What you need to know
- Xbox Live Gold allows players on console to play together online.
- Xbox Live Gold is going up in price across different regions, including the U.S.
- A one month subscription is going up by $1, while a six month subscription is now $60.
Updated Jan. 23, 12:51 a.m. ET: Very early Saturday morning, the Xbox team announced that it would be rolling back the price hike on Xbox Live Gold following negative feedback. Prices will stay the same for Xbox Live Gold Members — $9.99 for one month, $24.99 for three months, $39.99 for six months, and $59.99 for 12 months. The announcement also revealed that users will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play free-to-play games on Xbox. Our original news story is below.
Xbox Live Gold, the online service that allows Xbox console players to connect and play together online as well as a few free games per month, is seeing a price hike. As detailed on Xbox Wire, the one month plan for Xbox Live Gold is being increased by $1, while three months is now $30 and six months is $60.
If you're currently subscribed on an existing 12 month or six month plan, you'll keep your current price whenever you renew your subscription. You can convert your remaining Xbox Live Gold time into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at a one-to-one rate, so if you have five months left on your subscription, you'd get five months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Considering that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass for PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming, this is a pretty easy choice to make.
Unlike its PlayStation counterpart, PlayStation Plus, Xbox Live Gold is required to play free-to-play games online, such as Fortnite. Xbox Live Gold is not required for PC players to play games online. These discrepancies have been the subject of much criticism from Xbox players, especially since Xbox Live Gold rarely gives away the best Xbox games month to month.
Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold in one
Xbox Game Pass gives you access to over 200 games for one monthly fee. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate also adds Xbox Live Gold to the package so you can play online with your friends. You also get access to EA Play.
Xbox Series X/S
Main
- Xbox Series X: Everything we know
- Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
- List of Xbox Series X specs
- What is the Xbox Series X release date?
- How much does Xbox Series X cost?
- Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
- Best Xbox Series X Headsets
