Xbox Live Gold subscription fees increase

Today, Microsoft announced that it will be increasing the subscription fee to its Xbox Live Gold service. The announcement came today through an Xbox Wire update, which detailed changes to the fees to the monthly, quarterly, and bi-annually charges to the service. The announcement also marks the end to its annual subscription offering as well.

The announcement resulted in an outcry from the Xbox community, as well as the wider video gaming community. Some citing the decision to increase subscription charges as anti-consumerist, and going against the player base. Some see the actions as Microsoft being out of touch with the demands of its player base.

Xbox Live Gold was introduced a little over 18 years ago, which was a paid subscription to play games with other players online. Many saw this as poor business by Microsoft, as its rivals were offering the functionality to play multiplayer games for free (the PC market still offers this functionality for free). Over time, players adopted this way of paying to play multiplayer games, and the market adapted too. PlayStation introduced a similar feature to its PlayStation Plus service in 2013 (with the release of the PlayStation 4), as well as Nintendo announcing Nintendo Switch Online in 2018.

The impact of this decision is slowly showing its full effect, with the fanbase negatively reacting to the news. Microsoft is yet to address the backlash. Many believe that this decision could potentially sway consumers from buying an Xbox console in the future, resulting in diminishing profits for the company. Whatever the result, so far the reaction to this has not been great, and it is certain there is more to follow.