Microsoft Points are going away very soon. Like, as soon as the next Xbox 360 system update. You’ll be able to turn all your meaningless points into real money whenever that happens.
Microsoft’s Xbox Wire blog has got the news:
Earlier this year, we announced that we are bringing local currency to Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles. This change was a direct result of customer feedback. You told us you want to be able to buy things using money instead of points, and we listened.
Our goal is to make this transition as easy as possible for you. After the next Xbox 360 system update, when you go to buy something or redeem a Microsoft Points card or code on your console with your Microsoft account, we’ll add to your account an amount of currency equal to or greater than the Xbox Marketplace value of your Microsoft Points, which will be retired.
Making a purchase will be faster and easier than ever. You will see item prices expressed in local currency; no need to calculate what an item costs! You will still be able to directly purchase content from Xbox stores using any current form of payment available in your region, including credit cards. And with a rollout starting in late 2013, you’ll also be able to buy new Xbox Gift Cards (denominated in your local currency) through our online retailers and in local retail stores. These gift cards can be added to your Microsoft account online and are another easy-to-use payment option for customers.
Don’t worry about your Microsoft Points Cards either. We’ll continue to accept purchased Microsoft Points Cards and codes until further notice, and we’ll add to your account an amount of local currency equal to or greater than the Marketplace value of those points. In addition, we know you’ve worked hard on your Microsoft Points earned through Xbox Live Rewards. These will remain in your Xbox Live account and transition to local currency with the rest of your Microsoft Points.
We’re excited to bring local currency to Xbox Live. It’s a decision based on your feedback, and another way we’re working to make Xbox Live the best community for gaming and entertainment today.
Also worth noting: any Microsoft Points you convert will expire on June 1, 2015.
Comments
42 responses to “You Can Ditch Microsoft Points After The Next Xbox 360 Update”
Not looking forward to this at all. A season pass for a game is easily going to go up from $40-$50 using international points cards purchased on the cheap to $80. I never realized how expensive things on XBL were at face value until this was announced.
Wow how many points is a season pass usually?
4000 I think?
All the season passes I’ve bought are around 2400 or sometimes 3000.
That’s about the same price difference between your 12 month Gold subscription too. Australians are going to get raped with this change.
I’m in the Beta and things are cheaper now that the change to real money has occured.
Out of interest what’s the conversion?
Right now to purchase 1500pts = $25 which means $5 = 300pts
Is this the case?
Don’t forget discounts, quite often Dick Smith would have 2x 1500 point cards for $40. You’ll never see this happen again.
Don’t be so sure. I often see 10-20% discount on iTunes cards.
Disclosing prices and not ‘hiding’ behind points can only be a good thing right? Looks like MS is taking another leaf out of the Sony playbook. Seems to be happening a lot these days…
Do Sony still do minimum wallet transactions though? About the only good part of this is if I want to buy something worth $3 I don’t have to put $5-20 minimum on my account.
If you buy something for $1.99 on Xbox it simply costs you $1.99, you’re not forced to add chunks of money to your account, you just get the exact amount of the purchase deducted from your credit card, unless you buy a prepaid card from the shops of course.
I still don’t trust either company enough to have my CC details. Sony lost ALL my trust after the hack incident and I’ve seen how hard it is to get your details removed from XBL.
Absolutely agree with this. I will now only buy with pre-purchased vouchers.
The good news is, prices go down when $ come in. where 400 msp was $6.60 retail, they are 4.95 in $aus on the new dashboard.
What about 800 and 1200 point games? Also what about 1600pt games – wondering whether its better to get State of Decay now or later?
State of Decay is $19.95
woah! I shall wait!
Basically, $5 per 400 points, less 5c at the end.
The most common season passes, for arguments sakes are COD ones, are 4000MSP. I actually think that this will make things slightly, and I mean SLIGHTLY cheaper. I’m in the beta at the moment, and have already been using this system for a little bit now, and it’s a lot more straightforward.
I mightn’t of looked since they fixed the high pricing glitch, but I checked the mw2 season pass and it was $80.
Can someone remove the above image. I find stickers left on controllers offensive.
I find stickers left on anything when they’re meant to be removed offensive. I used to see it all the time as an IT Service Tech. PCs and Laptops would come in with the same bubbling, peeling stickers from the packaging, years before.
I don’t understand it at all. People argue that they don’t want dust/scratches getting on the surfaces. Why? Because they “don’t want it to look bad…”
Well they’ve managed to make it look infinitely worse by leaving the packaging attached.
——-
Also back on topic, we should be getting the same change for the steaming pile of shit that is Games For Windows Live, if we haven’t already.
Dude, I had a friend who left all that clear plastic on all of his stuff, TVs, computers etc. One day he had a Halo 2 LAN party at his house that quite a few people turned up to. Some jerk stole $50 from his room and also removed the clear plastic sticker from his Xbox. He was actually more upset about that than he was the $50!
Hy thinking is that Apple put mullions of $$ into making a surface that would reduce smudging, be able to read 11 inputs and have a good feel, that I didn’t want to put a 99 cent plastic sheet over it. Free your iPhones!!!
I don’t even put a protective cover on my phone, after I’ve removed the crap that comes on it.
(Fistbump to @dkzeitgeist for living dangerously with unprotected iphones.)
A lot of people don’t realise it, but I popularised the practice of not having your phone in a case. Back in the day, everyone had their big ass Nokia holstered in a leather clip on pouch, protruding from their hip. But then I was all like ‘this has got to change’ and I stopped using my case, then a few years later everybody followed along. True story.
Truly, this generation’s Martin Luther. The sacrifices your pocket must have endured…
Meh, it was no big deal really. Any other trends you want introduced or changed? Call me and we’ll talk prices.
Well, the girls are no longer all wearing those woolworths shopping bag dresses, so I think we’re good for now!
(Edit: Unless there’s something you can do about those fucking ugly bug-eye giant sunglasses.)
I kept that sticker on for two years to distinguish the pack in controller from the extra one. Still not sure why I did that though
I opted into the BETA program a month ago, have been purchasing everything in $$ instead of points, which is a pleasant change. Points were never a good idea.
Everybody calm down. I’m in the beta and games are about 29% cheaper after things changed to real $. A 800 point game is about $12.90 but now it’s only $10. A 1200 point game was around $19.50 but now it’s $15. Basically our prices match USA prices. Also, if you have points spare before the changeover, you get around 20% more than they’re worth. It’s a really good deal.
Somehow Australia will get shafted.
That was my default assumption as well, because… well. History. We ALWAYS get shafted in videogameland. @Shadow above seems to be indicating that we won’t! This is potentially good news!
Although I wouldn’t be surprised if that pricing is beta-only, and once the magical oz-fucking fairies in Microsoft have passed over it, we get our pricing bumped up on the actual implementation. Just like when you get Steam pre-orders at US prices up until a certain point where the oz-fucking fairies get wind of it, and the price goes up by forty oz-fucking dollars.
Actually, when the beta first launch the prices were higher by $5 but Microsoft said is was a mistake and said prices would be lowered to represent the proper pricing. Shortly after all the Aussie prices went down. So there was indeed a price shift, for the better.
*double fists in air* …But tentatively, because, well. History-induced caution.
Like a shelter rescue dog who flinches and whimpers whenever you say, “Sassafrass,” and you’re not sure what the hell to make of it – Microsoft, pricing, and Australia together make me flinch and grasp my wallet protectively.
If you’re saying Australians getting a fair price for online prices is too good to be true, if you’re saying Australians paying the same amount as Americans for digital goods is too good to be true, then I agree with you. My celebration is also tentative. I kinda don’t want to speak too much about it in case Microsoft realise they haven’t yet applied the Straya Tax.
So, lets celebrate … in hushed tones.
It’s funny that doing this is actually making their buying system technically worse.
Apparently, if you have an existing balance of say $6 (like I do right now), and want to buy something worth $10, you can’t just put $4 difference through a wallet style system. You have to buy it for $10 separately through an attached credit card or paypal account, or somehow add $4 into your Microsoft account another way.
Ridiculous
I had a balance of like, $5.99 carried over from Microsoft points. Then I purchased something for $10 and it used up my $5.99 an charged my credit card $4.01. Maybe you’ve experienced a glitch with the beta or something cause it worked fine for me.
Also, purchased I’ve made since then have deducted the exact amount from my card. Buying a $9.99 game charged my card $9.99
That’s reassuring. Competence win. Seriously waiting for the other shoe to drop!
Me too man, me too. Being a consumer of Microsoft products comes with a certain level of expected-shit-to-put-up-with. It’s making me nervous.
Even Sony have been making excellent choices for next gen, admitting their missteps and making efforts to correct them. What’s next? Nintendo having an amazing online infrastructure?
Really? What the hell then.
Maybe it’s a Beta glitch. Hope so otherwise that would suck being stuck wit this random $6 amount I can’t use.