Xbox was planning to increase the price of its Xbox Live Gold subscription, as announced late last week.
The subscription, which is a requirement to play games online on Xbox consoles and gives out monthly free games (like PS Plus is for PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch Online is for Nintendo Switch) was supposed to increase by $1 USD (making it $10.99 USD) for its 1-month membership, and $5 USD ($29.99 USD) for a 3-month membership.
This prompt backlash among the Xbox community, as players calls out not only the price hike, but also the one weird thing that Xbox has been doing that competitors don’t- requiring the paid subscription to play free-to-play titles.
Free-to-play titles on PlayStation is exempted from any PS Plus requirement, so when free weekend deals appear, everyone (not just subscribers of the multiplayer service) gets to join in.
Less than a day of the news, Xbox did a 180 and then some. Not only have they backed down from the price hike. They’ve also going to make free-to-play games no longer require Xbox Live Gold membership. This will happen “as soon as possible in the coming months.”
It’s one thing to revert plans as your customers call you out, but to offer more than just that? Looks like Microsoft sees that a slight increase of revenue being traded for goodwill was not they wanted.
But for the rest of gaming community, this is now turned into good news.
Source: Xbox Wire