Microsoft Xbox Live Gold price increase reversed; Free-to-play titles won't require Gold

Technology giant Microsoft had recently announced that it will be increasing its price for its Microsoft Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, which allows console owners to play online games. Soon after the announcement, the company received a lot of criticism over the move where many deemed the sudden price change to be unnecessary.

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Microsoft Xbox live gold price increase reversed

Microsoft was set to increase the price of Xbox Live Gold subscription to $120 per year; however, the company has now released a new blog post confirming that it has decided not to make any changes to its Xbox Live Gold pricing.

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.

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The post further explained that all the existing Xbox Live Gold members will stick to their current price at the time of renewal. It further added that people in the United States will pay $9.99 for one month, $24.99 for three months, $39.99 for six months and $59.99 for retail 12 months.

Microsoft has also stated that the Xbox Live Gold subscriptions in certain regions have been notified of the change. It explains that if a price appears to be adjusted in a region, the members shall receive a mail along with a message center notification from the company informing them of the latest pricing for the service.

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Free-to-play titles won't require Xbox Live Gold membership

Apart from reversing the price change, the company also assured owners that they will no longer need to have an Xbox Live Gold account to be able to enjoy free-to-play multiplayer titles. Microsoft has stated the team is hard at work on bringing this change to console owners at the in coming months. 

Currently, Xbox console owners are required to have a Microsoft Xbox Live Gold subscriptions to be able to play free-to-play multiplayer titles such as Apex Legends, Fortnite, Destiny 2 and others. On the other hand, gamers on PS consoles and Nintendo Switch do not require an online subscription to play these games.

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Image credits: Unsplash | lppoitras