Xbox Live Gold doesn't need a price change. It just needs to disappear.

[NelsonG]

Microsoft had quite a Friday.

The fun started when the Xbox maker shared the news that Xbox Live Gold, a paid subscription service that primarily exists to let Xbox users play their games online, would soon cost more. By roughly double.

The particulars varied by subscription length, but the formerly $60 annual subscription was poised to jump to $120 for new subscribers (existing subscribers would get to keep the original pricing). I'm discussing all of this in the past tense because blowback over the course of Friday prompted an about-face from Microsoft.

During the Friday/Saturday overnight, Microsoft blasted out a pair of tweets reversing its decision and taking the added step of allowing free-to-play online games to work without a Gold subscription. (Previously, you'd still need a subscription to play an otherwise free game like Fortnite on Xbox.) Read more...

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