On Friday, Microsoft has announced that it will raise prices for Xbox Live Gold during a pandemic, a statement that rightly ignited anger among Xbox fans. Just hours later, Microsoft angrily stepped back and said it was “confused.” At this time, there will be no price increases, the company said. In addition, it has released free multiplayer for free games.
a Update On its original blog posted just before midnight on Friday, Microsoft acknowledged that multiplayer is a critical part of games and said it “did not meet the expectations” of players who use multiplayer every day. It’s not easy to give up Xbox Live Gold, which is required to play online games on Xbox consoles. The move would have increased the cheapest option for the one-year subscription from $ 60 – which can now be purchased from stores like GameStop and Amazon – to $ 120. Uch.
In an apparent effort to calm angry and disappointed gamers, Microsoft said players will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to play multiplayer for free games such as Fortnite or Call of Duty: Warzone. For comparison, before this announcement, Microsoft was the only major platform that did not allow players to use free multiplayer in free games, Virgin reported.
“We got confused today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of games and we have failed to meet the expectations of players who rely on it every day. Therefore, we decided not to change the Xbox Live Gold prices. ” Microsoft said in its update. “We are turning this moment into an opportunity to bring Xbox Live more in line with the way we see the player at the center of their experience. For free games, you will no longer need your Xbox Live Gold subscription to play these games on Xbox. ”
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Microsoft has not specified when free multiplayer for free games will come, but is only working to do so “as soon as possible” in the next few months.
As for Xbox Live Gold pricing, existing members will remain at the 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 12 months retail, per company.
It was not difficult to deduce that the growth proposed by the company would not be taken very well. First, propose this during a pandemic, which had benefited It is games division. Secondly, he didn’t even bother to explain why the price was rising. The only reason he gave was that he would “continue to invest” in the Xbox community and that in many markets, the price of Xbox Live Gold had not changed for more than 10 years.
“Periodically, we evaluate the value and prices of our services to reflect changes in regional markets and to continue investing in the Xbox community; we will make price adjustments for Xbox Live Gold in certain markets, ”the company said in its original blog post.
Now, the increase in Microsoft-focused prices has been seen of many as an effort by the company to push players to switch to its Game Pass Ultimate service, which gives members access to Game Pass, a service with a Netflix and Xbox Live Gold game library, among other benefits, for 14.99 USD per month. Understanding the Game Pass Ultimate is better than paying for Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass on your own and Microsoft would end up earning more money in the long run.
As mentioned by Polygonhowever, not everyone can afford to buy the Ultimate Game Pass and should not be forced to enter it just to put more money in Microsoft’s pockets. Fortunately, they will no longer have to and now they can celebrate this by playing multiplayer on free games in the near future.