MS kills Xbox Live Gold yearly subscription; Live Gold now costs $100 a year

MS has the axe out lately. The latest to get chopped is the yearly Xbox Live Gold subscription, which means you can only purchase monthly or three-month subscriptions, effectively raising the cost of a year plan to $100 from the previous $60.

For the gamers, right?

Right.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-live-gold-kills-off-yearly-subscription-optio/1100-6479895/

From the article:

"It appears there could be some changes in the works for Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold program, as the company has discontinued year-long subscription plans. As of now, only monthly and three-month Xbox Live Gold subscriptions are available from Microsoft's website, and this change was not accidental.

As confirmed by Microsoft to True Achievements, the company has officially delisted the 12-month Xbox Live Gold plan. These were available for $60, while month-long plans are $10 and three-month plans are $25. Because of this, it will apparently cost about $100 to get a year of Xbox Live Gold now, which is just slightly less than a Game Pass Ultimate subscription that bundles a year of Xbox Live Gold with a year of Xbox Game Pass."

Maybe they're retooling it for next gen to encompass the game pass with online play.

They could at least be clear about it, if so.

Using next gen are an opportunity to **** gamers.

We all saw it coming, and you'll all take it.

@subspecies: yeah, transparency is always best... Though they are in the window of time where the most shake up occurs. The months before a new gen can be confusing with info.

We'll see...!

Not sure what their longterm plan is but I hope its removing gold all together and focusing more on Gamepass.

Honestly this is what I thought they'd do right off the bat at some point. Instead, they took the confusing route, lol.

Is it really confusing? Phasing out the yearly to monthly is the ideal way to get rid of Gold. It removes the need for managing Gold membership entitlement. So, IF they cancel gold there would be less need for converting from Gold especially if they are removing the pay wall. IF you are no longer requiring gold you got to figure a way to compensate gamers with Gold membership.

The confusing thing is they haven't said any of this. They're not being clear, and that's the confusing part.

That would be $129.99 in Canada. Hello? Like what? HELLO!?

They have to make money through subs, they don't do it on games or hardware. It is the route MS has taken.

Next gen. Gonna be good times.

If nothing has been said how is their message confusing?

Because they haven't said why they raised the price for a year effectively to $100, maybe? Like, does that seem like a totally cool thing to do?

Oh noes! Quick! Everyone panic! 😜

I think they’re just retooling. If they want to screw people over they wouldn’t do it just before the launch of a new system. They’d get people onboard and hooked in before that first.

dude your gonna pay 100 dollars a year for this crap?

@ProtossRushX: No you fool! I’m Canadian! I’ll pay $120 for this damnit!

@Pedro said:

@subspecies said:

Because they haven't said why they raised the price for a year effectively to $100, maybe? Like, does that seem like a totally cool thing to do?

AKA "I have nothing to come back with, so I'll post a gif of an old lady rolling her eyes"

Aaaaaand we're done.

They're pressuring you to buy into Gamepass Ultimate. It's a great deal but, it's way more expense than XBL Gold. Not a every pro consumer move if you ask me.

They are probably diverting people towards Gamepass.

No! I have seen your tired strategy before. You have nothing and you trying to make something out of nothing. Its cute.

I'm here just waiting for the PS5 to release...

Microsoft really hasn't screwed anyone, they just did away a yearly subscription with XLG for the time being. They are obviously planning something that will cover the cost of Live/GP or another. Microsoft is one of the Biggest Corporations in the World, they ain't Stupid people.

AKA "I have nothing to come back with so I'll just post a gif of an old lady rolling her eyes and then say the person saying I have nothing is the one that in fact has nothing because I in fact have nothing"

Like I said, dude. We're done.

Sounds like it. Sh_tty thing to do to gamers.

Microsoft gonna be dropping some megatons in a few days. It’s going to be absolutely glorious!

@Pedro said:

@subspecies said:

AKA "I have nothing to come back with so I'll just post a gif of an old lady rolling her eyes and then say the person saying I have nothing is the one that in fact has nothing because I in fact have nothing"

Like I said, dude. We're done.

And now we're onto memes! Yay!

If MS is doing it now, expect Sony to follow suit shortly after.

Glad that the Plus membership stacks and I'm good through 2022 at the moment. Buys me some time.

Guess one better find value in Ultimate. I sure do.

@uninspiredcup said:

Using next gen are an opportunity to **** gamers.

We all saw it coming, and you'll all take it.

But let's all cheer for corporations.

They're obviously gearing up for a reboot/brand refresh of the service, that will likely be announced at their showing next week.

Im going to be honest, and I've said this on here before, even pre-dating the existence of GamePass Ultimate. I've always known MS intended to eventually introduce the $15 unified pricing model (currently called "Gamepass Ultimate", but will probably be called something else) as simply the "base" model next gen.

It'll get a brand refresh, a name change, or just be called "gamepass",etc, but it is coming. It sucks, but with all the netflix talk, it is coming. Best thing we can wish for, is that MS may be willing to eat more of the hardware cost, and recoup that loss through Gamepass.

Cows always complained about MS "giving away" Gamepass on $1"fire-sale"....... welp.....you guys got your wish.

It's ridiculous there's still any kind of paywall for online multiplayer. That stuff needs dropping asap.

No need for Gold on PC. We pay nothing for online play. We get the best versions of MS games and Game Pass is only $5 per month. Stop getting scammed and make the move to PC. :)

Would love to hear from the people who complain about Playstation charging for online lol

This is why PC > Xbox

I'll continue paying whatever Gamepass costs. It's the best thing MS have done in a long time.

Lol. Yep.

This is outrageous why are xbox owners not speaking out against this there fking taking it.

PS+ is like 50 dollars a year on sale why is this 100 wtf is going on here nobody speaking out the xbox owners are taking it in. you get half off on ps4 with the ps+

online is 50% cheaper playstation theres no reason to fucking bne on xbox

Imagine being a PC gamer, paying nothing, and laughing at this.

Of course, no need to imagine it, we can.

Oof. Hopefully there will be more news next week about how they’re adapting the pricing scheme, but it seems pretty likely - at first blush - that they’re going to be trying to convert users over to Game Pass Ultimate. Or just raise prices.

I have nearly 3 years of Game Pass Ultimate so will wait for future announcements before passing judgement on this.

Microsoft had plans to be the netflix of gaming, this could be a step towards that.

No one will be paying $100+ for it as before long they’ll explain what is replacing it and if you decide to buy 12 monthly cards and spend $100+ more fool you

I think Sony could be salivating in the next room. I think we'll have similar increase with PS+ in a year or two with some added "value".

Its a good thing I game on PC so I won't have to pay online fees when dealing with consoles.

PC privileges😉

With all due respect, he has a point. We can speculate all we want, but MS haven't officially given a single reason why they are doing this that I'm aware of.

@kuu2: WTF PPPL DONT WANT FUCKING GAMEPASS THEY WANT FUCKING LIVE THIS IS outrageous

100 dollar for this shit SONY is 50