Rumour: Free Xbox Multiplayer Could Be Announced In August

If they're going to announce it, it seems crazy to do anything other than have it drop roughly in line with when Series X launches.
Assuming that's mid to late November, then they can't really sell 3 month passes in good faith beyond the end of August, which means they'd have to remove them from sale too. Of course removing those, virtually confirms the story itself, so makes complete sense that they would announce the removal officially in mid August.

My question is, what happens to unused time? People who bought a year's pass a month ago, or who have a stack against their account (my bet would be it's converted to GamePass time instead).

@Just1moretry They'll give credit for unused time. They did it when they ended Groove. I had just bought a year and they gave it back as credit.

The pricing release for the Series X makes sense for the reveal of free multiplayer. I think at this point it's not a matter of if, but when. If it wasn't going free Microsoft should have put an end to the rumors by now. At this point not making it free would be more damaging than anything else.

This would be awesome!

It's certainly starting to look more likely...

Have be honest that would be something very special and does make sense with the direction they are going in.
What will be interesting to see if the new direction will really work in a few years time.
I have expressed a lot of dissatisfaction on here about Halo etc, but it’s only because I’m passionate about Xbox and being selfish and want a normal next generation transition.

@BANJO
That reminds me of me playing the original N64 Banjo all those years ago.

@Dezzy70 Yes me too, from way back in 1998, it was my first game I got for the N64... Good memories 😀

I had a code for a year XBox Live Gold and just redeemd it. Got 4 months Gamepass Ultimate for it.

After the the last showcase, Xbox need this. I still feel they need to announce Lockhart as well. They need a 1-2 punch.

"Here's a cheap next gen console, and you can play one for free!"

My big concern is MS taking away the games with gold games I had when subbing if I don't sub to Game Pass. If I can keep whatever I downloaded and get to play online without any subscriptions, I'm fine with this.

@IronMan30 At the absolute most, they could only take away the xbox one games. All 360 and OG xbox games, you'd get to keep.

@Richnj I hope that doesn't happen, but it's possible. Game Pass is great for a lot of people, but the value isn't there for me (I have less gaming time overall, I have 4 kids). I will concede I have considered subbing. In any case, I really hope they don't force Gold subs to keep games by subbing to Game Pass. That's my chief concern with them forcing people out of Gold.

@IronMan30 My second kid is on the way, so my time is limited too. Though I did sub when it was on discount and I still didn't find any value in the service for me. I already owned half the games, and those were the half I was actually interested in playing. So subbing to a streaming service where I already had half the content, and there's always a chance that the content I was playing could get pulled? Yeah, that's a 'no' for me.

This isn't even touching on my whole outlook of games on demand. My theory being that subbing to a games service holds inherent less value than say a music or video service, since video and music take up less time, you can experience more of it, increasing the value. I requirely play 1-2 games for a month solid, or until full completion. And I have zero FOMO issues, so the latest content can, and usually does, wait.

So for me, for the GwG I'm actually interested in, I'd buy back in a sale for less than the £10-£15 a month sub fee.

I think both will do it and its about time.

I actually can't say I'm a fan of this. I have Game Pass Ultimate. My thinking is that some of that is for Xbox Live Gold and my ultimate runs until Jan 21.

Also, does it not kinda encourage those with Ultimate to just think, "Naa. I'll just play for free."

@IronMan30 of the games they gave you how much would it cost to repurchase the ones you actually play. Games with Gold gives some really old games which are often heavily discounted.

It all makes sense, really. Game Pass is one of the selling points of the ecosystem. It makes sense the majority of players will buy it as you can play tons of different games and never buy first party games for $10/mo. Similarly Ultimate is no longer "necessary" but includes xCloud which presumably comes with it's own library of rental games. Between the combined "rentals" you may never have to buy a game and can just subscribe and play what's available. That has a large appeal in the era of subscription TV and music.

Plus free online is a selling point that drags Sony into it with them while not having all the other monetization options MS does.

@NEStalgia there's a good chance PlayStation will simply remain a paid service while xbox is free. The complete reverse of the ps3 360 gen

@sixrings That's possible and the free online would then give MS a big marketing advantage on the value front.

But I can't imagine Sony sitting idly with that. Undercutting has always been their strategy. Trying to match whatever MS does has been their strategy the past gen so as not to let MS gain any footholds at all. They could keep charging. But it doesn't match they way they've been operating. Though I can see a Matrick level debacle where they resist dropping the paywall until it becomes an internet disaster and then they finally drop it and convince everyone they're amazing heroes for doing it.

I'm sure, I'm SO DAMN SURE it's going to happen.

It's gonna be huge, it's gonna shake up the industry, initialize an extraordinay dynamic AND eventually force competitors to align their offers.

I can see it from here, Phil Spencer, announcing it in its august talk : "You'll all be able to play online mutliplayer for Halo Infinite for free. But that's not all. Cause you'll be able to play every other multiplayer games avalaible on Xbox... for free. It will cost you NOTHING. (shouting with pride) From now on, EVERYBODY IS A GOLD MEMBER ! Cause, for us, EVERY SINGLE PLAYER COUNTS !"

drop the mic

@Just1moretry Probably a credit but likely gets GamePass instead.

@NEStalgia I'd be curious if they could and would move to meet a free online demand. Xbox have 10 million Game Pass subs, PSNow has like 2 million. Xbox has a realistic chance to replace Gold with Game Pass. PS, not so much.

And I think this game is exactly what the PS fans aren't seeing. Sony will very likely sell more PS5s than MS does Xbox Series Xs, but, if Sony have to play the game according to Xbox's rules, Xbox may just bring home more profit.

If it happens, which I hope it does, it's going to be interesting to see what Sony does. I doubt they would have any choice unless they push PSNow and say PS+ is included in the price (much like GP Ultimate is right now). But, even that, they would lose quite a bit of credibility and that would switch more than one over to XB. Nintendo, being Nintendo would probably not change anything at this point. There are so few games to play online anyways, what you pay for is pretty much to access NES and SNES online.

@kuliddar PlayStation is about as user friendly as Nintendo. As cocky too. If I am right the only reason this is a thing from Microsoft is because they are trailing big time. As long as PlayStation and Nintendo feel they have their fans they will continue to screw them financially. Same way PlayStation won't include backward compatibility or won't discount the possibility of selling ps4 remaster for the ps5

Been saying this awhile now, Just announce it already Xbox..

I was going to say this is huge, but online play should be free anyway in my opinion. Especially when most games don't even use/need dedicated servers anyway. These subs just exist because they make money and they can.

I hope it's true. And I wonder if Nintendo and Sony will follow. They have to, right? Microsoft started the whole paid online nonsense, so I give it to them to end it as well.

@Octane Nintendo has a handful of games which have online yet the get compelled to share for online. Where as at least in Microsoft's case the majority of their games have some online component. Even if Nintendo follows suit the online should have been free to begin with. My personal opinion though is that Nintendo is the greediest company when they feel like they are in a position of power. So I wouldn't hold my breath.

@sixrings Yeah true. I would make them look bad if they suddenly announced online was free. Because did we have to pay for online for the last two years? Well, because Microsoft and Sony do it is the answer, but they're never going to admit that. Though to be fair, theirs is a lot cheaper at least.

@Octane maybe cheaper. But I figure price per game which allows online play is about the same ratio. It works out. But even still xbox let's me party chat, gives me deals on games, gives me new free games and let's me message and invite people to my games. The price tricks you into thinking it's a good deal.

@sixrings Oh yeah, Nintendo's online infrastructure is absolutely rubbish. I'm part of a family plan with a couple of other people, so I only pay a few bucks a year. It's the only reason I have it.

@Octane only reason I have it is because it came discounted with Mario maker. Will not renew.

I expect Gold to disappear, past Games with Gold to become part of Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate to include xCloud (the last thing has been confirmed). I wasn't sure that online would become free but now I think it's likely because Microsoft hasn't answered this rumour. It's going to be a mic drop moment 😁.

Most people buy consoles for games like GTA, Minecraft, Fortnite and FIFA so if Sony doesn't react straight away the decision will make Series X a more popular platform. If Series S exists that's going to be announced along with the subscriptions changes and will sell incredibly well. Next generation is going to be very good for Xbox (including Xbox, xCloud and PC).