The new deal is expected to be offered at Microsoft’s retail stores, and the Xbox Live Gold subscription may include additional streaming content currently unavailable to Xbox Live Gold members, according to The Verge. It’s unclear whether Microsoft would also offer the supposed subscription deal online or through other retailers such as Best Buy or Amazon.
Microsoft’s plan, according to Jason Cross at TechHive, is similar to wireless cellphone providers that sell subsidized devices to attract customers. Microsoft would take this to another level, according to Cross, because the company would get money from its Xbox Live Gold subscription fee and royalties from all the games its new customers are buying.
Online entertainment consumption is on the rise in the United States, so it’s no surprise tech companies have reinvigorated their age-old quest to merge online entertainment with your home television. In March, 181 million U.S. Internet users watching an average of 21.7 hours of online video, according to metrics firm comScore. The previous year, comScore reported 174 million American Internet users were watching an average of 14.8 hours.
There’s practically no end to the number of devices that can deliver online entertainment to the living room including the PlayStation 3, Apple TV, Roku set-top box, and a host of Internet-connected televisions featuring services such as Google TV and Yahoo Connected TV widgets. There are also high expectations for a rumored high-definition television set from Apple, and other companies such as Canonical and Lenovo may soon offer living room entertainment products as well.
Costs aside, it’s clear more and more people are turning to the Internet for on-demand entertainment consumption, and tech companies are looking to fill that void with consoles, set-top boxes, and Internet-capable televisions.
Microsoft said last June that it would support the Xbox 360 until 2016.
Next-generation PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles are also expected before the end of 2013.
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