[XboxMB News]

Rumors are abound that Microsoft is set to phase out MS Points by the end of the year. Instead, the actual currency of the region will be used (meaning you will use Dollars in the US, etc). People seem to be almost universally happy about this potential change as they think back to those aggravating times where they had 40ms points left in their account that they couldn’t spend. I’m here to tell you why you’re going to regret this change in the long run.

Source: thetechgame.com

[crook47]

OMG i hate cliff hangers!!!!!

no but really heres the rest:

Before we get into the real gist of why MS Points are a very good thing, let’s focus on the things that drive you nuts about them.


1) Leftover MS Points.
We all hate it when we load up our account with a fresh batch of MS Points and find that, after our purchase, we have 100ms points left over. It’s just sitting there, staring at us, and there’s nothing to buy with it. But you know what? You’re going to use it eventually, so what’s the harm in letting it sit there? If you’re concerned that you can’t make interest on that $2 you have sitting in cyber space then your financial plan should have you gaming for free by now.


2) Confusing Costs.
When something costs 2400 ms points, just how much money is that? We’ve all been left with that conundrum. Fortunately, a quick google search or 5 seconds of math in your head can fix it. 1600ms points is $20, so 2400 is $30. That wasn’t so hard.
Now that we’ve looked at the very minor gripes that people have with MS Points, let’s look at what we get in return for these minor inconveniences. We’ll start with the big one.


1) Sales Sales Sales!
What’s one thing you’ve always noticed with MS Point cards when compared to PSN point cards? The MS point cards are always on sale! Amazon constantly sells 4000 microsoft points (that’s $50 worth of points) for $40 and 1600 point cards ($20 worth of points) for $15. Target even offers crazy promotions like B1G1 on point cards occasionally. They have the freedom to do this because of the virtual MS points currency. Retailers are not going to sell $50 for $40. But they are willing to sell $50 worth of points for $40. Remember that 100ms points that was burning a hole in your virtual pocket? That $2 sitting there (that you’re going to spend eventually anyways) is small beans compared to the $50 we’ve all probably saved by buying our points cards on sale.


2) Rewards.
Remember a few years back when Microsoft ran those contests where you could earn MS Points by earning a certain amount of achievement posts in an allotted window? How about now, when you can sign up for the free XBL Rewards program and get MS Points based on your activity? There are also several other instances where retailers or Microsoft have thrown points cards into bundles or thrown them around as promotional items. This is easy to do with a virtual currency. You’re not going to see MS ever pay you $5 cash for getting 100 achievement points in a day.


3) Tax.
Get ready to pay it. Get ready to pay it hard.
This is a classic case of cutting off the nose to spite the face. Making sure we don’t have a few cents left over in our accounts is not worth missing out on 30x that amount of money being made back in savings. As it is, the simple existence of MS points is basically like getting 20% off of everything on the XBL Marketplace since it’s so easy to load up on MS Points at a discount. When was the last time you saw someone selling cash for 20% off?

[steadler]

this makes sense, and since i first heard the rumour i was thinking alot of these things, but on the other hand i hate the points system, and prefer to see the real cash amount to what i will have.

Thanks for the post and good share!

[xFusioNx]

Dont honestly see a problem with this at all, works perfectly fine on Playstation store.

[Dtown1233]

there will be a few minor problems, not Major

[LegendKiller]

The only bad part i found there was tax. :/

[StevieRox]

Originally Posted by LegendKiller

The only bad part i found there was tax. :/

The thing is... There is no tax!?

Why does everyone say there will be tax?

PSN uses this currency, and there's no tax when I buy the cards at a store or online!
iTunes also uses this currency, and there's also no tax when I buy the car at store or online.

So why would Xbox start charging tax on something no one else is doing, and they aren't charging tax on in the first place?

Everything else this post put, makes no sense.
Oh my you have 2$ sitting in cyberspace. What's the deal? Just because 100msp it's ok, but the equivelent of 2$ is not ok?

And about people selling the cards on sale - It'll still happen! Bestbuy does it here all the time - Buy a 50$ iTunes/PSN card, get it for 45$!.

I fail to see why this is bad for anyone. If anything, you'll learn how much money you're putting into ******ed, useless, avatar items and stupidity.

Trust me, on the PSN, I've learnt that I've spent over 500$ on just Avatar PSHome items alone. That's just plain stupid - But if it was in MSPs and I used 20,000 msp I'd be like "Oh cool"

[GearsMX]

Hum, but this will force that people owns a credit card... consider that there are a lot of underage players without it. So far, they could buy a points card with cash in any store with electronic department...

[GreyGo]

plus on amazon.. you never pay tax!

[Lolzorz]

Originally Posted by StevieRox

The thing is... There is no tax!?

Why does everyone say there will be tax?

PSN uses this currency, and there's no tax when I buy the cards at a store or online!
iTunes also uses this currency, and there's also no tax when I buy the car at store or online.

So why would Xbox start charging tax on something no one else is doing, and they aren't charging tax on in the first place?

Everything else this post put, makes no sense.
Oh my you have 2$ sitting in cyberspace. What's the deal? Just because 100msp it's ok, but the equivelent of 2$ is not ok?

And about people selling the cards on sale - It'll still happen! Bestbuy does it here all the time - Buy a 50$ iTunes/PSN card, get it for 45$!.

I fail to see why this is bad for anyone. If anything, you'll learn how much money you're putting into ******ed, useless, avatar items and stupidity.

Trust me, on the PSN, I've learnt that I've spent over 500$ on just Avatar PSHome items alone. That's just plain stupid - But if it was in MSPs and I used 20,000 msp I'd be like "Oh cool"

Ms charges taxes and iTunes and PSN. You just don't notice it. When you buy MSP, it says 1600 for 19.99¹
then under ¹Taxes still apply.