By Simeon McFarland
New World, New Greed
In the midst of a global pandemic, companies have been looking for new ways to put goods and services in the hands of consumers. We saw this when Amazon saw its highest increase in revenue in website history! Other companies such as Wal-Mart and Target have been doing exceptionally well offering an easy online shopping experience.
Microsoft however, had recently had other things in mind.
Forbes, and multiple other gaming websites reported that Microsoft was going to increase the price of its Xbox Live Gold subscription service from $59.99 per year to $119.99 per year.
This is most likely the reason why Microsoft took down the ability to buy the $59.99 subscription of Xbox Live Gold back in July. Gamesrader reported this story on the 12th of July.
For those who don’t know, Xbox Live Gold is a service charged by Microsoft in order to play online games on Xbox; in simpler terms it is basically like paying for the internet a second time.
Many gamers and parents of gamers have already been struggling during the pandemic to pay for other needs. They were using their time inside as a way to catch up on video games. Increasing the price two times during a pandemic in which unemployment was at a record high was not the right move, and fans made sure to make their voices heard on social media.
Microsoft Reverses Decision
After facing harsh criticism from gamers across the world, with #XboxLiveGold being the number one trend on Twitter for a day, Microsoft decided to reverse the decision of the price increase in a statement through Twitter stating, “Today was not great. We always try to do our best for you and today we missed the mark….We hear you, and we’re reversing our Xbox Live Gold pricing updates.”
It goes without saying that when a group of people come together anything of greed can be prevented. Many companies in history have always found ways to get a nickel and dime out of their customers, anything for more profit, but that’s not even the real kicker.
Microsoft already has plenty of money, according to Yahoo Finance stock tracker, Microsoft averaged over $200 per share since June of 2020. In 2017, congress passed Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 36% to 21%. Microsoft also had a substantial revenue increase during the pandemic since kids stayed at home and played video games all day; according to VG24/7 Microsoft hit a record in terms of new Xbox games pass subscribers.
Given all of these factors, why would you think that Microsoft thought it was a good idea to increase the price of Xbox Live from $60/year to $120/year? Corporate Greed!