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Microsoft Offers Gamers 96 Cent MW2 Map Pack Apology

Apr. 9, 2010 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

I was writing Short Takes this morning and it occurred to me that I should include a blurb about Microsoft's apology this week to gamers who suffered at the hands of its ineptitude when the Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Package" map pack was released last week. By which I mean, I, like many others who were offline for two hours that day, received the following message from the software giant via Xbox Live:

To thank you for your loyalty to Xbox LIVE and for buying the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus package on day 1, we will extend your Gold membership for 7 more days of adrenaline-pumping action with your friends on LIVE. Your account will be updated by May 1.

Wow! 7 more days. What a gift.

Actually, what kind of gift is that? I wondered. So I did the math.

Xbox Live Gold costs $49.99 per year. If you divide that by 365 (the number of days in a year) and then multiple that figure by 7 (the number of additional days you're getting), you arrive at the value of this gift. Which is...

Just under 96 cents.

So two hours of your time, two hours of incredible aggravation ... is worth 96 cents. To Microsoft.

Just so you know where you stand, oh loyal Xbox Live subscriber. :)

Discuss this Article 18

mikegalos@msn.com
on Apr 9, 2010
Well, let's continue to do the math, Paul. You were offline for 2 hours. $49.95 divided by 365 is just under $.14 per day That works out to just under $0.006 per hour You lost 2 of those so that's worth, by your calculations, you lost about 1.1 cents. You're being compensated at 84 times what you lost. Seems like a better deal than we get on most products. As an example, I know I'd never have to buy a light bulb again if those companies compensated me at 84 times the amount any bulb failed before its "rated life". In fact, I would probably have to go into the light bulb business to keep them from filling up my house.
Arfgo
on Apr 9, 2010
You gained 166 hours of play time for 2 lost. Seems fair. Plus for kids that have to ask their parents a credit card to get to play again, a 7 day extension is kind of a big deal I guess...
meason
on Apr 9, 2010
well its better return then one of my 7 xbox repairs that took 3 months, but I got a free month of live!
mikegalos@msn.com
on Apr 9, 2010
Another example. People are always saying that cloud services won't take off until they're equal to other utilities. So, let's compare... During the "Hanukkah Eve Wind Storm of 2006" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah_Eve_Wind_Storm_of_2006) I lost power for a little over 4 days in mid Winter. If Paul's view that 84x the loss is insufficient I should, at a minimum, expect that Puget Sound Energy would have said, "Sorry about the power loss. As an apology, the next year of electricity is on us." Needless to say, that's not quite what happened. The actual result was that they didn't bill me for the electricity I couldn't use. (In all seriousness, they did a great job of recovery after the storm but pay all their affected customers 84x the downtime? No.) I think I'd be a lot happier if utilities were up to the level of cloud services in this case and not the reverse.
Waethorn
on Apr 9, 2010
People still play MW2? Furthermore, people pay for the privilege to play disc-based games online? ;)
aemarques
on Apr 9, 2010
"two hours of incredible aggravation". Jesus Christ, Paul! Take it easy, man. After all IT IS JUST a game...! :-)
DerekITPro
on Apr 9, 2010
Hey all, there have been a lot of problems with MW2 so I am sure Paul is not frustrated with just this one. Also, there is STILL an issue with the MW2 matchmaking being broken since the "Title Update" from last Tuesday. Microsoft / Xbox Support seems to only be good when you don't need them.
subzerohitman721
on Apr 9, 2010
Paul, Honestly, 7 days refund for 2 hours of Xbox Live issues? That's really not bad. Maybe you wanted some more Xbox Points as well? The fact that they are being proactive in offering some sort of mea culpa for their internal screw up is a sign of progress. This is a good thing. Don't knock them for doing the right thing.
duanewatson
on Apr 9, 2010
Paul may be overreacting about being off of Xbox Live for two hours (and I would submit that I think there's a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek to that), but I know that my time is worth more to me than $.0006/hour, so I don't think the comparison works, whereas Paul is perfectly right is pointing out the value of MS's gift. Sure, there's part of me that wants to say, "Shouldn't you be happy about the free 7 days?" but I think that companies in general often treat customers' time like it's worthless, and we, as customers, need to let them know when we're not happy about that.
Waethorn
on Apr 9, 2010
O/T: I finally did get the Flower soundtrack from PS3 store. It's only been a year plus a few months since the game came out.... At least it only cost $2.99 (yay for the US$ being on par), for over an hour of soothing music. It's not even a long game either, and there's no DLC for it. What it is, is enjoyable, emotional, and replayable if you like relaxing gaming experiences. The controls are simple - Sixaxis angle and 1 button (any button on the controller does the same thing).
Waethorn
on Apr 9, 2010
Paul, did you sign an SLA (service level agreement) for Xbox Live? You know, those expensive contracts that state that you'll be compensated if the provider can't provide a constantly-available level of service? The type that businesses have to sign if they want cloud computing to be a viable option.... You didn't? So Microsoft paid you for a week even though their terms of service doesn't even require them to?.... "18. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY. We provide the Service "as-is," "with all faults," and "as available." We do not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of information available from the Service. The Microsoft parties give no express warranties, guarantees, or conditions under or in relation to the Service, this contract or its subject matter. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this contract cannot change. We exclude any implied warranties, including those of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort, and non-infringement." -- http://www.xbox.com/en-US/legal/LiveTOU.htm
tayme
on Apr 9, 2010
I think that aemarques said it best...Its a video game for goodness sakes! Plus like mikegalos said, they are compensating 84 times the value of the loss. Move on. --tayme
meason
on Apr 9, 2010
I agree its just a "Video Game"..... But at this point in its history Xbox Live should not be having these kinds of issues..... They also had major issues when MW1 had its first map pack release and it was broken for days.
Waethorn
on Apr 9, 2010
"So two hours of your time, two hours of incredible aggravation ... is worth 96 cents. To Microsoft." Expecting a bigger paycheck from them Paul? ;)
rr0de74@live.com
on Apr 9, 2010
PS3 Slim. The power savings, and xbox live fees would be a nice reward. Oh and you need to get off that lame Unreal III mod called MW2 and play some BattleField Bad Company 2. I would love nothing more than to have a dog tag with your gamer tag on it!!
Waethorn
on Apr 9, 2010
GOW3 rocks!
Dr. Daniel Jackson
on Apr 9, 2010
Approx 2.5 million downloads of the Stimulus Package sold in the first week. 2.5 million X .96 = next to nothing for a company like Microsoft I would have expected more, given that you paid 60 some bucks for the game to begin with. Paying for online gaming is foolish.
Dr. Daniel Jackson
on Apr 9, 2010
@rr0de74@live.com The new Battlefield is pretty damn good.

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