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Jeff Grub says Xbox Live Gold and paying to play online is going away soon

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Xbox Gold is only at 10 million? That's it?

Ok, lower than I thought.

I remember during the 360 days MS said Gold subbers were at 40 million. Although they never said annual or a monthly $10 thing.

If that's the amount the sales given up is much lower than billions.


That was also when they had a much stronger position in the market. They don't even have 50 million xbones sold officially.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Should I buy gold in the hopes they convert it to game pass?
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
I do have crow to eat if this actually happens.

It's essentially free money to the tune of what, a billion a year for xbox?
 

soulbait

Member
My theory on what is going to happen:

  • You will no longer need to pay to play online
  • Those who currently ave Xbox Live Gold accounts, they will automatically be transferred to Game Pass standard accounts
  • They will push Game Pass Ultimate for users to get PC games and xCloud access
 

THEAP99

Banned
Interesting if true. Hopefully Sony follows or else they have a small hill to climb.

i really don’t know if Sony will follow. PS Plus is a huge moneymaker for them.

If they ditch ps plus, I think they’re going to have to double down on PS Now and start day and date. More pc ports as well.
 

StormCell

Member
I saw this thread and am probably the only one who immediately LOL'd in Nintendo's direction, seeing as how they just started charging for online. LOL

ROFLz.

Yes, I'm a Nintendo fan, but I still LMAO at them.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
You never know. As some people have guessed, maybe Gold is free as GP is the new Gold.

Maybe that's why MS didn't care about people doing $1 GPU upgrades the past year.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
My theory on what is going to happen:

  • You will no longer need to pay to play online
  • Those who currently ave Xbox Live Gold accounts, they will automatically be transferred to Game Pass standard accounts
  • They will push Game Pass Ultimate for users to get PC games and xCloud access
Gold deals will probably become part of Game Pass Ultimate.
 

Bumblebeetuna

Gold Member
Yes, Xbox Live Gold will go away. You will no longer need to buy it to play online.

Instead, you'll have to buy GamePass or GamePass Ultimate.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
Xbox Gold is only at 10 million? That's it?

Ok, lower than I thought.

I remember during the 360 days MS said Gold subbers were at 40 million. Although they never said annual or a monthly $10 thing.

If that's the amount the sales given up is much lower than billions.

When they initiated the "Home Gold" concept the number of subscribers probably went down quite a bit. On 360 if you had a few different profiles that played online, everyone needed a separate Gold subscription. With them blending Xbox and PC more and more, it is a bit unfair that console players still have the charge. I'll believe it only when I see it though, MS likes that recurring revenue.

Gold = Free. No more GwG

GP = $60 annual + GwG

GPU = $120 annual + GwG

The need for GwG diminishes with the GP subs, you've got the GP games. I would hope if they eliminate Gold they would allow the GwG games to remain in your library. 🤷‍♂️
 
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Vawn

Banned
I saw this thread and am probably the only one who immediately LOL'd in Nintendo's direction, seeing as how they just started charging for online. LOL

ROFLz.

Yes, I'm a Nintendo fan, but I still LMAO at them.

In Nintendo's defense, their online is TOP tier.
 

ultrazilla

Member
No freaking way. I'll believe it when I see it.

Would be absolutely huge if it happens...

Oh there's a fucking catch to this.
OblongSharpAfricanpiedkingfisher-small.gif
 

Flintty

Member
It’s easier to get casuals to pay for a gaming ‘Netflix’ than it is to get them to pay for online play. Kinda makes me feel this was the endgame with the introduction of Gamepass.

People stay subbed to Netflix even if they go a month without watching anything - it’s a monthly utility bill at this point. The same could happen with Gamepass if the value is there.
 

Neofire

Member
Marking this thread, I smell bs. Makes no sense and goes against the GAAS subscription model MS has tried to push for years.

We shall see
 

HoodWinked

Gold Member
Ya looks like they're just trying to have parity with playstation plus, which has free online for F2P games and some other exceptions.

Xbox Gold is required even for games like fortnite, apex

But at the same time trying to clean up/consolidate some of the subscriptions because they have Gold and Gamepass which is likely causing consumer confusion but they still don't want to eliminate Gold because it's a large revenue source.
 
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I mean, this is the step they kind have to take to make sure Xbox works across every single device, but, and it's a big BUTT... Xbox Live Gold has a membership of 90 Million. That is 90 Million @ $60 a year, that just poof disappears. GamePass has 10 Million but it does not cover that 90 Million subscriptions deficit. That's A LOT of $$$, that's gotta be XBox's biggest revenue source.

I think realistically Xbox Live Gold will no longer be needed for Online Play, YAY!!!!, and Live Gold and GamePass gets merged in some way.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
I mean, this is the step they kind have to take to make sure Xbox works across every single device, but, and it's a big BUTT... Xbox Live Gold has a membership of 90 Million. That is 90 Million @ $60 a year, that just poof disappears. GamePass has 10 Million but it does not cover that 90 Million subscriptions deficit. That's A LOT of $$$, that's gotta be XBox's biggest revenue source.

I think realistically Xbox Live Gold will no longer be needed for Online Play, YAY!!!!, and Live Gold and GamePass gets merged in some way.
Thats Xbox Live users, not Gold. They never revealed Gold members, but Brad Sams estimated it to be 10 million.
 
Thats Xbox Live users, not Gold. They never revealed Gold members, but Brad Sams estimated it to be 10 million.
Okay, I thought that was a VERY BIG number :messenger_tears_of_joy: My google search was not very accurate. But, just 10 Million?!?! That has to be a conservative estimate right? I would imagine it would be much more than that, but that's just a guess on my part. Lets say it is 10 Million @ $60, that still at least $600 Million :messenger_face_screaming: That's a lot of money to just leave. I stick by my "guess" that online play becomes free and that Gold gets merged with GamePass in some way.
 

00_Zer0

Member
If this is true I wonder what happens to cloud saves? Will it be free too since it was already a feature of XBox Live Gold?
 

DaGwaphics

Member
Okay, I thought that was a VERY BIG number :messenger_tears_of_joy: My google search was not very accurate. But, just 10 Million?!?! That has to be a conservative estimate right? I would imagine it would be much more than that, but that's just a guess on my part. Lets say it is 10 Million @ $60, that still at least $600 Million :messenger_face_screaming: That's a lot of money to just leave. I stick by my "guess" that online play becomes free and that Gold gets merged with GamePass in some way.

If online play is free, what is left of Gold? The monthly games and discounts? Can't see too many sticking around for just that, especially since GP users already have games. Deals with gold could very easily become deals with GP.
 

gypsygib

Member
Paying to play online is the reason I switched from console to PC. I ended up paying like $130 just to play FIFA with my buds and thought, if I'm blowing my dollars, may as well put the money to something that enhances my gaming experience. Now I'd never go back to console but more so for the frames and obsession I have with PC hardware. I gamed on console since NES though, lined up to get a PS4 on launch day and have only touched it twice since 2015 to play GOW and Spiderman.
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Said this in the other thread too, but it just makes the most sense for their strategy going forward. With Xbox Live Gold you get: 4 free games per month (two Xbox One games, two BC games), online multiplayer, and weekly store discounts. The four free games each month is almost in direct competition with Game Pass - the longer you're subscribed, the bigger your library gets and the less reason you have to want to subscribe to Game Pass. Additionally, when the Series X releases, people are going to start clamoring for "free" Series X games on the program and Microsoft would rather you just subscribe to Game Pass to get those.

So they ditch the Games With Gold program (and give everyone who used it permanent access to those games) and remove the online paywall requirement. The "extra" discounts are silly and you just give those to everyone - it's up to the publishers anyway to set those. Going forward, you make your next-gen console look like an incredible value compared to the competition and for those that want a subscription you have one that offers an instant library of hundreds of games.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
If this is true I wonder what happens to cloud saves? Will it be free too since it was already a feature of XBox Live Gold?
Cloud saves are actually already free on Xbox. Even non-Gold users have access to this feature already. This isn't true for Sony or Nintendo though.
 
If online play is free, what is left of Gold? The monthly games and discounts? Can't see too many sticking around for just that, especially since GP users already have games. Deals with gold could very easily become deals with GP.
GamePass will be the new thing that they are betting will keep members there. They'll merge the two some how. It's always a risk, when you make moves, that some will leave. But I'm certain that they have a number of projections that they've drawn up. They have plans for each potential outcome.
 

NickFire

Member
I love this rumor. But getting harder to believe it as time goes on. MS could have gotten people praising the hell out of it this past week by announcing this when Hale footage dropped. Odd to me they wouldn't have changed the narrative with such an easy way to do it.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Okay, I thought that was a VERY BIG number :messenger_tears_of_joy: My google search was not very accurate. But, just 10 Million?!?! That has to be a conservative estimate right? I would imagine it would be much more than that, but that's just a guess on my part. Lets say it is 10 Million @ $60, that still at least $600 Million :messenger_face_screaming: That's a lot of money to just leave. I stick by my "guess" that online play becomes free and that Gold gets merged with GamePass in some way.
And a lot of that money goes to paying for those free games.
 
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