As the sun has now set on the Xbox Live servers for the original Xbox games, the question that some gamers want to have answered is if Microsoft will allow the ability to expand your friends list for Xbox Live? The next question that follows closely behind is if we really need it to be expanded?
Could it be a new way for Microsoft to make a little extra cash? They already charge you 800 MS Points to change your gamertag. Could the same kind of method be used to expand your friends list? Let’s say 400 points for to increase your capacity to 150? Or 800 MS Points to go to 250? Creating a tiered pricing structure would allow gamers freedom to customize their friends list to their tastes and ‘popularity.’ How gamers would react to having to pay for such a feature would be something to see.
Although I have been creeping closer to the max, I don’t feel I’d pay for any kind of friends list expansion. I have some people on my list that I just don’t seem to be online with at the same time, and others that just haven’t been online for a long time.
Microsoft indicates that the average friends list size is only around 20, so expanding the list would seem to be unnecessary for most of the Live users. However, there are many who have maxed out their list, and have been at the limit for some time. Many Xbox community leaders have been at full capacity for a long time, and on occasion have to prune their lists to add some new members of their forums. I personally am at about 75, and for the most part, don’t play with/against most of the friends I have.
Right now, when I log in, it’s pretty unusual to see more than 20 of my friends online at the same time, and that’s only when it’s Friday or Saturday night. Otherwise, it’s typically hovering around 10 or so.
Perhaps a better option could be more options to manage your friends list. A little while ago, MS allowed you to sort your list based on activity, Gamertag, or online status. Adding a sort by game played that would place friends playing the same game as you could be helpful. This would be most appropriate when the new “big thing’ is released, such as Halo: Reach due out later this year.
What about finally bringing about the possibility of clan support? Or even the ability to be in multiple clans? With the ceiling of 100 friends imposed by the programming limits of Halo 2 finally removed, there are some interesting directions Microsoft could take with this new freedom. Personally, I would enjoy
having the ability to section off my friends list that I play sports games with, or first person shooters, or a ‘boosters’ club.
Another option I could see being useful would be an “auto-delete” feature for the friends that just haven’t been online for so long. You could set an option to delete friends that haven’t been logged into Live for a set amount of time. 90 days, 180 days or 365 days, for example.
In the end, an increase would be beneficial to some, and would have no impact on others at all.
Do you want to see the 100 friends limit increased? If they charged you MS Points for it, would you still do it? What would be your ideal friends list cap?
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
pretty soon they'll charge for just turning the console on, which would be a good idea to keep the RROD count low
I have had no need to change my gamertag so i never knew they charged you to do that. Would that be because of migrating gamer information and achievements from one to another?
Anyway, i heard other changes were in store especially for silver members. Supposedly if you are a silver on the same system as a gold then you would be getting the full gold percs. Trick is, you only get gold type access so long as your silver profile resides on the same system.
I dont mind currently paying for live but i am not about to pay again for my son to play online. He should be able to use my paid access with his profile. Hopefully this is true.