Update 2: Well, that didn’t take long. In less than 24 hours Microsoft has reversed its decision to increase the price of Xbox Live Gold and announce that it will keep the £ 49.99 / $ 59.99 annual price of the subscription. Additionally, the online paywall for free-to-play games has now been removed, bringing it in line with PS Plus.
So good news for Xbox owners, but you have to wonder how this decision got out of the boardroom in the first place.
Update 1: Just a quick update to this story, Microsoft has now confirmed that six months of Xbox Live Gold will cost £ 42.99 in the UK. A 12-month subscription to PS Plus currently costs £ 49.99.
Original Story: Let’s hope Microsoft’s new Xbox Live Gold pricing plan didn’t give Sony any ideas, because Playstation plus currently looks like a bargain compared to Team in Green’s revised pricing structure. If you remove Xbox Game Pass from the conversation, we’d argue that Sony’s primary subscription level has been superior to its closest competitor in terms of monthly games for a while – and now it’s available for half the price too!
Currently it costs $ 59.99 to subscribe to PS Plus for 12 months, but after some rumors, Microsoft has revealed that it is now charging $ 59.99 for just six months of service. This apparently only applies to new or expired subscribers; the wording is clunky, but it looks like those on a 12-month recurring subscription will continue to pay the previous price of $ 59.99 for a year.
Of course, there’s a much bigger discussion here about how the Redmond firm is effectively raising prices to increase the value of its Game Pass Ultimate option. However, it’s worth remembering that a large number of players are only really interested in playing titles like FIFA 21 and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and they now have to pay twice the price to do so with Xbox Live Gold compared to PS Plus.
It’s also worth adding that, at the time of writing, free-to-play titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone don’t require a PS Plus subscription on the PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, where Xbox players will have to hollow out $ 120 to enjoy those titles online unless the company changes its policy. That’s without even mentioning additional benefits like the PS Plus collection, that really add to the value of Sony’s service.
Of course, it is entirely possible that the Japanese giant is looking at this price hike and thinking he can get away with a similar hike. We hope not, because while we think PS Plus is good value as it is today, we’re not sure we’re willing to pay these Xbox Live Gold prices – especially if Sony doesn’t have an attractive alternative to Game Pass Ultimate yet.