Top 5 Reasons Why Shutting Down Xbox LIVE Will Benefit Gamers, Cont.

Jason Trent, Associate Writer

March 2, 2010

4. Encourage gamers to move up to a modern platform: I'm not one to back people into a corner, but this change does have the potential to encourage those on the fence or who would otherwise not consider upgrading from the Xbox to the Xbox 360 a new reason to switch. The more people who switch, the more people we'll have to play with. With more people on Xbox LIVE on 360, we'll see more diversity in its user base. This will lead to greater incentive for Microsoft to continue to make changes that will make the service appeals to a wider audience. We all win.

5. Consolidation of audience: Microsoft will be able to reach a larger audience by providing demos and other forms of advertising to users who have decided to move to the Xbox 360. This will result in greater revenue, and greater revenue will eventually lead to more features, more exclusives, and maybe even lower game prices. How many games have you bought because you tried the demo on Xbox LIVE first? Certainly many for me. Lost Planet had one of the first demos that convinced me to buy a game I'd not normally buy, and there have been many many demos that have done the same since then.

And let's not forget that getting rid of the original Xbox LIVE service means that the awful logo will go to its grave too. That's reason enough for me. This change ends one era and heralds the success of another. People might disagree on principle, but honestly, how many of you really play original Xbox titles on LIVE? Most serious gamers have moved on to the 360, so in my opinion, this decision was made wisely. Great things will come from this.

Psst! This article was the result of a cross-blog participation effort between us and Gamesylvania. We thought it might be fun to do a point/counter-point style series of articles. Interested in getting involved? Contact Jason Trent for more info on doing cross-blog promotions and guest posts!

Here's the counter-point article on Gamesylvania.

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