Microsoft would rather lose some money than lose customers to PlayStation.
The tech titan was running back on planned price increases for its Xbox Live gaming service after furious players threatened to leave the flagship console.
“We messed up today and you were right to let us know,” Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold team said in a blog post late Friday. “Connecting and playing with friends is an essential part of gaming and we fell short of the expectations of players who rely on it every day.”
Microsoft reversed course about 15 hours after announcing plans to charge $ 59.99 for a six-month subscription to Xbox Live Gold, which currently buys a full year of the service.
The company had also said it would increase the price of a month’s membership by $ 1 and the three-month rate by $ 5.
Tried players protested the plans on Twitter, with some saying they were considering jumping over to Sony’s PlayStation console.
Gamers also speculated that the price hike was meant to get people to sign up for Microsoft’s monthly Xbox Game Pass subscription service, which gives users access to a library of games for $ 10 a month.
But Microsoft said it will leave the current Xbox Live Gold pricing structure unchanged, including the $ 59.99 one-year subscription. According to the blog post, the company will also be making free games available without an Xbox Live Gold subscription in the coming months.
“We take this moment as an opportunity to bring Xbox Live closer to how we put the player at the center of their experience,” Microsoft said in the post.