On FridayMicrosoft announced that it would increase prices for Xbox Live Gold during a pandemic, a statement that rightly caused anger among Xbox fans. Just hours later, Microsoft turned back furious and said it had “made a mistake.” According to the company, there would be no price increases at this time. Plus, it also pitched free multiplayer for free to play games.
In a Updating In the original blog posted just before midnight on Friday, Microsoft acknowledged that multiplayer is a critical part of gaming and said it “fell short of the expectations” of players who use multiplayer every day. It’s not that easy to skip Xbox Live Gold, which is necessary to play online games on Xbox consoles. The move would have raised the cheapest one-year membership option from $ 60 – currently available for purchase at stores like GameStop and Amazon – to $ 120. Au.
In an apparent effort to appease angry and disappointed players, Microsoft said players no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play multiplayer for free-to-play games, such as Fortnite or Call of Duty: Warzone. In comparison, prior to this announcement, Microsoft was the only major platform that didn’t allow players to use multiplayer for free on free-to-play games, the edge reported.
“We messed up today and you were right to let us know. 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. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold prices, ” Microsoft said in its update. “We take this moment to be an opportunity to bring Xbox Live closer to how we put the player at the center of their experience. Free-to-play games no longer require an Xbox Live Gold membership to play those games on Xbox. “
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Microsoft didn’t specify when free multiplayer would come for free-to-play games, only that it was working on getting it “as soon as possible” in the coming months.
As for Xbox Live Gold pricing, existing members will keep their current renewal price. New and existing members can pay $ 9.99 for one month, $ 24.99 for three months, $ 39.99 for six months, and $ 59.99 for a retail price of 12 months per company.
It was not difficult to infer that the company’s proposed price increase would not be properly accepted. First, it suggests this during a pandemic, which has benefited her gaming division. Second, it didn’t even bother to explain why it raised the price. The only suspicion it gave was that it “would continue to invest” in the Xbox community and that the price of Xbox Live Gold in many markets had not changed in more than 10 years.
“We periodically review the value and pricing of our services to reflect changes in regional markets and to continue to invest in the Xbox community; we will be making price adjustments for Xbox Live Gold in select markets, ”the company said in its original blog post.
Microsoft’s price hike was now seen through a lot of as an attempt by the company to get players to switch to the Game Pass Ultimate service, which gives members access to Game Pass, a service with a Netflix-like library of games, and Xbox Live Gold, among other benefits , for $ 14.99 a month. The Game Pass Ultimate deal is better than just paying for Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass and would make Microsoft more money in the long run.
As noted by PolygonHowever, not everyone can afford to buy Game Pass Ultimate, and they shouldn’t be forced to just put more money into Microsoft’s pockets. Fortunately, they don’t have to now, and they can celebrate that fact by playing multiplayer on free-to-play games in the near future.