Regarding your Netflix comment, again, I was thinking the exact same thing! ;) The only thing I really can't come to grips with is the fact that why do so many people think Hulu always has newer TV shows than netflix? I'll admit I only used hulu+ 3 or 4 times but for the most part, they didn't have alot of shows I was looking for, Like Breaking Bad, Weeds, Sons Of Anarchy, and Walking Dead. Do you really feel they have all the newer tv shows though? From what I can tell they didn't.

 

Some of those shows, especially ones on "premium channels" like Showtime and HBO, are not on Hulu+ yet because of licensing issues. But, me and my wife watch shows such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Glee, The Office, Go On, New Girl, American Horror Story, Modern Family, and many others. They have those up the day after they air on the broadcast and cable television networks. So, totally worth it in my book. =D

 

Other than that the biggest thing I can't stand about the Hulu+ ads is the fact that although we can see on the progress bar on the top of the screen exactly when the commercials/ads are going to interupt us, Nearly every time an ad starts, it will interupt in the middle of a sentence of the dialog of the show or movie. Then when it is finally over it will resume right in the middle of that same sentence or even in the middle of a word. This has happened alot to me, have you experienced this too?

 

Yeah, I've seen that now and then, though they seem to be getting better little by little. That's just due to whoever being in charge of inserting the "commercial breaks" being bad at it. lol

Edited by Fire Hawk D
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Totally agree about Hulu+ but I never got around to using Amazon Prime yet despite having downloaded the app. Everytime I go to Amazon.com to redeem my gift cards I earned from bing rewards, I always forget to look into how Amazon Prime works and how much it costs. What is the fee on Prime anyhow?

 

You know what I'm not really sure, my girlfriend gets it for free for being a student. Look into that if you're in school. I think it's like seventy or eighty dollars a year but you get other stuff with it as well. I don't know enough to list all the perks but I know you get free two-day shipping on Amazon orders, free Kindle downloads, I don't know what else. As far as the library on Prime, alot of it is the same as Netflix but there's a few TV shows on Prime that aren't on Netflix and the movie selection is pretty solid. Truth be told I don't think I would pay the annual fee for the small differences between Amazon Prime and Netflix, I would probably pick one or the other.

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Some of those shows, especially ones on "premium channels" like Showtime and HBO, are not on Hulu+ yet because of licensing issues. But, me and my wife watch shows such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Glee, The Office, Go On, New Girl, American Horror Story, Modern Family, and many others. They have those up the day after they air on the broadcast and cable television networks. So, totally worth it in my book. =D

 

 

 

Yeah, I've seen that now and then, though they seem to be getting better little by little. That's just due to whoever being in charge of inserting the "commercial breaks" being bad at it. lol

 

Well for a minute there I thought I was the only one who experienced that with Hulu+ because when I asked my friends and their families they said they barely noticed it.

 

So the basic draw really is the fact that new shows air the very next day similiar to what Xbox video does? I guess If I really watched alot of tv it would be worth it but I barely miss episodes. When I do miss an ep, I'll usually just buy it from Xbox video for 2 bucks or find it online if I'm not feeling too lazy lol.

 

I'll try it out again, If I ever get another free trial but I still must admit, I prefer netflix.

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You know what I'm not really sure, my girlfriend gets it for free for being a student. Look into that if you're in school. I think it's like seventy or eighty dollars a year but you get other stuff with it as well. I don't know enough to list all the perks but I know you get free two-day shipping on Amazon orders, free Kindle downloads, I don't know what else. As far as the library on Prime, alot of it is the same as Netflix but there's a few TV shows on Prime that aren't on Netflix and the movie selection is pretty solid. Truth be told I don't think I would pay the annual fee for the small differences between Amazon Prime and Netflix, I would probably pick one or the other.

 

Wow that is a little expensive for my tastes for a service that is so similar to Netflix as it is. It's awesome your GF is able to get that for free but I'm not in school at the moment so I can't take advantage of it sadly. Still though, I'll check out all the details tomorrow since I'll be visiting the site anyways.... I have finally accumulated enough gift cards to get the BattleStar Galactica box set on Blu-Ray!! I'm so effing excited! :woop:

Edited by Delow317
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Wow that is a little expensive for my tastes for a service that is so similar to Netflix as it is. It's awesome your GF is able to get that for free but I'm not in school at the moment so I can't take advantage of it sadly. Still though, I'll check out all the details tomorrow since I'll be visiting the site anyways.... I have finally accumulated enough gift cards to get the BattleStar Galactica box set on Blu-Ray!! I'm so effing excited! :woop:

 

It does sound high but consider that the streaming only version of Netflix is eight dollars a month, so Amazon Prime is actually a little cheaper and has other incentives.

 

Edit: I have to correct my earlier post. Amazon Prime is free for students for six months and after that it's $40 a year, half-off for students.

Edited by WalterWhite
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So after The recent announcement of MORE adverts on the dashboard (click here for article)

 

I was wondering, what on earth we are paying for now...besides online play, like what is left?

 

I know at one point they said that our money went to inside Xbox, but obviously that's been and gone.

 

Then they said its to keep our updates coming, well no not at all, because whether your silver or gold, you still get updates...

 

Also since these updates our xbox's have just gotten slower and slower...

 

So is it literally just online gaming we pay for now? Because its sure not ad free online gaming either....

 

What's your opinions guys and girls?

 

((not looking for "ZMONG XBIX LOVE SHUD BE FRE" gonna say that go elsewhere this is not my aim :p))

 

It is becoming like TV, where you pay to watch commercials and hope that there might be something good on... Sad that people pay for TV and then have to watch so many bad commercials, I watch TV so little now I am just tired of not being able to get into anything with out a commercial dropping in a ruining it, I really think they need to give you the option to say no to their commercials or atleast chose ones that interest you.

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You've seen new apps for your phones and such to control your xbox. Yeah that probably cost a big penny for them to develop. I'd also say it's probably helping Microsoft itself stay afloat on top.

 

I wish being gold you could opt-out of those damn ads. Maybe one day they'll buy out every company and tell them to go screw themselves because now it's all in house. That money's has got to be going somewhere.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know a chunk of the money goes towards paying off companies for DLC/content priority above over consoles (e.g. COD DLC coming to xbox a month ahead of every other platform). However that has been so for years now So I'm not sure what the new ad revenue is going towards. I would hope some of it is going towards added sever and profile security. Also since the next generation xbox is coming out I would assume into the development and production of that as well.

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We're paying for the better Service and Updates. Want to know what a free service feels like with no updates and improvements..? Go try PSN Home and/or PSN or whatever the Wii/WiiU has.

 

What he said.

 

I thought this would be a thread where it had a breakdown in percentages of where the money goes. lol

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Our xbox live money SHOULD be going towards figuring out how they can drop the price of Xbox Live membership.

 

Or...you could take 2 seconds and look for places that have sales on 12month gold sub cards. I've never paid beyond 40 dollars for a years worth of live in the 7 years I've been a gold member. Even find them occasionally for under 40.

Could cost 100 a year I still wouldn't complain lol. Plenty of better things for them to do with that money, not dropping the price because people are to lazy to look for a cheaper card to buy themselves.

There are over 40 million xbox live members...any idea what it costs to keep servers up and running? Even small ones are costly.

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Not particularly on topic, but I don't mind the in game advertisements on billboards and the like, I think it adds to the realism, I don't mind that at all. I can't answer the OPs question better than anyone else though to be honest.

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