The Unfairness of Family Subscriptions and Graduated Discounts: A Look at Streaming Services and Digital Subscriptions

Kind of a strange reaction don’t you think? If you charge all adult (for streaming/gaming) subscriptions full price, then there are very few people who can actually use this. The advantage of those ‘staggered discounts’ is of course that it can be tempting to keep all family members within the same platform, because that is cheaper than half (in this case) having an Xbox subscription and the other half having a Playstation subscription, or with music Spotify vs Apple Music.

I just find it odd that people think they are entitled to a discount as a family, or even they live together or even as friends in the same country. Isn’t that a very strange attitude?

If I take out a paid subscription that costs 10 euros per month, why should the same subscription, regardless of use, have to cost substantially less for my neighbor, for example, because he has a family. That is very strange and unfair. Especially since they already have the advantage that they can use it together with that one subscription. Why then also apply volume discounts that allow multiple users to use it at the same time, which will give them even more financial benefits?

You are absolutely right, they are indeed trying to entice people to bring in more people by paying a small extra amount per month. And this is exactly the part that makes it so undesirable, besides creating an unfair playing field for people who don’t have the opportunity to take advantage of these kinds of discounts. It is simply unnecessary and not fair.

I agree that there should be restrictions. Bit similar to how Netflix (and other streaming services) will do this. At the moment, of course, it is being ‘misused’, friends who share Gamepass (by being logged in to each other and then setting up the Home Xbox to share Game Pass), or sharing Netflix within groups of friends. Of course, these kinds of constructions ensure that those ‘family subscriptions’ are not financially interesting and in that case I understand that Xbox GPU Family will not be rolled out further at the moment. Have to say I hope if that was the reason they will come up with a solution. Because for families with multiple xboxes at home, it can become quite an expensive affair to have GPUs for all kids, so that they can also use Cloudgaming.

The worst thing about Netflix is ​​that they also link the quality to the ‘bundles’. If you want one stream, you have a lower quality, but if you want more simultaneous streams, you suddenly also get a higher quality. Are you double disadvantaged as a single person. It’s just rationally inexplicable. It’s all dirty marketing gimmicks.

As far as I’m concerned, you can’t really compare a gym subscription, since you’re talking about people who physically use physical equipment in a gym (which is then occupied and / or has wear and tear). With Streaming services, of course, several people can consume the same media at the same time, so there is no ‘restriction’ in availability if you share a subscription with more people (in the case of a family subscription).

Fairpoint. You are indeed right.
With streaming services, however, you can watch one stream with several people for the amount of one stream. That is of course also an advantage. If you want multiple streams, these are offered at a discount, another advantage. While if you live alone (young people, the elderly, you name it there are a lot of single households) you simply have to pay the full price for everything. These types of digital subscriptions are only a small aspect of all the financial benefits they miss out on. The whole society is geared towards families and the application of graduated discounts to accommodate them has become so normalized that no one seems to realize how bizarre and unfair it really is. I just really regret that.
2023-07-16 09:48:59
#Microsoft #stop #Friends #Family #subscription #Xbox #Game #Pass #August