Playing Xbox online will not be free in the next generation

Recently, a lot of speculation has been made, due to a number of changes that Xbox has been doing in its branding. They have been very busy recently with re-branding their online service to the newly titled “Xbox Online Services” and pulling away from their current terminology of the highly popular “Xbox Live”. With this fans and press began to notice this shift in branding and the rumour mill started to run and has now exploded, ultimately pointing to the most extreme change, being that Microsoft will be offering online gaming service for free to its players. Although, our friends at WindowsCentral.com have reached out to Microsoft to clear this up once and for all, and have had the following response:

“The update to 'Xbox online service' in the Microsoft Services Agreement refers to the underlying Xbox service that includes features like cross-saves and friend requests. This language update is intended to distinguish that underlying service, and the paid Xbox Live Gold subscription. There are no changes being made to the experience of the service or Xbox Live Gold.”

Although, just because the pricing isn’t going away, doesn’t mean that it’s not changing. There is a general feeling that Microsoft will be targeting more at selling “Xbox Game Pass” subscriptions, which comes with “Xbox Gold Pass” and access to the amazing streaming service that they offer. Microsoft could begin looking at offering this in place of the current gold pass, hopefully at the same or a similar price that isn't too much higher than the current tarrif.

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