Xbox Just Unlocked Online Multiplayer for Free-to-Play Games Without a Live Gold Subscription

Microsoft had announced earlier its plans to make the Xbox Live Gold subscriptions more affordable for the players. The company took the decision of increasing the prices of these subscriptions and even insisted on mandatory subscriptions in order to access online multiplayer aspects of free-to-play games. Naturally, the company faced a huge amount of backlash and subsequently decided against it. Xbox decided not to change the Live Gold subscription pricing as well, along with announcing an upcoming change.

Microsoft had subsequently decided to make the online multiplayer aspects of free-to-play games available even without Live Gold subscriptions. In an official blog post back in January, the Xbox Live Gold team said,

“… 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.

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.”

The company put this decision to effect earlier today.

Further reading: PlayStation Play at Home Allows Fans to Download Horizon Zero Dawn for Free

Xbox makes online multiplayer available for 50 free-to-play titles even without a Live Gold subscription

Of the three major console companies, Microsoft was the only one that needed a mandatory Live Gold subscription in order to access the online multiplayer aspects of free-to-play games. However, the Live Gold team was quick in realizing the problem with this and reverted this decision. It announced its new policy regarding this in a recent official blog post:

“All Xbox players will be able to access online multiplayer at no charge for a library of over 50 free-to-play games that support online multiplayer. The full list of more than 50 free-to-play games is available on Xbox.com.”

This list includes titles like Call of Duty Warzone, Apex Legends, Brawlhalla, DC Universe Online, among many others.