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Microsoft Drops Player Fees On Games For Windows Live

informationweek.com — Games For Windows Live is "now offering completely free online multiplayer" service, Microsoft said in a statement posted on the service's Web site. The company previously charged a monthly fee of $7.99. However, the emergence of several free online gaming services may have prompted Microsoft to drop the monthly charge.

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  • sarafina42, on 07/23/2008, -3/+26Uh oh, that's bad news for my productivity level.
  • ameologger, on 07/23/2008, -4/+9there is some news for today
  • WhereAmI, on 07/24/2008, -4/+44I wonder which idiots actually bought the service?
    • dsmx, on 07/24/2008, -3/+13All the people who use xbox live gold on the xbox 360.
      • dandonia, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4saw that coming lol.

        Hopefully (though doubtful) this will be a sign of things to come from MS. The only thing stopping me buying another 360 (last one broke) is the XBL fee -
      • dsmx, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Funny thing is that I said that line to be serious but it ends up being a joke line anyway.
    • xino, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1I wonder how many people paid for the service and only used the service on the PC games.
  • SomeoneGNU, on 07/24/2008, -10/+18On one hand, I wish this would extend to XBox Live but at the same time I realize it'll only lead to lowering the quality of service.
    • Zarokima, on 07/24/2008, -2/+71Yes, there might be a sudden influx of children too young to have a credit card who do nothing but cry and make racist/penis jokes all game. Oh wait...
    • latova, on 07/24/2008, -3/+26You keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile I'll enjoy the same quality free online experience I've been getting for decades.
    • ComradeRikhi, on 07/24/2008, -10/+7What? Even worse P2P servers?
    • OhFrak, on 07/24/2008, -19/+950 dollars a year for laggy P2P networking for the Xbox 360.

      That's as ***** quality as there is in gaming.

      Halo 3 - laggy 16 player P2P networking
      Gears of War 2 - laggy 10 player P2P networking

      What a pathetic joke. No wonder the 360 is selling as poorly as the first Xbox.

      • Justice101, on 07/24/2008, -9/+4It's not p2p, Microsoft hosts the servers, that's why you have to pay. You front the cost of the online service instead of the game publisher.
      • cheappop, on 07/24/2008, -1/+70/10
      • sputty, on 07/24/2008, -0/+6Actually it is p2p, hence the need for 'hosts' in games. Im not saying it doesn't work well, I'm an XBL subscriber as well.

        I quote M$ "The vast majority of games on Xbox Live will run peer-to-peer, with players hosting their own games. This of course excludes persistent world games, which will be client-server based. Peer-to-peer games however, will still send a "heartbeat" back to the Xbox Live data centers, for the purpose of keeping track of game stats and keeping other online participants abreast of a player's whereabouts online"
      • Psythik, on 07/24/2008, -3/+1"No wonder the 360 is selling as poorly as the first Xbox."

        Then how do you explain it being tied in sales with the Wii in North America?"
      • niceyuk, on 07/24/2008, -3/+1The 360 is behind the Wii. The Wii has overtaken the 360 in sales in a much shorter space of time.
    • smoger, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3Not really. Microsoft could never afford to let Live fall behind the competition.. on consoles: PSN.. on pc: steam, xfire, etc.

      So even if they make Live free on the 360, which I suspect they not only will, but HAVE TO,.. the "quality" should be fine.
    • Wiinii, on 07/24/2008, -14/+2Yeah, I would hate to see the quality of Live go down the ***** to PS3/Wii level.

      Even PC level would suck actually.

      I'll gladly pay for Xbox Live.
      • Tahiri, on 07/24/2008, -6/+3I buried you for being a complete *****.

        PSN/PS3 is actually superior to Live since PSN uses dedicated servers, and Live uses Peer to peer
      • troopa, on 07/24/2008, -3/+7"PSN/PS3 is actually superior to Live since PSN uses dedicated servers, and Live uses Peer to peer"

        That's not always superior. If their dedicated servers are down, then we can't play the game. With Peer-2-Peer, we can always find someone with a good connection.
      • MWeather, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1That's why PS3 also has peer to peer. You can play on either, just like PC games have done it for the last decade or two.

        Most times the dedicated servers are just PS3s sitting in racks. They're cheap, powerful, and the network code already runs on them, so why not?
    • neFariou5, on 07/24/2008, -0/+9Having to rent the ability to play the xbox online is one of the many reasons I chose ps3 insetad - totally free. And now that they have trophies (achievements) I greatly prefer PSN.
    • SurfingMonkey, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2If it were free, I may consider purchasing an xbox. In the mean time I see no point since I already pay for the internet connection. Cool to know the PS3 has a free network. I may join....
  • Koush, on 07/24/2008, -1/+19I know that this charge shouldn't of been put on in the first place, but no point bickering now.
    Thank you, Microsoft.
  • btschul, on 07/24/2008, -0/+13What an incredibly good idea.
  • hugolp, on 07/24/2008, -15/+2How is MS going to survive?. He is droping prices for all his products.
    • santaliqueur, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3He? You're an idiot.

      I love how these morons think the figureheads for companies are personally responsible for every release, as if it was a small business.

      If by "he", you are referring to Bill Gates, he doesn't even work for Microsoft anymore.
      • Slade605, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2I thought... hoped.. he was talking about Microsoft Sam.
  • Hollow5, on 07/24/2008, -0/+7Can some one please tell me which games associate with this service? i ever heard of it before...
    • ToothyMcshark, on 07/24/2008, -6/+5$10 says that GFWL will be an unorganized, ad-supported ***** of fail.
    • sirflibble, on 07/24/2008, -0/+7Shadowrun, Gears of War and Halo are the only ones I think at the moment.
      • Hollow5, on 07/24/2008, -1/+5aren't those xbox360's games?
      • cthellis, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2They are. But he's talking about the PC versions. (Halo 2, btw.)
    • widgetmaker, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1DOW 2 is using it :(
    • patm1987, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2A complete list of Games for Windows titles are available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Games_for_Win ... with check marks in the live column indicating they use games for windows live. Games for Windows is actually pretty nice, there's apparently a set of standards that translates to games I'd like to play with a 360 controller actually identify and use my 360 controller correctly, but I'd be wary about the live tie-in as a developer. They obviously would like to charge for it, and will probably do so again in the future if they get the market share.
      I'd much rather see steam get integrated (somehow) into the two big consoles and have all gamers live in one big happy harmonic family. It would be nice if I could buy, say, Devil May Cry 4 on Steam and a console, and have Steamcloud keep my save so that when I have to travel I can play on my laptop and when I'm at home I can chill in front of a tv on a ps3 or 360. I can dream can't I?
  • Dylson, on 07/24/2008, -6/+18That is only because games for windows live is a failure.
    • xino, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1To everyone that dugg Dylson down, please explain your opposing view.
  • jellydoughnut21, on 07/24/2008, -1/+3I'm not sure how it possibly took this long. In fact, I'm not sure how that idea ever got into someones head, let alone a person with enough balls to throw that idea out at a meeting without the fear of having everyone there laugh him out of the office.
  • MetalGear7, on 07/24/2008, -1/+15What ever happend to that Free Xbox Live Movement?
  • CptBuck, on 07/24/2008, -0/+19What do they mean the "emergence" of free online gaming services? Last time I checked nearly every PC game going back to Doom has had free online play, with the exception of subscription MMOGs of course.
    • CarzorStelatis, on 07/24/2008, -2/+6They mean integrated services with friend lists, ingame chat, automatic patch downloads and so on - all the 'value added' service over and above the actual gaming. Steam is the only one I can name offhand, but there are a few others.
    • reyoo30309, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1No I don't think that is true. And what us worst when online fees first started there was no pay per month plan. You would have to pay per time spent. Leaving the hardcore gaming addicts in some hardcore dept.
    • Slade605, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Xfire will do something similar to that. detects and monitors all games and has in game chat/screenshotting(with auto upload)/video capture. Also downloads patches for any games installed, on the downside, it takes 1-2 days or so for the file to be loaded to their servers but not long to download.
  • tama00, on 07/24/2008, -2/+6damn i just brought my first monthly subscription!
    • noerrorsfound, on 07/24/2008, -2/+5There is a difference between "brought" and "bought." :-|
  • AmsterTrance, on 07/24/2008, -1/+9the "emergence" of free online gaming services? how about all of them (PC) have been free since the beginning of time?
    • xino, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Total Entertainment Network that ran games like Duke Nukem 3D weren't free.
  • bcstereotype, on 07/24/2008, -0/+5Agreed that this was silly to ask PC gamers to pay, even for their argued services provided (achievements, matchmaking) - either way, this is a step in the right direction for them and a good step for PC gaming in general. If they can do a good job, then this can only foster some healthy competition for something like Steam (which seems to be the direction that they want to head in).
  • ryan69969, on 07/24/2008, -5/+4The whole "Games for Windows" intiative always seemed somewhat dubious to me, and now it seems that M$ is allowing it to wither on the vine along with many of their "Live" services. Probably a good thing though...hopefully it will give devs more freedom to innovate online experiences more freely, which may just be helpful to the PC gaming scene overall. And, even though I am a PS3 owner, M$ really should allow for some sort of free Xbox Live service. The more competitve Sony and M$ can be with each other, the more that gamers will benefit.
    • CarzorStelatis, on 07/24/2008, -2/+2Nobody forced devs to use Games for Windows Live so they always had 'freedom to innovate online experiences'.
  • widgetmaker, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4They'll still charge for the content that PC gamers are used to getting free, extra maps etc.
    • Camaroman, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2...
    • IndigoMoss, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4I'd really like to see them try that one. The only game I can think of off the top of my head that charged for new maps was Battlefield 2, in the form of a Booster pack which added new guns, new maps, and new vehicles. People barely bought it and there's like 2 servers hosting it.
  • WoollyMittens, on 07/24/2008, -0/+9Wow... Microsoft has made available free what has been free on PC's since about the invention of the internet, or at the very least since the release of steam a zillion years ago.

    Why did they think they could charge money for it in the first place?
    • Camaroman, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3More like Kali and Mplayer. (Kali was a one time 20 fee payed by sending your credit card number in an unsecured email. Oh those were the days)
      • Nextrix, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3God I even remember the HEAT.net service where they had the games 10six. Funny as I still have the promo material I received at an convention for it. Wow that bring back some good times. Thank god I had enough smarts even back to not sign up to a service like that when it was free even in those times in the Quake 2 days. All that was needed then was in-game text chat and a BBS/Forum to create an good community.
      • allisonaxe, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2nextrix: heat.net was free. I remember having some good times on that.
  • bryannnnn, on 07/24/2008, -2/+5please make xbox live free too...
  • CarzorStelatis, on 07/24/2008, -4/+3I'm not bothered about them making Xbox Live free so long as they let you change the port the console uses so that more than one console in a home can play on Live at a time.
    • DaleksUnited, on 07/24/2008, -1/+5I've never had a problem with two consoles online - are you sure its not a router problem at your end? Try removing any port forwards and getting an external box to host for you?
      • HouseCentipede, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3For the life of me I can't imagine why someone would digg down a home networking suggestion.
    • ScionX, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2I've had 3 xboxs on my home connection on live at the same time. Your connection may not be able to handle it.
  • Threlly1, on 07/24/2008, -8/+3Ha Ha, just watch the price of Xbox live DOUBLE !!!
    I Love the way Microsoft try to make out they are doing you a favour.
    Meanwhile, back at Baradur, they are harvesting your data, tracking your activities, tying future apps to DRM enbedded in the Live system, creating geographic marketing boundaries, stiffing Xbox users, forcing software houses to comply with restrictive practices and STILL they haven't found the one ring....
    • nobelief, on 07/24/2008, -2/+5you don't think Sony or Nintendo doesn't do the same?

      *sigh*
      • Threlly1, on 07/24/2008, -5/+1Why, how much are Sony or Nintendo charging you to harvest YOUR data ?


        *sigh*
      • nobelief, on 07/24/2008, -3/+1I'm paying for their service. Sorry I'm not a fan of the lack of people on PSN or whatever piece of crap Nintendo set up
      • Tahiri, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4PSN literally has just as many people as Live Gold does.
    • KielKilla, on 07/24/2008, -1/+5Holy ***** Threlly1. Maybe you should sit the next one out, champ.
  • grneye53, on 07/24/2008, -5/+5My daughter said to me when she was about 5 or 6 if you ever want to know what's behind "FREE" just take the "R" out of "FREE" and you'll see !
    • Megatog615, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Wow, a 5-year-old pulled off a "i c wut u did there" joke.
  • reyoo30309, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4How I love competition, it has a way bring out the best in us.
    • IndigoMoss, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Depends. If the competition is for customers, then yes. Other things not so much, I'm looking at you Patriots, Barry Bonds, and that little ***** ***** on CSS using an aimbot.
  • foxhound009, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3heh.. I didn't even knew that MS had something like that even though I'm a gamer.
    They won't make any money out of it, steam is free has almost all of the features LIVE has and more, and is giving the developers the security they like. (no way to pirate Steam game).
    • DrunkenAwesomo, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1Haha actually there is a way to pirate a Steam game and so far there is no way to pirate a G4W Live game because of the need to use your product key to login to live to use the online features. Also no ***** Microsoft won't make any cash off of Live, they are going to refund all of the people that payed for Gold.
  • dantanle, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Great they realize charging for something that was free for a decade was a dumb idea. Too bad they control the servers for xbox live though, so there's no real alternative there.
  • Slade605, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2I assume they are trying to add more players to xbox live since the windows live games shouldn't cost anything anyways. This will allow servers to be more populated and whatnot.
  • triPzZz, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4Damnit, why the crap do I have to pay for XBL still? I was a first-waive beta tester! I deserve free XBL! haha, okay, well, maybe I don't, but I'd at least appreciate it!
  • troopa, on 07/24/2008, -1/+3Microsoft will always charge if the customer is willing to pay. Ditto for almost any business. Their goal is to make money. They had to drop the Windows Live fee because PC gamers don't expect a monthly fee for that type of service. They can still charge on consoles because 1) they arguably have the best console online service and 2) with over a million paying subscribers, Xbox Live Gold must be worth it to a lot of people. It's worth it to me.
    • cthellis, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1If online multiplayer (and matchups, since that'd be hard to separate) was in Silver instead, would you still pay for Gold?
      • troopa, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1Isn't online multiplayer the only thing Gold offers over Silver?
  • highps3, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4Forget the online service where the hell are all the PC games? I got 2 graphics cards ready to blow through some games and thus far I have Crysis, Stalker, and Unreal 3. Oh and for the love of god stop playing WOW so other MMORPGS can emerge...
    • mrxenon15999, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2"Oh and for the love of god stop playing WOW so other MMORPGS can emerge..."

      Did it 3 months ago.
    • allisonaxe, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2when someone makes an MMORPG that's better than WoW, people will go play that.
  • glitchfactor, on 07/24/2008, -1/+3OK wait a minute, so PC users get to use this for free now, but us XBox 360 users still have to pay for XBox Live?!?!?!

    How the hell does that make any sense?
    • MrGiblets, on 07/24/2008, -0/+5It gets used on the XBox. No one used it on the PC.
      • Ranneko, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Is a title being on Xbox Live an incentive or disincentive to buy?

        For most PC users, anything marked as requiring Games for Windows Live was a disincentive until this announcement, when it suddenly became worth considering.
    • mrxenon15999, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Simple - it's called "What the Market will Bear". PC users' won't pay, so they've given up. Konsole Kiddies will pay, so they still have too.
  • jacksons98, on 07/24/2008, -1/+6Still not going to use it, you know at some point they want to charge for it. They've shown their true colors already.
  • dupajuda, on 07/24/2008, -5/+0Microsoft isnt to greedy after all
  • Bender1001, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Emergence meaning they realized that PC users weren't gonna play ball and pay $7.99 to play one or two games online.
  • cthellis, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Why can't one just sign up for free simply to get an ID and chat with people across the Lives service, or play their random other games connected in? They have relatively few games otherwise, I'm not on Vista... but it seems you still have to pick up a box of some sort just to create an ID. ( http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/Support/live/ ... )
  • jmac825, on 07/25/2008, -0/+0Now if only this could extend to Xbox Live gold...
    • Chris4, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1Yeah we get the point, everyone wants Xbox Live gold for free. See the other 100 comments above you.
      • jmac825, on 07/27/2008, -0/+0I actually didn't see very many...but whatever.
  • johoney, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1wow, micro$oft stepped out from under a stone!

    for better games in a less annoying gaming environment where you can actually compete and win stuff and socialize at the same time then check out http://www.cafe.com

    that is all.
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