XBL Silver members face wait for content

Changes to Microsoft's online service give Gold subscribers a week's head start over nonpaying members for new free downloads.

The Xbox Live Fall Update has brought with it a variety of new things: a family timer that limits playing time, the ability to download selected Xbox original games, and now apparently a lock on Silver members downloading new content straightaway.

According to a post on Major Nelson, the blog of Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb, access to free content when it is first posted is now restricted to Gold members only.

Silver members will see a red circle with a slash through it when content--for instance, game demos or trailers--is available only for Gold members. Those with Silver accounts will need to wait one week from the item's release to get their mitts on it. The Silver Xbox Live accounts are free, whereas a Gold membership will set gamers back £39.99 a year in the UK, and $49.99 in the US.

Hryb commented, "This is not done to annoy our Silver members--limited time exclusive access to content is just one of the many benefits of having a Gold Xbox Live account."

376 Comments

  • FireFritter

    Posted Dec 14, 2007 8:46 am GMT

    Hryb commented, "This is not done to annoy our Silver members--limited time exclusive access to content is just one of the many benefits of having a Gold Xbox Live account."

    WELL IT HAS ANNOYED ME!

  • batosaims

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 8:49 am GMT

    i dont know why people complain about live costing money its less then a dollar a week

    hell psn is free but it sucks

  • bam226

    Posted Dec 9, 2007 9:02 pm GMT

    Big deal one week! Thats nothing compared to waiting for a good title to be released, let alone one without bugs and glitches.

  • zanlong

    Posted Dec 9, 2007 9:29 am GMT

    One thing that most gold members do not seem to understand is that MS is making a ton of money off of XBL. From both silver and gold members. With the money they get they could, and need, to up the bandwidth.
    If they do not they will not be able to keep up pace. Gold members need to tell MS to do this or you will not be renewing next time untill they do. If MS started loseing gold members, they would up the bandwidth realy fast.

  • zidan4000

    Posted Dec 9, 2007 5:56 am GMT

    yes you will wait a week , so what?
    its your problem that you dont have gold account , and yes its 50$ a year i wish they make it 100$ , if you dont want to get it then no body is forcing you to pay, i thought people already got over the "expensive" xbl thing.

  • KingSigy

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 2:04 pm GMT

    This is truly stupid. If the content is free, Microsoft isn't going to make a benefit out of making Silver members wait. This is going to piss more people off then get new Gold subscribers.

  • SteveTwo

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 1:52 pm GMT

    They point out the $50/year price because if you pay the monthly rate, you end up paying around $85/year.

    If you don't plan on canceling your XBL anytime soon, pay the $50 for a year and save your money. I'm sure M$ just loves all the people who set up montly subscriptions then leave it that way for 3+ years.

  • spelledarn

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 1:24 pm GMT

    No doubt soon it'll be a week for patches, too. "Hi, the game i paid $50 for on my $300 console doesn't work. Help?" Microsoft says: "Pay us 50 bucks more or get in line, chump."

  • d3vilg0d

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 9:38 am GMT

    yes $50 is not much,but if you have brothers and sisters you pay extra 50 for each person on the same machine.The last update you cannot play xbox arcade on different gamerstag on same machine.This time around it DLC.whats next MS?

    yes wow is $15 a month but those updates you actually use.

  • taurian0205

    Posted Dec 8, 2007 8:34 am GMT

    gold isnt that expensive compares to WoW accounts....cmon, u pay $50 a year for all sort of games but WoW 30 bux every 2 months
    somebody give me an AMEN

  • KORAK33

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 7:54 pm GMT

    0I am a silver member. I am not a freeloader. I HAVE NO ISSUE WITH WAITING, A WEEK! Thanks Microsoft, for XBXL !!! URN OUT

  • GreenC4T

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 4:26 pm GMT

    I agree jbot666, I'm not paying for the Gold membership. I'll just get my download from PSN, taking in consideration it is a multiplatform game.

  • jbot666

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 2:37 pm GMT

    Whatever; I'll use psn or I'll wait a week. I'm not paying for a Gold XBL account.

  • MichaeltheCM

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 1:26 pm GMT

    you get what u pay for. nuff said

  • Jedilink109

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 11:18 am GMT

    Wow...why do we have to wait a week then? I mean...a week dude. They're dorks. And I wish they'd clamp down on putting up support for the original Xbox games. I have one I bought recently that I can't play BECAUSE it's not supported on the system!!! ARGHS!

  • zanlong

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 8:41 am GMT

    The article says 1 week wait for "free new downloads". For things that you pay to download, I think you can download it right away without waiting time.
    =========================================================
    Yes, I do know this. My point is that most of the gold members here seem to think that silver member = free loader. I pay for MS points like every body else.($50 = 4000) So I have been paying Microsoft. I do not see why I have to pay for something like gold when you are only paying for on-line play. Something I do not do much of. Also I do not see why Microsoft has to do this, when they can pay(and they have to money to do this) to up the bandwidth so that there is no slow points.

  • jrod9999

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 7:29 am GMT

    I thought its been like this for at least a year anyway. When I had a silver account I had to wait about a week for new demo's.Either way its only a week not like a month or something. But I wonder how the companies paying MS feel about their demo's not reaching every potential customer--especially before the reviews pour in...

  • Standard_222

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 6:50 am GMT

    This was done simply for money. Though I am a happy owner of a 360, I must say that it's no secret when it comes to MS and their want for more money. All this is, is an attempt to encourage people to pay for gold accounts. That's it! It doesn't really effect me, because I'm a gold member anyway, but I don't think it's fair to those who don't pay but hook up their consoles because they want to chat with friends, or check out demos. I hope that MS won't revert to having to pay for those demos.

  • Comingcurse

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 4:07 am GMT

    First of all, let me say that this is a pretty crummy thing for MS to do. Silver members have had immediate access to content since the creation of "Silver" and "gold" and should continue to. As for why MS decided to do this? Well, it is probably a one of two things, or a combination of both.

    1) The Money. This is the most obvious one. MS wants to increase the number of Gold members, and they figure making the Silvers wait will pull the Silvers that are on the fence about going Gold off the fence and into the paid member arena. 2) Overloaded Servers. There are over 8 1/2 million Live subscribers, and I am willing to bet that only 2-3 million of those are Gold members. If you are like me, when a hot new download is released, you log onto Live right away and download it. I personaly have experienced super slow downloads, and I would bet it has to do with the sheer volume of people trying to download the content at the same time. As a Gold member, I can't say I would be upset about the new "Silvers must wait" policy change if it is going to speed up my downloads. It sucks, but as a paid subscriber, I can't say I am upset with being given priority.

    As for the few who complain about the "cost" of XBL - give me a break. It is $50 a year(and has been since Live's inception 5 years ago). That is about $4.16 a month. An F'in latte at starbucks. Suck it up people. I am willing to bet most of the complainers are paying $15 a month to play Wow. If the day one downloads are that important to you, pony up and pay the piper. You just may enjoy playing on Live. See you all in the game.

  • PacoL250

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 8:00 pm GMT

    @ahyumifan: Not really the same access. XBL Gold gets multiplayer over the internet, while XBL Silver does not.

    That's a big difference already. I don't see how this won't initially annoy XBL Silver members.

    Besides, the downloads are free, I don't see anything about having the same rights. They're free for everybody so what's the big deal anyway? Heck the same could be said for paid downloads. Everybody needs to use points to get 'em so why the delay.

    I see no reason why to do this.

    And for the record, I have a XBL Gold account.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 5:36 pm GMT

    nobody on the PS3 uses their headsets though, and I like a lot of chatter and trash talking when I play my games

  • ahyumifan

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 5:25 pm GMT

    Fair, I don't want any non-paid members to have same right as I am. It is very unfair to paid person to have same right as non-paid. Deal with it.

  • GreenC4T

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 4:52 pm GMT

    Well that sux. Since I'm the silver member they are refering to, now I have to wait a week.

  • Tom1243

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 3:54 pm GMT

    Or to try and get some people to bump up to Gold

  • DreFullCircle

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 3:36 pm GMT

    this is retarded. how can you call time exclusive access a benefit of a gold account when it wasn't part of the gold account to begin with? that's like taking off the hard drive of the premium and elite, selling it seperately and calling it a benefit to buy it sepaately. screw that. this is just one way to recoup the price drop. i'm a fan of the original xbox, but this is the straw that broke the camel's back for my decision to get a 360. i'm sick of microsoft pulling a fast one on their consumers. a week may not seem like a big deal, but if they'll do this, what's next? no free content at all?

  • fr33_loader

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 3:32 pm GMT

    zanlong
    I do not play on-line. I do not care to play on-line. I do like the videos, extra game content, and the XBLA. All that I have to pay for. Why should I pay $50 a year for something I do no realy use all that much,which is on-line play.
    ==========================
    The article says 1 week wait for "free new downloads". For things that you pay to download, I think you can download it right away without waiting time.

  • ItsBriskBaby

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 3:16 pm GMT

    "imortiferus $50 a year gets you the best online experience on a console. Nuff said."

    No, the best is when it's free. I play COD4 on the 360 & PS3 online and they have the same experience, log on and play. One thing though, the PS3 is free and 360 is not. So your point is, well, nuff said.

  • zanlong

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 2:59 pm GMT

    Why did I miss the Gold membership? And this will be a shock to most Gold members. I do not play on-line. I do not care to play on-line. I do like the videos, extra game content, and the XBLA. All that I have to pay for. Why should I pay $50 a year for something I do no realy use all that much,which is on-line play. Once more, Instead of cussing out Silver members. Tell MS to up the bandwidth. It is not like they do not have the money to do that.

  • imortiferus

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 2:07 pm GMT

    $50 a year gets you the best online experience on a console. Nuff said.

  • natt39

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 2:06 pm GMT

    To be honest it's fair. Gold members are paying extra for the content and besides it's only a week.

  • Meep357

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 1:29 pm GMT

    To anyone who's had a silver account for some time this isn't news. I can think of at least 3 times in the past where I've tried to download content from XBL only to be told that I have to wait because I'm a silver member. Honestly it's not that big of a deal. At least MS is being open about it now.

  • Slimee20064

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 12:36 pm GMT

    Wah wah all you people piss and moan. You honestly have gripes about waiting ONE single week? You should be thankful you get to download it period, as stated by others, the original xbox didn't offer a free alternative. And to everyone playing the "Oh, well then im gonna burn my xbox and support Sony/Nintendo" card. Do you think anyone cares? Do you think anyone from Microsoft is reading this and panicking over the loss of your business? Piss off and go play on whatever system you want to "stick it to the man". I don't understand how people complain about the service provided by ANY console provided. It's their content, their service, and they'll do what they want. If you don't like it, you shoudn't have bought the system in the first place.

    They've provided you with everything you have right now. Your system, the controllers, the online service, the games, the various peripherals. And you're going to sit here and piss and moan and cry because if you didn't pay for a Gold membership, you now have to wait one lousy week? Are you kidding me? I pay $50 a year for the service, and I've paid for it since it was first introduced. I think myself, and fellow paid subscribers deserve perks for our money. All you silver membership users and bandwidth freeloaders. You should be lucky you even get any form of online service.

  • Cursednavi

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 12:13 pm GMT

    Im a little disapointed in this but it wont effect me i always have gold

  • ctg867

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 12:08 pm GMT

    So they're removing features from Silver to get more people to get Gold. Wow, how nice of you Microsoft.

    I'll go back to downloading free content from my free Playstation Store on a console/portable that has free online services. I know that XBL is a lot better then the PSN, but the PSN is continuing to up the bar, while XBL is barely moving forward.

  • JimBurber

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 12:00 pm GMT

    This is ridiculous, not everyone likes to play multiplayer games and it is a waste to pay for a 50 dollar membership for them. I'm a gold member and I think that this is a rip off for silver member subscribers! It just seems like an unfair way to force people into purchasing more things from microsoft. As if the Wired headsets that break after a month weren't enough, what else are they going to force gamers to buy next? The only way I see this being worth while is if they add MORE free content and stop charging for things that should have been included in the box with the game.

  • catseyez

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 11:53 am GMT

    It's ok, Im not that desperate. I use Silver and my husband has Gold and when it expires no more. The content on live is lame when like many have already stated, can get it off the PC free just have to know where to look. If its because you like viewing the content on your tv then hook your PC to it. Or download it off your PS3 browser. In times like this 50 bucks is a lot of money considering the cost of how much we spend for gaming itself plus our internet connection for those who play online. Microsoft is only smart because they know people are dumb enough to buy. As for Gold members take a good look at your panes every once in awhile you will see ads. I'm not talking about for games, or content that they just put on the marketplace. Im talking about movies coming to theatres, tv shows premiering, soft drink ads, espn, etc. Guess you have to have a clue to know when your being ripped off. They are making a bigger profit off of us. Just like with in game ads. I will not give into the Greedy corps anymore. The content on the Wii, PS3 is a heck of alot cheapier. Plus if you own an original PS game, Sony is allowing us to download them free of charge for the PS3 and PSP.

    I rarely play online so I don't know what it's like on the Wii, PS3. But as for the 360, horrible. However, it is kind of funny sometimes though. Especially with Crackdown after jumping my dude just hangs in mid air forever. I did wonder why then I rememebered I was playing online. lmfao, good times! I like that Nintendo, Sony offer free access to play online. Plus, they don't resort to ads either. That has to tell you something. As much as I can't stand ads, I wouldn't care if they did cause I don't have to pay for it.

  • Greensheep11

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 11:27 am GMT

    It's just a week, I dont see what the big deal is.

  • hatieshorrer

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 11:23 am GMT

    I dont see why people are complainning about this. Silver membership still gives you access to demos and, stores with downloadable games, music and, HD Movies. Even free downloadable levels for Gears of War and other games. If playing online for free is so important then buy a PS3 but the exclusives aren't as good (Halo) and, even the multi-console games are slightly worse.

    Will the PS3 version of GTA IV have its own exclusive content. No only the 360 version will.
    Dose the PS3 version of Madden run at 60 fps like the 360 version. No the PS3 version of Madden runs at 30 fps.
    Dose the PS3 version of Virtual Fighter 5 (E3 2007 fighting game of the year) have online gameplay. No but, the 360 version dose.

    The fact is the 360 has better games and hardware at a lower price then the PS3 and Microsoft has to makeup for the loss. Also by charging consumers for online gameplay they are able to provide online gameplay for more games such as VF 5.

  • grouser22001

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 11:18 am GMT

    Get a ps3 and everything is free, and on top of that, you can play ut3 next week too..

  • Thorpe89 Site moderator

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 10:44 am GMT

    I am sure this feature was present before back last year I remember.

  • David_Boreanaz

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 10:19 am GMT

    Maybe I am blind, but I don't see why people are complaining now. When the original Xbox was out there were no Silver Memberships, you either paid the yearly fee or you played offline, that simple. Now that they let everyone on Xbox Live with the Silver Membership, which let's you do everything except play multiplayer games on the network, you people complain you have to wait?

    I have had Xbox Live since 2002 and it's worth the $50 per year of all the updates and free content we get (Free Maps for games, free themes, free gamer pics, even free arcade games). Not to mention the fact that it's an amazing system for keeping in touch between games with friends. The Xbox Live network needs to stay alive and running somehow, that's why they charge for it. If you are paying $60 for one single player game, why not spend $50 a year to go online and make the replayability of the game much greater than what it was. It actually has saved me money in the long run considering the online functionality of games keeps it fresh longer.

    So stop whining, if you don't want to pay for the Gold Membership then deal with what you get.

  • jnvwv

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 9:18 am GMT

    Rt34755 Stop whining and buy the Gold, you get what you pay for..

    Yeah... you do! The same phrase applies to systems too.

  • Slim02

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 9:12 am GMT

    123coolgirl
    We pay for owe internet cable and we get most of the stuff for free from pc. Why the hell should we have to pay to play online. It cheap but I dont feel like helping some dude buy a new mansion whos already rich. I see no different between psn and live except more option to send message while playing game which the ps3 will have. Those who own ps3 knows that theyre no lag and the one that say are a bunch of liers who think if it cost more its better.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I agree 100%..... That what you get when people are blind and to much of a one console fanboy....

  • 123coolgirl

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 9:09 am GMT

    We pay for owe internet cable and we get most of the stuff for free from pc. Why the hell should we have to pay to play online. It cheap but I dont feel like helping some dude buy a new mansion whos already rich. I see no different between psn and live except more option to send message while playing game which the ps3 will have. Those who own ps3 knows that theyre no lag and the one that say are a bunch of liers who think if it cost more its better.

  • Slim02

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 9:07 am GMT

    prioritymail
    you freeloading silvers need to upgrade or you will be left behind, soon xbox will be giving less and less freedom to the silver accounts in an effort to make them pony up for gold

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I had a Gold account for 5 years and did not think it was worth paying for some thing that should be free.... But again your (and others) comment comes from a MS fanboy... Also I am not in any way a console fanboy at any means like some people here are.. I care about games not the consoles I play them on...

  • arc_salvo

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 9:04 am GMT

    I don't bother buying a Gold membership because I don't really play online all that much, but making you wait a week to download stuff is just plain stupid. I don't know who Larry Hryb think he's fooling. What was done -was- done to annoy silver members to try to force them to arbitrarily upgrade to gold.

    Good thing I'm not the type of person who cares about getting stuff like demos and trailers right away. Jeez, I don't understand why Microsoft would bother to do such a boneheaded thing as this. Every greedy and consumer-shafting decision they make just gives more market share to Sony and Nintendo.

  • prioritymail posted Dec 6, 2007 8:53 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    prioritymail

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 8:53 am GMT (hide)

    you freeloading silvers need to upgrade or you will be left behind, soon xbox will be giving less and less freedom to the silver accounts in an effort to make them pony up for gold

  • zer0ne

    Posted Dec 6, 2007 7:50 am GMT

    MS can kiss my @$$ for that matter. No way I will pay for Xbox Live! I can wait for one week anyway. Money are hard to earn by, and MS wanna force our money into their piggie-bank? No way...

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