• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Xbox is still planning to drop Live Gold, it’s claimed

elliot5

Member
I didn't miss anything..

I love this "people who were blatantly wrong still think they were right" opposite day stuff though lol

The entire narrative behind "MS will drop XBLG" was that they would make playing online free.. now everyone has just switched to this "well Gamepass will be the only way to play online eventually" thing and it's hilarious.
It would be such a dumb mistake if they did that too. It just muddies up the package offerings and forces a higher sub with stuff some may not want. It wouldn't make sense to tie it to the basic GP tier and making only gold subs pay 3x as much just to play online is a terrible idea.

Prior to the f2p requirement dropping the negative on Xbox was you have to pay $60 (even $120 pre walk back) to play Fortnite compared to PC and PS.

Then imagine saying now you have to pay $180 to play online like Call of Duty and FIFA. Doesn't matter if you get the GP benefits, it'd be stupid.

Highly highly doubt GP being required for online will be a thing. It'll just go away.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
Will Ferrell Reaction GIF
 
He is so full of shit, I told him at the time on twitter that the ONLY thing they may get rid of is the requirement to play Free to play games and he said "no everything" and when MS denied it and I pointed that out o him he blocked me on twitter. MS is a services company I don't know what he doesn't get about that, if it weren't for Gold they would have exited the gaming business a long time ago. They may one day do away with calling it gold and make people sign up for GPU but charging for online play is what brings in most of the money they make and they aren't about to let that go.

His quoting GP subs when that's including PC and console is funny too considering their is no gold for PC players, if what he says is true (it's not) they'd have to make sure it was only console subs and that they were having a very high rate of retention. I have no doubt that Gold memberships have a higher level of retention/renewal than gamepass.
 
Last edited:

01011001

Banned
doesn't matter if they plan to do it or not,
fact is THEY SHOULD

Xbox Live Gold is an archaic concept that has absolutely no place in their modern ecosystem!
PC players play the same games on the same Xbox Live servers with the same Microsoft accounts, yet they don't have to pay.

this year, when Halo Infinite comes out, and I buy the campaign... I can either play online coop and pay to do so on my couch... or I can play online coop for free if I walk 5 meters to the left and sit down in front of my PC.

and the game is play anywhere so it's literally the same license I buy for both.
the same game, bought ONCE in the Microsoft Store is either paid online or free online

it's ridiculous
 
Last edited:
imo microsoft should make one sub that ties in all their services. basically, gamepass ultimate should be the only subscription.

sony should do the same. playstation plus should include online gaming, the instant collection as well as ps now. put it all under the banner of plus.
 
Last edited:

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
It would be such a dumb mistake if they did that too. It just muddies up the package offerings and forces a higher sub with stuff some may not want. It wouldn't make sense to tie it to the basic GP tier and making only gold subs pay 3x as much just to play online is a terrible idea.

Prior to the f2p requirement dropping the negative on Xbox was you have to pay $60 (even $120 pre walk back) to play Fortnite compared to PC and PS.

Then imagine saying now you have to pay $180 to play online like Call of Duty and FIFA. Doesn't matter if you get the GP benefits, it'd be stupid.

Highly highly doubt GP being required for online will be a thing. It'll just go away.

Right.. it's absolutely ridiculous.

MS wants to normalize the existing monthly price for XBLG if anything, which actually is $9.99 a month.. and may change some things about GamePass, but forcing $15 for online play to "get people into Gamepass" is just nonsense to me.

Whats more likely is that $10 Gamepass that doesn't come w/ online play will go away, and GamePass will be $15 minimum and come with online play, and then there will be a $20 tier (perhaps the current Ultimate offering.)

But ditching XBLG, as the baseline? Nah.
 
Last edited:

BigSquanch

Neo Member
It’s the only way Microsoft would ever get a console sale and Ultimate subscription from me.

I sub to game pass for PC and I’d like to get a Series S to bring when I travel, but I refuse to pay to play online games on an Xbox that I don’t need to pay for on a PC.
 
Last edited:

elliot5

Member
It’s the only way Microsoft would ever get a console sale and Ultimate subscription from me.

I sub to game pass for PC and I’d like to get a Series S to bring when I travel, but I refuse to pay to play online games on an Xbox that I don’t need to pay for on a PC.
I don't like the idea for paying online either, but when I got my XSX I justified the Ultimate sub because it's cheaper than two separate game pass subs that I can effectively ignore the Gold aspect. Them dropping Gold won't make game pass any cheaper on either device.
 

Topher

Gold Member
imo microsoft should make one sub that ties in all their services. basically, gamepass ultimate should be the only subscription.

sony should do the same. playstation plus should include online gaming, the instant collection as well as ps now. put it all under the banner of plus.

That would be forcing people who just want to play games like COD online and pay $60 a year for XBLG to play $180 per year for services/games they may not want.
 
Ive bought a copy of Borderlands 3 for a friend so we can play online together. I WOULD have bought a copy for another friend but he doesn't pay for Gold. So microsoft you be losing out on that sale because of something that should have been removed years ago. Get..... Rid....of..... Gold.
You can also get rid of those free included games things too while your at it. Just have better deals on sales instead.
 

reksveks

Member
They won't drop it until people prefer GP over it.
I could see them making Gold only available as GamePass Ultimate though, that would do the trick for them.
That's basically what he said btw.

Just before/right after, does it really matter. I see the Deathloop demo at the Sony show last night made him interested in Deathloop finally. I for one can think of 7.5 billion reasons why he now likes Deathloop.

P.S. Apologies for mocking your hero Jeffrey Grubb Esq.
He got asked the question in chat. You guys do love the conspiracy theories.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
I didn't miss anything..

I love this "people who were blatantly wrong still think they were right" opposite day stuff though lol

The entire narrative behind "MS will drop XBLG" was that they would make playing online free.. now everyone has just switched to this "well Gamepass will be the only way to play online eventually" thing and it's hilarious.
You got this from that?
It's always been push GP.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
You got this from that?
It's always been push GP.
It was literally all the internet was talking about when MS dropped the 12 month live cards from their site; that it was a preface for making XBLG/multiplayer free.

Maybe you missed it. ("it" being this very thread topic lol)

It's quite literally, in the OP"


When that was blatantly wrong.. and it turned out MS raising the effective price of XBLG.. was just.. them raising the price, it turned into this "they'll drop XBLG but you'll only be able to get multiplayer via GPU" crap lol
 
Last edited:
Just look at how long it took them to take netflix from behind the paywall, they had to be shamed into it and then free to play games lol gold is their bread and butter they aren't going to drop it.
 

GHG

Gold Member
So from price increase to "dropping" it?

Big doubt.

The only way this makes sense if if they increase the price of gamepass and/or make gamepass a requirement for online play on consoles.
 

Jaybe

Gold Member
I don’t get why he thinks Halo Infinite will drive up Game Pass. Its multiplayer is free to play. So the only benefit for a game pass subscriber is the campaign, which at this point has made a poor first impression and a CGI clip. Maybe some consumers will be suckered into it, thinking The campaign and multiplayer both require game pass. Forza Horizon 5 I could see driving more incremental subs.
It seems clear MS ultimately wants online play tied to game pass and to drop gold as a tier. I don’t see online ever being free on its own aside from F2P games.
 
Last edited:

01011001

Banned
I don’t get why he thinks Halo Infinite will drive up Game Pass. Its multiplayer is free to play. So the only benefit for a game pass subscriber is the campaign, which at this point has made a poor first impression and a CGI clip. Maybe some consumers will be suckered into it. Forza Horizon 5 I could see driving more incremental subs.
It seems clear MS ultimately wants online play tied to game pass and to drop gold as a tier. I don’t see online ever being free on its own aside from F2P games.

well you can unlock cosmetics in the campaign... and that, believe it or not, will draw in people just for that lol
 

elliot5

Member
I don’t get why he thinks Halo Infinite will drive up Game Pass. Its multiplayer is free to play. So the only benefit for a game pass subscriber is the campaign, which at this point has made a poor first impression and a CGI clip. Maybe some consumers will be suckered into it. Forza Horizon 5 I could see driving more incremental subs.
It seems clear MS ultimately wants online play tied to game pass and to drop gold as a tier. I don’t see online ever being free on its own aside from F2P games.
Because Halo's campaign is still a big driving factor. Same reason why COD sells a lot despite stuff like Warzone being F2P (yes I know reg MP is included, but still, COD campaigns have a big draw).

I don't see online play being tied to game pass. It's a little silly that PSNow lets you stream MP without PS+, but in theory xCloud wouldn't let you stream Sea of Thieves without Gold if it wasn't requiring Game Pass Ultimate to stream to begin with. It's also silly I can't tell my cousin to play Sea of Thieves with me on Xbox while I play on PC without needing to pay for Gold on Xbox. Xbox Live cost of maintenance is probably a drop in the bucket compared to their overall Azure services. They're just trying to get Game Pass subs across ALL ecosystems (PC, Xbox, cloud) moving forward. Gold is a nice monthly financial revenue source for now, but eventually it makes sense for them to pull the plug once Game Pass is carrying the brand on its own.
 

Ezekiel_

Banned
Charging suckers to use their own internet is the bread and butter for Ms/ Sony.

I wouldn't put MS and Sony in the same boat on that one, and no one should either.

MS introduced the 'pay to play online' thing a WHOLE generation before Sony did (Xbox 360).

When Sony introduced PlayStation Plus, it was a subscription to get games every month for PS3. That subscription was very well received. Playing online was free.

When playing online on PS4 required PS+, Sony didn't make it essential for free to play games, unlike MS.

Furthermore, SONY kept giving the games every month, and still do so, and the quality of games is great. They forced MS to do the same to stay competitive, but the quality is far from equivalent.

Sony is still giving games every month, and they are full fledged PS4 and PS5 games. The games are linked to your account, so you can play them later as long as you are subscribed to PS+. MS is giving original Xbox and Xbox 360 games with gold and are a farce every month.

I really don't get why some people say 'MS iS pRo CoNsUmEr'. After reviewing MS history, it is quite clear that their mission is to suck money from players every chance they get. I won't be surprised when 'Game Pass' ends up the same way.

PlayStation Plus is the best value in gaming, by offering you 2-3 good games per month, cloud save sync, online play, etc for a cheap price.

Edit : Add the PS+ Collection for PS5, and PS+ is really a steal
 
Last edited:

01011001

Banned
I wouldn't put MS and Sony in the same boat on that one, and no one should either.

MS introduced the 'pay to play online' thing a WHOLE generation before Sony did (Xbox 360).

When Sony introduced PlayStation Plus, it was a subscription to get games every month for PS3. That subscription was very well received. Playing online was free.

When playing online on PS4 required PS+, Sony didn't make it essential for free to play games, unlike MS.

Furthermore, SONY kept giving the games every month, and still do so, and the quality of games is great. They forced MS to do the same to stay competitive, but the quality is far from equivalent.

Sony is still giving games every month, and they are full fledged PS4 and PS5 games. The games are linked to your account, so you can play them later as long as you are subscribed to PS+. MS is giving original Xbox and Xbox 360 games with gold and are a farce every month.

I really don't get why some people say 'MS iS pRo CoNsUmEr'. After reviewing MS history, it is quite clear that their mission is to suck money from players every chance they get. I won't be surprised when 'Game Pass' ends up the same way.

PlayStation Plus is the best value in gaming, by offering you 2-3 good games per month, cloud save sync, online play, etc for a cheap price.

not let's look at it without fanboy glasses and a bit more objective shall we?

Xbox Live / / vs / / PSN

Free Cloud Saves (more storage) / / Paid Cloud Saves (less storage)

Games Sync Automatically, no manual input needed, even across PC / / Cloud saves are unreliable when set to auto, better on PS5 compared to PS4 tho, you have to manually upload and dowload everything to be save

was 2 now is 4 Games each month / / first was varying between 1 and 4 games, then 3, then 2, and then 3 again each month
the quality of each months games are 100% subjective and the quality always changing each month and year,
taking only a few months as a sample is intellectually dishonest bullshit
here is a list, judge for yourself:

List of Games with Gold | Xbox Wiki | Fandom / / List of PlayStation Plus games (North America) | PlayStation Wiki | Fandom
(spoiler there is a shitload of overlap outside of exclusives for each)


Xbox and Xbox 360 games you keep forever / / PS3 games are gone if you stop paying

Xbox One and Series games are gone if you stop paying / / PS4 and PS5 games are gone if you stop paying

All Xbox 360 and og Xbox games are playable on every new Xbox Console / / PS3 games are not playable on anything but the PS3

Microsoft Started it which sucks / / Sony didn't improve their service at all but just copied Microsoft by making you pay to play online with no bonus
(you decide which of these 2 tactics is worse, starting with letting you pay and then adjusting down the line to keep up with competition by givng you mode stuff... or not improving services whatsoever and just adding paid online MP later on while increasing the price)

You had to pay to play free 2 play but this was now removed / / never had to pay to play free 2 play
 
Last edited:

reinking

Gold Member
Jeff Grubb will be right some day if he just keeps repeating it. This isn't some great insider knowledge. It is the writing on the wall. Xbox Live Gold has run its course and the (none) love MS is showing it says a lot.

**I should clarify that I believe Live will be dropped and teh pay-to-play online model will roll into Game Pass. They ain't given that shit away for free.
 
Last edited:
not let's look at it without fanboy glasses and a bit more objective shall we?

Xbox Live / / vs / / PSN

Free Cloud Saves (more storage) / / Paid Cloud Saves (less storage)

Games Sync Automatically, no manual input needed, even across PC / / Cloud saves are unreliable when set to auto, better on PS5 compared to PS4 tho, you have to manually upload and dowload everything to be save

was 2 now is 4 Games each month / / first was varying between 1 and 4 games, then 3, then 2, and then 3 again each month
the quality of each months games are 100% subjective and the quality always changing each month and year,
taking only a few months as a sample is intellectually dishonest bullshit
here is a list, judge for yourself:

List of Games with Gold | Xbox Wiki | Fandom / / List of PlayStation Plus games (North America) | PlayStation Wiki | Fandom
(spoiler there is a shitload of overlap outside of exclusives for each)


Xbox and Xbox 360 games you keep forever / / PS3 games are gone if you stop paying

Xbox One and Series games are gone if you stop paying / / PS4 and PS5 games are gone if you stop paying

All Xbox 360 and og Xbox games are playable on every new Xbox Console / / PS3 games are not playable on anything but the PS3

Microsoft Started it which sucks / / Sony didn't improve their service at all but just copied Microsoft by making you pay to play online with no bonus
(you decide which of these 2 tactics is worse, starting with letting you pay and then adjusting down the line to keep up with competition by givng you mode stuff... or not improving services whatsoever and just adding paid online MP later on while increasing the price)

You had to pay to play free 2 play but this was now removed / / never had to pay to play free 2 play
"Let's drop the fanboy goggles"
Continues to spew about of fanboy logic.

"Quality of games is subjective. 4 > 3."

Right. Let's pretend the games GwG and PS+ are a tie in quality since "quality is subjective".

"Sony copied MS and did nothing to make paid online a better value"

Right. Except the entire idea of giving away free games every single month. Something MS was eventually forced to do, even if they don't give games of nearly the same caliber. (Oops sorry. I forget, "subjectively")
 
Last edited:

01011001

Banned
"Let's drop the fanboy goggles"
Continues to spew about of fanboy logic.

"Quality of games is subjective. 4 > 3."

Right. Let's pretend the games GwG and PS+ are a tie in quality since "quality is subjective".

"Sony copied MS and did nothing to make paid online a better value"

Right. Except the entire idea of giving away free games every single month. Something MS was eventually forced to do, even if they don't give games of nearly the same caliber. (Oops sorry. I forget, "subjectively")

everything I wrote there is 100% objective facts. the fact that you interpret intention into these facts is your issue and is typical fanboy behavior

I didn't say 4>3 that is your interpretation, I have exact numbers of games they gave away over the years and didn't judge either side here
and again, Sony started with a service that is 100% optional and gave you games... a games subscription basically. but then down the line added the need to pay for it in order to play online. AND AT THAT TIME THEY DIDN'T ADD ANY VALUE if you say this is a lie you are delusional as these are factual statements
Microsoft was the other way around, they started with payed online MP with no extras and then added extras down the line to compete. and I said you have to decide which is worse, both sucks ass
 
Last edited:

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
PlayStation Plus is the best value in gaming, by offering you 2-3 good games per month, cloud save sync, online play, etc for a cheap price.

i was with you until this part, what an absolutely absurd take. ps+ in the ps3 / vita era was good. then as soon as it became attached to online play the quality of the games nosedived.
 
I don’t get why he thinks Halo Infinite will drive up Game Pass. Its multiplayer is free to play. So the only benefit for a game pass subscriber is the campaign, which at this point has made a poor first impression and a CGI clip. Maybe some consumers will be suckered into it, thinking The campaign and multiplayer both require game pass. Forza Horizon 5 I could see driving more incremental subs.
It seems clear MS ultimately wants online play tied to game pass and to drop gold as a tier. I don’t see online ever being free on its own aside from F2P games.
Plus most Halo fans already have gamepass, the franchise has been dropping on popularity over the last 10 years and 343's attempts have been the series 2 worst games IMO when it comes to the single player portion. There aren't a lot of casual gamers who are halo fans out there, they are the hardcore xbox fans who've already got 3 years of GP signed up etc.
 
Last edited:
The biggest favor Xbox ever did for PlayStation was show them that people would be willing to pay to play games online, PS+ is a big part of Sony's turnaround.
 

MacReady13

Member
Let's assume this moron is actually correct and Microsoft do get rid of Gold, how would I still play online against people when I am not interested in a subscription service that includes Gold within it? At the end of the day, I am not a fan of game pass or game pass ultimate, so why should I have to spend that subscription fee for something I won't use only to need it to play against others online? I do realize paying for Gold to play against others online is a stupid thing regardless, but it was the only way to play online in games like COD for example...
 

elliot5

Member
Let's assume this moron is actually correct and Microsoft do get rid of Gold, how would I still play online against people when I am not interested in a subscription service that includes Gold within it? At the end of the day, I am not a fan of game pass or game pass ultimate, so why should I have to spend that subscription fee for something I won't use only to need it to play against others online? I do realize paying for Gold to play against others online is a stupid thing regardless, but it was the only way to play online in games like COD for example...
i think you're missing the point. the point is ALL online multiplayer would be free once Gold is gone. It is highly unlikely to be required to have Game Pass to play online should this come through.
 
i think you're missing the point. the point is ALL online multiplayer would be free once Gold is gone. It is highly unlikely to be required to have Game Pass to play online should this come through.

I'm wondering why they would choose to lose this additional revenue if people are still willing to pay for gold.
 

elliot5

Member
I'm wondering why they would choose to lose this additional revenue if people are still willing to pay for gold.
idk the same reason Epic makes shit free that people paid for previously like royalties and quixel and artstation. They can because it's Good For Bussiness (TM). I would wager a vast majority of multiplayer now is F2P and it's not like you have to pay for that anyway.
 
Last edited:

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
The real reason "paying for multiplayer" could go away is the prevalence of separate F2P mods.

There’s no other reason at this point, IMO.
 

MacReady13

Member
i think you're missing the point. the point is ALL online multiplayer would be free once Gold is gone. It is highly unlikely to be required to have Game Pass to play online should this come through.
If that is the case, works for me. I get to save money each month not paying for gold OR game pass and I get to buy the games I want! I'll be saving money every year!
 
idk the same reason Epic makes shit free that people paid for previously like royalties and quixel and artstation. They can because it's Good For Bussiness (TM). I would wager a vast majority of multiplayer now is F2P and it's not like you have to pay for that anyway.

Well Microsoft and Sony still make a ton of money from multiplayer paywalls. Dropping that all of a sudden would decrease the revenue by a lot. And from what I've seen from Microsoft their last idea was to increase the price of gold not eliminate it. When it comes to FTP games it makes sense because they are loaded with additional forms of revenue like MTXs for example.
 

elliot5

Member
Well Microsoft and Sony still make a ton of money from multiplayer paywalls. Dropping that all of a sudden would decrease the revenue by a lot. And from what I've seen from Microsoft their last idea was to increase the price of gold not eliminate it. When it comes to FTP games it makes sense because they are loaded with additional forms of revenue like MTXs for example.
yea and as I commented earlier I think they doubled the price unsuccessfully to aid in their efforts to shift people over to game pass (specifically ultimate, if they were already paying for Gold) by creating a better value proposition in comparison. That way, they essentially capture Gold only subs to become GPU subs, aiding in their efforts to make game pass the leading sub rather than Gold.
 
Top Bottom