[QUOTE="EvilSelf"]

One thing that ticked me off is they waited until almost the end of the current generation to unveil such a deal. Obviously they are trying to maximize profits before this gen goes away.

[/QUOTE]

I'd hardly class this as a "deal". MS never come out with anything that rivals PSN+ or any similar service that offers excellent value for money. Never.

A 2% rebate is so laughable, most people won't even sign up to it. They'll hear, "Achievements earn discounts", think "Wow", then hear "2%" and forget it ever existed, because it's not exciting and the number could literally barely get any smaller.

If they said anyone with 50K GS or over would be entitled to a 10%, then people would actually sit up and listen. They'd be actively buying games to improve their gamerscore to be able to access the discount. Everybody wins.

Next gen, instead of blocking used games or whatever, Microsoft should include a one time use code with every new copy of a game that "unlocks" the ability to unlock achievements. Much like the fundamental idea above, 10,000GS (equal to 8 or 9 FULL, NEW retail titles) would net you a 5% discount on all XBL purchases. That continues all the way up to 100,000(or something) which would earn you a 25% discount). People buy more new games, less on used games and spend more on the marketplace.

If they implemented a system like that, I'd be hard pressed to point out the loser in that scenario.