Last week, VentureBeat journalist Jeff Grubb claimed that Halo Infinite's multiplayer on the Xbox Series X will be free and the game will run at 120 FPS. He also mentioned that free-to-play multiplayer only makes sense if Microsoft makes Xbox Live Gold a thing of history. Grubb was also asked whether Microsoft will remove Xbox Live Gold entirely or just remove the paywall for multiplayer, to which the journalist replied that the feature will be removed entirely. If you're keeping score, Microsoft did confirm that Halo Infinite will have free multiplayer, but there has been no announcement regarding Xbox Live Gold as of right now.
Halo is for everyone. We can confirm #HaloInfinite multiplayer will be free-to-play and will support 120FPS on Xbox Series X. More details will be shared later! pic.twitter.com/9bIrppFiON
— Halo (@Halo) July 31, 2020
Currently, Xbox One users are required to have an Xbox Live Gold subscription to experience free-to-play online multiplayer games like Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, and Fortnite. On the contrary, PS4 and Nintendo users don't have to sign up for a similar service to play these games.
Last year, Microsoft began bundling Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass, calling it Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which costs $14.99 every month. The bundle will also be including Project xCloud access when it launches this September.
Free-to-play Halo MP only makes sense if Xbox Live Gold barrier goes away at least for free games. pic.twitter.com/dpheMCRTbA
— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) July 31, 2020
Grubb also said that with the disappearance of Xbox Live Gold, online multiplayer on Xbox Series X will become completely free and Microsoft will not force users to buy Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to play online games.
Xbox Live Gold is going away and playing online multiplayer will be free. They will not force you into Ultimate to play online.
— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) July 31, 2020
Earlier this month, Microsoft stopped selling 12 months worth of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, which led to many of us speculating whether the service will be repackaged or removed.
While Microsoft isn't offering an annual Xbox Live Gold subscription anymore, you can still buy one and three-month subscriptions. "At this time, Xbox has decided to remove the 12 months Xbox Live Gold SKU from the Microsoft online Store," a Microsoft spokesperson said to TrueAchievements. "Customers can still sign up for a one month or three month Xbox Live Gold subscription online through the Microsoft Store."
There are also some rumors regarding a new Xbox Digital event in August where we might get to hear more about the removal of Xbox Live Gold. So, stay tuned to keep up with all the latest news.
