I received an e-mail from XBL stating that because I'm a 'loyal customer' (whatever that means, I pay my yearly fees and DL content just like everyone else,) I can renew my subscription for $39.99, which will tack another year of gold onto my current year at $20 cheaper.
As I just renewed in May, I'll probably just do it.
As for the price hike, I don't really care. It's ten bucks. I was already going to pay $50 for a year's service. For me, the extra ten bucks is no big deal and I don't have the energy to wage a war of principles with Microsoft. It won't change anything in the end except for the fact that I'll be freezing myself out of gaming onine with pals over ten bucks. At some point, I'll be thinking 'it's worth ten bucks to fire up L4D with my nephew or play some RE 5 with Genji' or whatever. I can't put a price tag for 4-5 hours of fun, but if I could, I feel it would be worth more than the extra $10.
And really, I'm paying LESS for next year's fun by renewing now. I know Microsoft wants to secure the money now, but so what? Now or later, I'm paying it. I paid $300 for MOTW when it came out new for AES, I can't hem and haw over a $10 price hike for XBLA.
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