Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said that he expects Microsoft to raise the price of Xbox Live Gold membership from the current $50 to $100 per year in the next few years during his recent appearance on GTTV (http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/309?ch=3&sd=1_hd).

Microsoft's David Dennis responded (http://www.pcworld.com/article/173952/microsoft_most_people_think_xbox_360_games_look_be tter.html) saying: "I don't foresee a scenario where we're going to double the price of LIVE anytime in the next couple months."

It doesn't make a lot of sense in my opinion for Microsoft to increase the cost of Xbox Live when they're facing more competition than ever from free online services like PSN and Steam. It's hard enough for Xbox fans to defend the current cost of Xbox Live at $50, so a price hike to $100 will destroy Microsoft's subscription base in my opinion.

What do you guys think? Anyone here an Xbox Live subscriber currently, and would you continue to subscribe if the price was doubled?

I haven't signed up for X-box live yet...but if they hiked the price up to $100 per year then I'd be much less inclined to sign up for their online subscription services. However, there are probably hardcore X-box live gamers out there who play on X-box live so much that they'd probably still pay for it even if the price for the subscription doubled.

they have to offset the money they lose to repairing consoles somehow

You got that right.

I completely forgot, I have to call the Indian customer support reps and cancel my account. It's ridiculous how you're not able to cancel the subscriptions on the console itself.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said that he expects Microsoft to raise the price of Xbox Live Gold membership from the current $50 to $100 per year in the next few years during his recent appearance on GTTV (http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/309?ch=3&sd=1_hd).

Microsoft's David Dennis responded (http://www.pcworld.com/article/173952/microsoft_most_people_think_xbox_360_games_look_be tter.html) saying: "I don't foresee a scenario where we're going to double the price of LIVE anytime in the next couple months."

It doesn't make a lot of sense in my opinion for Microsoft to increase the cost of Xbox Live when they're facing more competition than ever from free online services like PSN and Steam. It's hard enough for Xbox fans to defend the current cost of Xbox Live at $50, so a price hike to $100 will destroy Microsoft's subscription base in my opinion.

What do you guys think? Anyone here an Xbox Live subscriber currently, and would you continue to subscribe if the price was doubled?

Nope, I probably won't get live at $100 a month. Damn, what a rip off, I hate to say it but the PS3 is FREE so why would I bother paying that much a month when I can play most of my favored online games for free on the PS3. (yeah, this doesn't include Halo, but I personally see halo 3 as an overrated piece of shit.)

...he expects Microsoft to raise the price of Xbox Live Gold membership from the current $50 to $100 per year in the next few years

No way. Xbox Live is awesome, but not enough for a yearly subscription to be $100 dollars a year. Fuck that, I'd rather play Wii games online.