Don’t get your hopes up; Microsoft Points are not going away on Xbox Live.
There had been some speculation that the fake currency would be ditched on the platform since Windows 8 appears to only deal with digital transactions in terms of actual dollar amounts.
However, in interview with The Verge, a Microsoft spokesperson said, “Microsoft Points continue to be the currency for purchasing content for the Xbox 360 console.”
While all three game consoles offer digital distribution content, Microsoft is the most confusing with its pricing structure. Its “Microsoft Points” currency sometimes makes it difficult to tell how much something actually costs.
Nintendo offers its downloadable games using a “Nintendo Points” system with a clean $1.00 = 100 Points conversion rate. Like the new Xbox structure, Nintendo Points need to be purchased in $5 increments.
The PS3 is the only system that allows users to pay face value for a game. So if consumers go to the digital PlayStation Store and want to buy Burnout Paradise for $19.99, they simply enter in their credit card information and pay $19.99 (plus tax where applicable). It’s much easier for PS3 owners to avoid junk leftover points than it is on the other systems.
Microsoft required users to buy points in bundles of $5, although it used to be in increments of $6.25 which virtually assured that no user would ever have an empty point bank, resulting in free money for the software giant.
