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Microsoft bumping Xbox Live Gold to $10/month, $60/year in November

Microsoft's Major Nelson has just announced that Xbox Live will be getting a price increase for its Gold subscriptions. Starting November 1, a 1-month XBL Gold subscription will bump up from $7.99 to $9.99, a 3-month subscription will bump up from $19.99 to $24.99, and a 12-month subscription will bump up from $49.99 to $59.99. Based on some of the responses to Major Nelson's announcement, including a few remarks from players with Gamerscores well over 50,000, people aren't happy about this change.

It's long been the case that clever gamers could find good deals on Xbox Live Gold subscription and Microsoft Points cards. Frankly, if you ever paid the full $50 for a year's subscription, you were taken. Amazon currently offers a 12-month subscription card for $40, $10 less than MSRP and $20 less than the planned price starting in November. Newegg, Fry's Electronics, and even Walmart have similar deals. At worst, we'll see the effective price of a year's subscription move up to the previous $50 standard, and even that's not entirely certain. It'll be a $10/$25/$60 price structure on paper, but not for most players.