Microsoft backpedals on increased Xbox Live Gold subscription costs after backlash

If you are a PC gamer, you have likely never had to bother with paying money to play with other people online. On consoles, however, both Microsoft and Sony charge a small fee to enable you to play with other players, what this means is that a game’s multiplayer suite is likely inaccessible to you unless you cough up some dough.

While this sounds bad, the cost covers the upkeep of servers required to maintain online services and as a bonus, you also get free games with the deal. Microsoft has been at the forefront of these subscription services since the launch of the OG Xbox in 2001. The service known as Xbox Live Gold was introduced in 2002 and has been humming along ever since, with some fans considering it and the Xbox Game Pass gold standards for online subscriptions.

On the 21st of January, Microsoft announced that it was raising the prices of the service after not changing them for more than a decade in some countries. The new prices were set to be effective immediately and would have seen the $9.99 one-month sub increase by $1 and the three-month $24.99 sub increase by $5. This did not sit well with players.

It did not take Microsoft long to backpedal on their little snafu.

It did not take Microsoft long to backpedal on their little snafu. They promptly put out a statement saying that they were reverting prices to what they were and the whole situation seems to have calmed down now.

Honestly, though, the real story in all this that people seem to have missed is the fact that Microsoft will now no longer charge you to play online if you are playing a free-to-play game. What that means is that any game that advertises itself as free-to-play on the Xbox game store will no longer charge you anything for access to its multiplayer features.

Kind of makes you think though, doesn’t it? If Microsoft had just put that front and centre in the statement, would people still be angry at the pricing change? For now, it seems more logical to roll back the extra $1 they will not make in exchange for goodwill. All’s well that ends well, I guess.