Xbox 360 Finally Ditches Microsoft Points for Cold Hard Digital Cash

If you have an Xbox 360 you’re probably familiar with — and hate — Microsoft Points. The company has been in the process of phasing out points for a while now, and they’ll be officially done with as of the next 360 update. Gamers will now be able to use their local currency to make purchases. Finally.

The announcement came from Xbox Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten on the Xbox Wire site. Whitten said:

After the next Xbox 360 system update, when you go to buy something or redeem a Microsoft Points card or code on your console with your Microsoft account, we’ll add to your account an amount of currency equal to or greater than the Xbox Marketplace value of your Microsoft Points, which will be retired.

It’s worth pointing out the, “equal to or greater than,” bit because of some problems users experienced during beta testing of the new currency system that saw prices increase when points were converted to real currency values.  It looks like Microsoft took note of the error, and have fixed it for the official release.

Under the new system, gamers will be able to make purchases using a credit card or Xbox Live gift cards in monetary denominations — not point values. The new gift cards are expected to be out later this year, and until then gamers can still convert Microsoft Points into real currency values.

As far as how long Microsoft will accept Points, we only know that it will be “until further notice,” but there’s no reason to believe they’ll be discontinued anytime soon. To stop accepting Microsoft Points cards too soon would be a huge slap in the face to gamers, and when has Microsoft ever done that?

(Xbox Wire via Polygon, image via Bruce Evans)

Meanwhile in related links

• In beta this switch looked like it would lead to price increases
• Don Mattrick says if you don’t like Xbox One, just buy an Xbox 360
• Microsoft already reversed a lot of the things people hated about the Xbox One