Refunds To Be Issued To Xbox Live Users Hit By Currency Conversion Mistake
One of the few bright points of Microsoft’s E3 press conference was the fact that they were doing away with the proprietary Microsoft Points program. The points system hasn’t really had any defenders, and for good reason. After all, it was pretty worthless, adding just another layer of abstraction onto the store and leading to awkward moments where Microsoft would “reward” longtime Xbox Live users with awards that would total a quarter in real money.
Of course, before Microsoft can get rid of MS Points and convert everything to each country’s local currency they have to test things out first, and some beta users in Great Britain have found that things are a bit more costly now on Xbox Live. Before a 1,600 point card would cost £13.33, but now DLC that had cost 1,600 points were priced at £14.99. It’s no surprise to see that many of the beta testers started crying foul over this perceived attempt at using the points conversion in order to mask a price increase.
Microsoft has said that the higher prices were merely an error, and will be refunding the difference when the update that gets rid of MS Points is made public. In a public statement, a Microsoft representative had this to say: “Beta programs give us a chance to test, fix and correct issues like this. As with all betas, we take the learnings from our program and make corrections and adjustments prior to the update being available to all members.”
