Microsoft Backtracks, Xbox Live Gold Pricing Won’t Change
It was been a turbulent time for Xbox fans for the past 24 hours. Yesterday, Microsoft announced that they would be doubling the price of Xbox Live Gold and later that same day, they rolled back the announcement and are improving the value of the service.
On Friday morning, Microsoft stated that Xbox Live Gold would go from $60 a year, to $120. The price jump made a lot of fans angry, rightfully so, and everyone looked at this as a way to force Xbox customers into Game Pass Ultimate.
After a significant uproar across the web because of the change, Microsoft has announced that they are rolling back this change and are going to make other, positive, changes to the Xbox Live structure.
Today was not great. We always try to do our best for you and today we missed the mark.
We hear you, and we’re reversing our Xbox Live Gold pricing updates.
— Xbox (@Xbox) January 23, 2021
While the old prices are sticking, going forward, Microsoft is going to make Free to Play (F2P) titles, free…to play. What I mean is that you will no longer need Xbox Live Gold to play games like Fortnite, Destiny, COD Warzone, or Apex Legends; this is actually a sensible move.
Because of this change, this makes the Xbox Series S an even better value for those looking for a cheap way to play the game at 1080P and 60 FPS – $299 with no Gold required is a good value.
It’s still a bit shocking that this change got pushed through the Xbox org without anyone calling out that “hey it’s a pandemic and maybe doubling the price isn’t a good idea” but here we are. Thankfully, Microsoft has made the right move and in the end, gamers come out ahead.