It’s been hinted at for a while, and this past weekend Microsoft started sending out emails to Xbox Live subscribers explaining the impending change: soon, MS Points will be no more, and real money will replace it.

Since the Xbox 360 launched, and Microsoft set up shop with its Xbox Live virtual marketplace, it’s used MS Points as the currency. Games and content would cost anywhere from 30 MS Points to 2400 MS Points, or even more. The system attempted to compensate for differences in currencies, but ultimately just confused things even more. Gamers in South Africa would have to buy MS Points cards based on the European system, and MS Points cards weren’t readily available at many outlets nationwide. In fact, the easiest way to know what something cost is that 400 MS Points was equal to $5, and then just convert that using the current exchange rate.

But now, Microsoft will make things a whole lot easier. With the next Xbox 360 system update, expected in the next few weeks, the MS Points system will be dropped in favour of real currencies. The currencies supported will be based on the official regions in which Xbox Live has launched – that is to say, South African gamers will now see rand pricing for content on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Those who have MS Points in their accounts at the moment of the change will have the values converted to the currency of their account region – so if you have 400 MS Points, expect that to be converted to around R50.