Lunchtime Discussion: The Points Placebo
A placebo for high prices or a way of regulating prices across territories?Published 18/12/2009 at 12:00 by Raen
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I’ll put it simply, points are annoying. I don’t mean Achievement points on the 360 (I kinda like them, but don’t really care), I mean Microsoft Points and Nintendo Points. Those irritating little things that act as a proxy between content and real money. They really are quite annoying for a couple of reasons. Firstly I want to know how much content I’m buying costs in real money, not pretend money. So I have to fire up a converter website – just Google Microsoft Points Converter – and I’ll find out roughly how much something is worth. Of course that’s not always right because I didn’t necessarily buy the points at the price the converter lists. Maybe I got them from Microsoft which means I can buy a different amount than converters are using. Maybe I got a special offer or something meaning I got the points cheap or free. I can’t possibly keep track of all this so I have no idea how much of my money content is actually worth, only a rough estimate. Frustrating.
The other real annoyance I have is that you have to purchase preset amounts. Now I’m informed that on PSN if you buy something above £5 you can just pay the amount, but you have to buy at least £5 of PSN credit. That’s fine by me really, it’s probably just to cover the credit card charges. However Microsoft and Nintendo will only sell you points for there stores in the amounts they set, so I can’t buy exactly enough points to get the newest game or bit of DLC. This means there’s always left over credit hanging out in the bottom of your account. I don’t know why, but this just really annoys me.
Of course the reasons why are pretty obvious. Firstly they can easily maintain global pricing, they just have to set the price of points in a country rather than do a conversion per game. Secondly it really does start to make you forget that you’re spending real money. Not all the time, but particularly those times where you didn’t have to top up to buy something.
That’s my thoughts on the matter, but what do you think? Does it irritate you as much it obviously does me? Should everything just be charged in real money? Or do you support points?
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
glennpfc | 18/12/2009 12:03
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358 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
It is part of the problem we have with consoles being closed systems. They are not subject to competition in their own market places and therefore can do whatever they like.
Also if anyone wishes to argue it is better due to getting good deals on points cards..I would just point out that now PSN has cards you can get some good deals too
I got a £20 PSN card for £13 the other week!
jimmy-google | 18/12/2009 12:20
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1708 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Where’d you get it for £13? £15 is the cheapest I’ve got one for
shields_t | 18/12/2009 12:18
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1617 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I haven’t yet purchased any MS points, as I haven’t spent enough time in front of my XBox since getting it to do so, but the Wii points system winds me up considerably, while it’s admirable that Nintendo reward their customers by giving points away with games, it really is something of a hollow gesture when you consider the value of what they’re giving away and the real world prices of everything on the Wii shopping channel.
I’m also told that if you haven’t spent them in a year, they simply expire – what a joke. I far prefer the clarity of the pricing on PSN, and I’m happy to pay the prices charged for the majority of the content that interests me.
BoyDay | 18/12/2009 13:17
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898 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I’ve nevere heard that, I’d guess it’s more if you haven’t redeemed the code to add the points to your account within a year then the code will expire, not that points will disappear from your account if not used within a year.
I may be wrong as I don’t even have a Wii (sold it after a month) but that would make more sense to me.
shields_t | 18/12/2009 15:12
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1617 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Maybe I’m wrong, I’m sure I read something about points expiring though.
3shirts | 18/12/2009 12:19
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2462 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
I agree with you totally. I only have a PS3 so the issues can’t get to me like they do you but I would find it very annoying that I can’t know, at a glance, how much things are costing me.
Also, i’m sure they legally can’t do this, but if all the money we have held in our accounts is sat in some kind of massive bank account, are they getting the interest?
Raen | 18/12/2009 12:42
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3695 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Hm… well with Microsoft and Nintendo they can side step it because you’re buying stuff the service, so they can say it’s no longer your money and do whatever they like with it. Sony’s position would be more interesting I’d imagine as it’s more like credit on your mobile. However I would imagine it’s sort of like a bank where they can do whatever they want with the money as long as you can get at it.
Severn2j | 18/12/2009 12:36
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1543 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
Totally agree with you there, and the reasons for it are exactly as you state, its to distance you from the idea that you’re spending money, and to (deliberately, imo) confuse you as to exactly how much something costs… Not doing this is one of the things Sony got right with PSN.
dpb135 | 18/12/2009 12:54
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198 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Doesnt really bother me ms points. Before PSN cards came out I would never consider PSN version over 360 at all as 360 was cheaper for me as picked up 2100 cards for £7.99 or £9.99 in the past & have a few stored up. But as now can get £20 PSN cards for £15 I’m more inclined to buy stuff, now have £70 in my account but I got £80 for £60 which is great
mynameisblair | 18/12/2009 13:00
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3868 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Points are a horrible idea, I’d rather just use real money so they don’t try to make it all kiddy (the Wii) or try to disguise how much you are spending (360).
You can convert Games on Demand to money though, so thats good. Infact, no it isn’t, your points are still in points and it makes it more complicated.
Imagine if Amazon or another big retailer used points instead of money, everyone would complain, no?
I hate points, give me money!
cc_star | 18/12/2009 13:32
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The main reason for this is card charges and tax.
MS don’t need to pay a transactional card charge every single time someone buys something instead that liability is with the retailer, I’m pretty sure that ms will not be being charged vat on points transactions wheras with wallet purchases you probably are.
Whilst I prefer pounds to points, it looks go me like Sony are employing the wrong bean counters.
cc_star | 18/12/2009 13:35
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7784 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Another thing is that we get stiffed for currency fluctuations with the 4.99 price point now replaced with 6.29 so even if you are getting 25% off a psn card it’s not as big a saving as you may think
cam the man | 18/12/2009 14:11
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2046 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
I hate the Microsoft points too.
Even though I got the 360 about a year before myPS3, I recon I’ve spent at least 30 times more on the PSN. Will only buy on the 360 if totally necessary.