Microsoft Makes a Huge U-Turn in Xbox Live Gold Price Hike

Late last week, Microsoft announced that it would be raising the price of its Xbox Live Gold subscription package… Again. – With the new increase representing quite a notably significant jump from the previous charges, Xbox gamers, as you might expect, didn’t take the news particularly well. Not least of all because this represented the second price increase for the service over what many would consider a very short period of time.

Well, following the massive wave of online backlash from the community, in a report via CNET, Microsoft has surprised us all by pulling a huge u-turn and, more so, even openly apologizing to its customers about the whole situation.

Microsoft Xbox Live Gold U-Turn

Following an official statement, Microsoft has said:

“We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold pricing.”

If you are an Xbox Live Gold member already, you stay at your current price for renewal. New and existing members can continue to enjoy Xbox Live Gold for the same prices they pay today. In the US, $9.99 for 1-month, $24.99 for 3-months, $39.99 for 6-months and $59.99 for retail 12-months.”

The News Gets Better!

In something of a more tangible apology to its Xbox community, Microsoft has also taken the surprisingly decent step of making pretty much all major free-to-play multiplayer games on the Xbox platform entirely accessible online without the need for an Xbox Live Gold service. – You will, however, still need it, of course, for other online games.

The overwhelming feeling from the community, however, was that this was yet another cynical attempt by Microsoft to try and build upon its Game Pass service as they look increasingly likely to, sooner or later, discontinue the Xbox Live Gold service. – For the moment, however, things are back to normal. And, in fact, are perhaps even better for some of you than they were before!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!