After Midnight: Everyone Thinks Xbox Live Is Going Free


I should be sleeping.

Update: Jokes on all of you. It’s a free weekend and the internet in a completely unprecedented turn of events overreacted.

Original Story: Why am I writing an article at 1:30 a.m. on a Wednesday Night Thursday Morning? Because something has happened and the internet is once again in the process of losing its collective sanity. Something is happening with Xbox Live and right now in the dead of night it isn’t quite clear what is going on, why, and what the next day will bring.

Players are reporting in growing numbers on Twitter and other platforms that they can access Xbox Live multiplayer without an active Gold subscription. Generally one would need a Gold account with active paid status in order to play games online. Microsoft has historically been more restrictive than Sony who currently allows free access to online game modes for games that are also free to play. For example one can play Fortnite on PlayStation without a PS+ subscription, but you still need gold to play Fortnite on the Xbox One.

Most interesting about this story is that it is breaking on the same day as Sony’s State of Play event later today. It also comes almost directly after Microsoft stated unequivocally that there are no plans to change the Xbox Live experience.

If this is Microsoft’s planned (or unplanned) method of revealing Xbox Live going subscription free, they’ve picked a hell of a way to do it. Unless this is a glitch and everyone is going to wake up Thursday morning with the glitch fixed to call me an idiot and a Microsoft shill. But if I’m right, you heard it here first.

Don’t believe anything until it is officially commented on by Microsoft.

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