Microsoft Explains Why Xbox Live Is Now Being Referred To As 'Xbox Network'

Personally, I like the name Xbox Live much more than Xbox Network. But if this means that they will abandon the paid multiplayer, then let them call it whatever they want.

People like to complain about Xbox's naming conventions, but for me Xbox Network makes more sense than Xbox Live. It's more obvious what it is when you hear that term. Not to mention that both PlayStation and Nintendo are calling their services PlayStation Network and Nintendo Network respectively, so it only makes sense to now have Xbox Network.

But yeah, the question that arises then is whether this is a simple name change or a hint for something more significant, i.e. phasing out Gold. We'll just have to see.

This feels ominous to be honest. Given Microsoft tried to double the price of Gold back in January, I could see them dropping Gold completely and forcing you to have Game Pass Ultimate to play online for games that aren't free to play.

@Grumblevolcano Good point, I was thinking the same thing. But if, however, Gold is free, that would be pretty huge.

@Grumblevolcano yep, I think it makes sense to kill Xbox live to get more game pass subscribers. And just leave the F2P games free to play online.

My renewal is up in just 3 days. I hope i am still paying for Live and not something else

Playstation Network
Nintendo Network
Xbox Network

Makes sense to me

Makes sense when you consider the naming of the competition.
However, it does make me wonder if they'll phase out Gold completely at some point, and you'll need GPU instead.
They seem hell bent on converting over those Gold subscribers to Game Pass, which I can sort of understand to an extent.

As much as I love Game Pass (and think it's a steal at its current price) I think it would be anti-consumer of MS if they did that. Gamers need to have a choice. If they are hell bent on converting people to GP and phasing out Gold they should come up with a subscription that would focus mostly on online play and free games. Game Pass Lite, if you will, and price it accordingly. Come on Phil, don't make a blunder now that Xbox is on a roll.

Pretty sure Nintendo Network is being phased out. You can link your NNID to your Switch but it’s all but obsolete at this point. It’s replaced by Nintendo Switch Online.
Anyway it would make sense in some ways to phase out Gold. Unlike the debacle of the XB1 launch the Gold price increase is the only misstep in this launch cycle. Would undo that to give it away for free.

Thus need to do something. Because at this point they've been asking us to pay more for less. All the while, cannabilizing the dashboard with godawful ads.

Between microtransactions, ads, and Game Pass, making your users pay to access online is an antiquated business model.

That and the cross play and cross progress features with PC (and the fact I don't see MS bring able to charge for gold on Nintendo and PS platforms) means if ever there was a time to retire gold, it's now.

@gollumb82 I think free-to-play games don’t require any form of subscription anymore. As for games with paid multiplayer, I think Microsoft should make them free like for PC.

@Senua
That would be ideal, but I don't belive MS will allow this. They are raking in too much money from this.

As several people have already mentioned here, if Microsoft wants to compete in the PC/smartphone markets with Game Pass, they will need to eventually phase out Xbox Live Gold. You don't have to pay to play online on neither PC nor smartphones with other services such as Steam. So if Microsoft wants to appeal to as wide audience as possible, they will need to phase it out eventually. I think that's why this rumour even emerged because of Microsoft's focus on other platforms. It doesn't make sense to only get rid of it from Xbox. But at the same time, if they make online free on PC/smartphones then Xbox gamers will complain that they are paying for online and PC/smartphone users aren't. That's why this is such a complicated issue and I'm very curious to see how Microsoft will tackle this subject.

@elpardo1984 @UltimateOtaku91 @LtSarge

Technically Nintendo Network was for 3DS and Wii U, while Switch Online is, naturally, for Switch.

@EVIL-C I realised that, but Network and Online still make more sense than Live. Not to mention the reasoning behind using the term "network", i.e. a web of connections. Nintendo changed from "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection" to "Nintendo Network" because they wanted to adapt a universal online infrastructure on 3DS and Wii U. Now that they're only focusing on one system, it makes little sense to keep Network and so "Nintendo Switch Online" makes more sense. Same thing with Xbox, before it was only one system at a time but now that Microsoft is focusing on PC and smartphones due to Game Pass, it makes more sense to call the service "Xbox Network".

Needless change. Xbox Live works just fine.

@LtSarge I was going to suggest Xbox Online myself

I like Xbox Live better than Xbox Network..

Game share is acting weird alluva sudden. It still allows use, but I cant see the library for the shared account. Personally, they could easily rebrand the XBL Gold by just removing the multiplayer component and make it a real value with the free games and such. Just put everything else on Gold. Or just make it Game Pass and eliminate Gold entirely. That would certainly cement Xbox as my go-to console of choice.

Dunno, but for what it's worth, I think Xbox Live is a far superior name to Xbox Network.

I'm part of the Xbox Insiders and I never get any updates. Why are others getting them?

I support this. Xbox Live is sooooooo America Online.

@roe I think it makes perfect sense. By removing Xbox live gold, they also close the loophole allowing people to game pass for barely more than the cost of Xbox live gold.

Some napkin math.
10 million (users) x $60 (xbl gold) = 600 million
10 million (users) x $75 (game pass via xbl gold) = 750 million
10 million (users) x $180 (game pass true value) = 1.8 billion.

The last equation is greater than the previous two combined.

@Grumblevolcano not ultimate, just game pass. That would be the same price hike rose by another name.

I think this is all just a part of them trying to consolidate everything into the Xbox brand for multiple platforms. Xbox Live is always very much so associated with their game consoles, Xbox Network sounds like it's just a part of their whole ecosystem.

@ymo1965 You have to sign up for the update preview inside the Insider app of which there's different rings (Alpha Skip Ahead, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Omega). You start off at Omega and as you participate more and for longer you unlock higher rings.

@NEStalgia Microsoft thought the price hike was fine so I think they'd try and force it a different way.

@Grumblevolcano ok, thanks

@Grumblevolcano I still think the price hike was never about the price, and was about pushing people over to GP for the subscriber numbers (i.e. not about raising revenues, just about numbers.) It was beyond hamfisted if so, but I think that was the point.

Thus, they only need to set it up to force people to Game Pass, not Ultimate, specifically, which is the up-sell. Regular Game Pass is billed as console-Game Pass. Ultimate adds PC, cloud streaming, EA Play bundled, etc.

If the goal is phase people from Gold to GP for the numbers, they only need to force normal. I say "only" - it's basically exact migration they tried to "encourage" with the price hike, at the same price, by making Gold look like a bad value next to it.

'network' isn't capitalised so does not reflect a new branding, but rather just what is going across the platform as an online entity.

Xbox Live could however be phased out in favour of the Gamepass branding. Live is largely defunct when the most popular online games (Fortnite, Warzone etc) are all F2P and therefore in a few weeks won't require a subscription to play.

It is likely Microsoft is preparing to scratch Live off their sheet altogether and replace it with something like the following:

• Xbox Account ($free): Sign up to access the store and download and play F2P games online for free.
• Gamepass Cloud ($5?): Stream over 100 console quality games directly to your smart device. Includes online play for Gamepass titles.
• Gamepass Console/PC ($8): Access a library of over 100 games to download and play on your Xbox family of consoles or your PC. Required for online play.
• Gamepass Ultimate ($12): Access over 100 games to download and play on your Xbox family of consoles and your PC. Stream over 100 console-quality games to your smart device and web browser with cloud saves and cross play ensuring your progress carries over.

I think their endgame is to phase out live and get everyone on game pass. Just a matter of when.

You just need to be connected to the Xbox Network to play these free to play games from now on...

However all these game you already bought require Xbox Live Gold to play online over the Xbox Network...

It will stop some pedantic person feeling like they have a reason for some compensation because Xbox Live and Xbox Live Gold is too similar and confusing (even though its been established since day 1!!)

Xbox Live Gold is starting to feel a bit pointless

Live Gold will be phased out eventually. MS will be the first of the three to make the move back to free multiplayer.

But they will wait until the last minute timing wise to do it when Game Pass peaks enough they can absorb the capital hit of not having live subscriptions anymore.

I think its close. But there are still a fair few Xbox Gamers subscribed to live and not Game Pass.

The rebrand is just one step towards it.

Let me rebrand Xbox live in a way that will generate more revenue, be a value-add for the consumer, and. You know. Not be a complete joke in the naming department:

Xbox Live Silver: Free - includes online multiplayer
Xbox Live Gold: $9.99 - Silver + 1 XS game, 1 XBO game, and access to two game pass games per month
Xbox Live Platinum: $14.99 - Gold plus console game pass
Xbox Live Ultimate: $19.99 - Platinum plus PC game pass, EA play

You’re welcome; Microsoft. How may I collect my salary?

Free to play games won't require Gold hence the change. Gold might disappear and be included in Game Pass or in Game Pass Ultimate like now.

This has no impact on playing today but I always smile hearing the term Xbox live as it makes me think of it’s launch in 02 and how much fun it was first playing on it.