All the evidence still adds up to Xbox Live Gold going away.
The question I want to ask is, is it that big of a deal?
I keep seeing on twitter that no other console has f2p paywall which I can understand. But this fake outage about XBL Gold not becoming free is just not clicking with meā¦
If other popular games such as 2k,Madden,etc require you to have XBL/PS+ to play online then does it really matter that you also need the same subscription to play Warzone on xbox?
I could see if f2p games were the only games a user played but in most cases they are not and even in that scenario couldnāt XBL just be adjusted to allow access to f2p games?
Itās a big deal from the perspective of leadership in the industry. It changes things fundamentally. Xbox innovated with online console gaming, albeit behind a paywall. Now they unify PC and console gaming by not hiding consoles behind a paywall. Itās a big shift and a paradigm change. It forces other manufacturers to reassess their whole plan and strategy.
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Totally agree with Klob on this one, Gold is a dead carcass at this point, nothing about it is critical to the Xbox experience. Itās highly redundant and is counter to what they are trying to push for into next gen.
I just donāt buy that they arenāt planning to change something about Gold in the near future.
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Itās king of weird how much they seem to keep messing up since the great start with HB2 + console reveal.
They created this whole situation by removing gold for a year from sale.
āā¦at this time.ā Careful choice of words hereā¦
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I believe that was added by Windows Central. Not a part of the quoteā¦at least I saw that earlier in this thread.
Fair enough you are right but if they say anything referencing time or the exact moment you will understand why.
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Itās in their quote to the press, just wasnāt quoted there. Tom Warrenās article has it included directly from MSās mouth, but it also follows that up saying that Gold is gonna be part of the future of Xbox, etc. Their wording seems kinda interesting though.
"The update to āXbox online serviceā 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.
We have no plans to discontinue Xbox Live Gold at this time. It is an important part of gaming on Xbox today, and will continue to be in the future.ā
They appear to be responding to the rumor that Gold was going away, but NOT responding to the rumor that it was going free. >.>
Notice that they mention the āpaid Gold subscriptionā being distinguished from Xbox online services, but why? Why distinguish that now when they didnāt bother before? And notice too that in referencing Gold wrt the rumor they are responding to, they refer to the Gold āexperienceā not changing.
I very easily might be reading too much into it tho! 
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So in the grand scheme of things itāll be influential in setting a standard across all console platforms. I guess when you look at it that way I agree with you, I just have to remind myself that twitter makes everything seem overblown.
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Got me thinking that MS are being coy, and are legally obligated to speak this way until they announce changes. Grubb + Halo Infinite F2P + Removal of 12 month subs are strong indicators to me.
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I still think Multiplayer is going free.
Or at the very least F2P games wonāt require gold.
Launching Halo Infinite Multiplayer as free to play while still requiring Gold for multiplayer would be one of the dumbest things they could do.
Making multiplayer free would basically make Lockhart the console of choice for mums and dads buying their kids a Fortnite box.
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Letās not forget also FFXIV Online coming to Xbox by making the MP free. It would bring even more new players to the ecosystem.
It was a big point of discussion between MS & SE back then.
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I believe @tomwarren and jez and brad sams that something is happening but itās not going to be the ākill live dead everyone gets free onlineā dream that we all have heard from dreamers.
F2P games will not require paid online. Gold folds into regular gamepass and xcloud folds into ultimate gamepass is my guess. Grandfather active gold accounts into GP and show them why they shouldnāt unsub
If that happens, than the cost to play multiplayer games on Xbox will essentially double. I know Game Pass is an unbeaten value, but I canāt imagine people being okay with that, especially your FIFA, Madden, CoD casuals.
Yeah, Jez already said that paying double compared to now and Gold being folded into Game Pass is not happening, or something like that. I truly believe we will finally get the info we need come Xboxing Day, maybe along with Lockhart.
How so? My understanding is that a 1 month card of gamepass and a 1 month card of gold is the same price. I know that people used to divide the yearly card by 12 to get a new lower price but thatās not how things work, especially now when the 12 month card is discontinued
Mainly because of the discount on the yearly subscription to Gold, which was 60 dollars. Now, if they do this Gold into Game Pass move, with no yearly option, it would cost them 120 dollars for a year, so double the price. That would mean even less options, and people paying more at the end, which would be a bit against what MS is going right now.
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I dont buy it. Where thereās smoke thereās fire. We will know sometime this month Iām sure.
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I donāt buy it either, this seems more like PR talk.