XBL Silver Members Facing Content Lockout

Silver subscribers will be forced to wait a week to download new content such as demos from Xbox Live Marketplace following Microsoft’s latest Xbox 360 dashboard update.

Apparently it pays to be an Xbox Live Gold subscriber. According to Microsoft’s Major Nelson, gamers who are only registered for the free version of Xbox Live will from now have to wait a week longer than Xbox Live Gold subscribers to access new content such as game demos.

“Just a reminder that if you have a Silver account, you won’t have access to free content on the Marketplace (like demos) when they are first posted," Major Nelson writes on his blog. "That content will be available to Gold level exclusively for one week, after which Silver members will have access to the free content.

“If you have a Silver account and you see a piece of content that has a red circle with a slash through it you’ll have to wait until a week after the content is released to access it.

“This is not done to annoy our Silver members,” he adds. “Limited time exclusive access to content is just one of the many benefits of having a Gold Xbox Live account.”

Xbox Live’s free Silver subscription service allows gamers with an Xbox 360, a hard drive and a broadband connection to create a gamer profile, create a friends list, to send and receive text and voice messages, as well as to access Xbox Live Marketplace (including Xbox Live Arcade, demos, and trailers). Prior to Microsoft’s recent Xbox 360 fall dashboard update Silver subscribers weren't subject to any time restrictions when it came to accessing Xbox Live content.

News-Source: Next-Gen