Reevaluation of XBLA game pricing by Microsoft

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    Xbox Live Gamers
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As avid 360 gamers, we the undersigned have supported the Xbox Live Arcade since its inception. Nearly all of us have purchased dozens of XBLA titles and some of us have bought all of them, and we have gladly supported the service and have spent collective millions of Microsoft Points in the process. Lately, however, we have noticed a disturbing trend toward higher priced titles and away from 400 and 800 point games, and that has disturbed many of us to the point of being unwilling to continue to support the Xbox Live Arcade as it is currently being run.

We therefore petition that Microsoft reevaluate the pricing strategy of Xbox Live Arcade titles. While we do not object to the occasional title being priced at 1200 Microsoft points we believe that this price point is being abused, and that too many mediocre titles are being released at 1200 and even 1600 points which cannot, we feel, justify more than an 800 MSP price tag.

We assert that while it seems the trend is moving toward a 50\% increase in the price of arcade games the quality of titles has not changed to reflect this, and that we as consumers are being abused to boost bottom lines.

It may be said that the recent increase in prices has been necessary for some reason or other and that the new games are, in fact, worth whatever theyre being priced at; however we know that as consumers a game is only worth what we are willing to pay for it, and therefore we are declaring our intention to stop purchasing ANY Xbox Live Arcade titles until such time as Microsoft adopts a more reasonable pricing strategy.

We hope that this will be accomplished by the reduction in price of many current and future games, and not through offerings of Deals of the Week for downloadable content in games that very few people own or play.