Yesterday, a couple avatar items on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace were shown as being purchasable via real currency instead of Microsoft Points. Microsoft is quoted insisting:
“This display error doesn’t signal a change in payment options, but rather an error in how the offers were configured in our services which resulted in an inconsistent experience. It is in the process of being resolved.”
This kind of change would effectively put Microsoft in even more direct competition with the Apple and PlayStation stores, seeing as both of the latter currently use real money as currency. Lots of speculation about the Microsoft Points system makes it out to be a greedy scheme, as more often than not, you end up purchasing an amount of points that is impossible to spend in full. This leaves your account with “unused money” sitting in it to stare players in the face whenever they see their account balance. After players see this, it then makes more sense to purchase more points in order to use the points they have, and therefore get the most bang for their buck.
How do you feel about the Microsoft Points system? Would you prefer a real money marketplace?