Microsoft"s Xbox Live online service for its Xbox 360 game console has two different tiers; the free Silver membership and the paid Gold tier where players get access to multiplayer online modes, early access to demos and more. You might think that Xbox 360 owners might prefer to pay for their Xbox Live Gold memberships directly from the console with a credit card. But Microsoft says now that"s not the case, at least in Europe. According to a new story at MCV, 68 percent of Xbox Live Gold subscribers in Europe have purchased them at retail stores via buying Xbox Live Gold code cards.
It shows that even with online services and the rise of the downloadable game industry, a lot of gamers still like to go to their local brick and mortar retailer to pay for their games. That"s one of the reasons why Microsoft won"t offer an Xbox 360 retail game via download on the same day it ships to stores. Microsoft Xbox Live marketing manager Robin Burrowes said, "We are very respectful of the retail environment, in that we have a window between the release of a retail game and the digital one. There’s no immediate plans to change that."
However, Burrowes added that Microsoft is working with retailers to provide downloadable content in other ways. He said, "We’ve been testing electronic software distribution in a couple of places. We will be testing point-of-sale activation, which is similar to buying cards in store and being able to redeem that code at the point of purchase. We are introducing new digital tokens and are working very closely with retailers." Microsoft is also adding download codes for Xbox Live Arcade games in retail game boxes. For example the upcoming release of the Kinect-based game The Gunstringer will have a download code for the Xbox Live Arcade game Fruit Ninja Kinect.