Makes free to play games actually free to play.
Microsoft is pulling a 180 on plans to increase Xbox Live prices not even 24 hours after announcing the change. Earlier on Friday Microsoft announced that Xbox Live would see a huge price increase to the point of doubling the current cost. Currently Xbox Live costs $59.99 for a full year, but after the proposed price increases $60 would become the price of just six months.
Only Microsoft seemed shocked by the negative reaction to doubling the cost of a service while providing almost no visible increase in value to accommodate. And as of nearly midnight eastern time, Microsoft updated their announcement to apologize and confirm that the price hike is cancelled.
We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold pricing.
So prices won’t be going up. For now. The company also announced that free to play games will no longer require Xbox Live membership. So you can play all the Fortnite you want without handing over another subscription. This brings the service more in line with Sony.
We’re turning this moment into an opportunity to bring Xbox Live more in line with how we see the player at the center of their experience. For free-to-play games, you will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play those games on Xbox. We are working hard to deliver this change as soon as possible in the coming months.
All it took was a heavy beating on social media and likely thousands of angry calls to customer support. And probably a lot of cancellations. And bad press.
MMO Fallout 