The Xbox Live Gold online gaming service is rumored to be set for retirement in the future. While the announcement seemed imminent, with Microsoft stopping selling 12 months subscriptions and changing the Services Agreement so that it no longer mentions the service, the company confirmed last month that Xbox Live Gold is not getting retired in the near future. The announcement, however, may only have been delayed.
According to VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb, who has proved to be extremely reliable regarding leaks, commented on the Xbox Live Gold retirement a few hours ago, saying that the announcement has only been delayed, which is the same thing that happened to pretty much every other Microsoft announcement like the Series S reveal, the Series X price and release date and Game Pass news.
Same thing that happened to the Series X price and release date, and the series S itself, and the Game Pass news.
— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) September 8, 2020
Jeff Grubb isn't the only one who has talked about the end of Xbox Live Gold in the past few weeks. Back in July, known Xbox insider Klobrille said that there is no question that the online multiplayer paywall will fall. It is just a matter of when that will happen.
The question is not if the online multiplayer paywall falls. The question is when.
With Microsoft trying to get more and more people into the Xbox ecosystem, retiring the Xbox Live Gold service and make online multiplayer free would make a lot of sense. As of now, subscriptions are still on sale, so it is hard to say when this announcement will be made. We will keep you updated on the matter as soon as possible, so stay tuned for all the latest news.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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