I think for it as a standalone service, it is perhaps overpriced. However I think of it instead as subsidizing many other things on the Xbox, including its orig

I think for it as a standalone service, it is perhaps overpriced. However I think of it instead as subsidizing many other things on the Xbox, including its original manufacture, continued R&D, patches to the system, and community management. The voice + matchmaking experience is pretty nice, moreso since it is tied into a long-term identity system. There isn't a good parallel solution for free on the PC for that that has such strong integration (yet). I was under the impression that servers were hosted by Microsoft (or someone), which is why you can't play Halo 2 anymore. They aren't dedicated ones that you pay for otherwise, but they are dedicated from my understanding. Consoles are tradeoffs between ease of use, consistent user experience and power. Microsoft works really hard to make it an easy, consistent user experience. Sure you don't get all the modding power, ability to customize your servers, but on the flip side it is very easy to use. It works for most people most of the time.