What you need to know.
Update (01/23/2020): In response to feedback, Xbox reversed its decision and said it will not increase the price of Xbox Live Gold. In addition, Xbox announced players will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play free-to-play games on Xbox. In a news post, the Xbox team said this change will occur “as soon as possible in the coming months.”
Original Story:
Xbox announced a price increase for Xbox Live Gold, its subscription service that’s required to play games online.
The price increase affects all three tiers of the Xbox Live Gold membership (one-, three-, and six-month subscriptions). As Eurogamer reported, Xbox removed the ability to purchase a 12-month Xbox Live Gold subscription in 2020.
Here are the new prices for Xbox Live Gold going forward:
In a news post, Xbox said, “If you’re an existing online 12-month or 6-month Xbox Live Gold member, there’s no price change. If you choose to renew your membership, it will renew at the current price.”
This increase may work to encourage players and families to upgrade to an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, since it includes Xbox Live Gold. A one-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription costs $14.99, and it includes unlimited access to over 100 games that can be played on Xbox consoles, PC, and Android devices. With this increase in the price of Xbox Live Gold, you could subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (and access all of those games) for just $4 extra per month.
Xbox said, “If you’d like to upgrade your Gold membership to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate your remaining Gold time will also convert directly to Ultimate (up to 36 months). For example, if you have 11 months of Xbox Live Gold now, and you upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, those 11 months convert to 11 months of Ultimate at no additional cost.”
To learn more about this price increase, head over to Xbox’s website.
Brandy Berthelson has been writing about video games and technology since 2006, with her work appearing on sites including AOL Games, Digital Spy, and Adweek. When she’s not gaming, Brandy enjoys crafting, baking, and traveling with her husband.
