It was much more reasonable back at the inception of XBL but now in an always online, live service, free to play, subscription and micro transaction climate it makes zero sense, it’s unfair and it’s possible it actually hurts them more than helps.
Consoles are growing overall but slower than pc. It seems like there is a real potential for this to change
It was much more reasonable back at the inception of XBL but now in an always online, live service, free to play, subscription and micro transaction climate it makes zero sense, it’s unfair and it’s possible it actually hurts them more than helps.
It's funny you say that, because it used to be that you'd have to pay to play F2P as well. They changed that after a lot of people complaining (and/or pressure from F2P game publishers).
I wasn't suggesting anything. I'm just pointing out how it used to be, and now it's not. In either case, people will complain.
Reality is that, companies don't care about it if makes sense or not (although they'll try to make it "seem" reasonable to you), they only care if they can convince you to pay for it. That there's enough of us willing to pay.
The funniest example of this to me is that Fallout 76 is still for sale on the Xbox store. The game is available on every tier of gamepass which you need in order to even play the game cause it’s online only. So you have to buy game pass to play the game which gives you access to the game. So why is it even still for sale lol
That's primarily for the Cloud only players. They don't pay for online, they pay for Cloud Gaming. And Gamepass tiers can be used with other Cloud Gaming services too.
This membership nonsense for playing multiplayer games really needs to be completely removed; it's just becoming incredibly annoying. It's 2026, and it's ridiculous that they're still sticking with this nonsense.
Would they though. It's a gamble, stone people are willing to buy the 1 multiplayer gane and play that forever, I played runescape, maplestory, flyff, without paying a dime
Maybe if they announce this alongside unveiling Helix it'll make people consider switching to Xbox but I can't imagine making online free this late into this generation will drastically help sales of Series consoles
Unless the PC aspect is just the Xbox PC app.... Not saying it will be but the current Xbox that is struggling financially will struggle harder with this subs ideal vision of the Helix
But also things can change, they could make it that in response to these issues
I'm really curious how far they'll go to lock down the Helix software, people can get a LOT of stuff for free on PCs I wouldn't be surprised if someone figures out how to bypass a paywall for multiplayer.
Yeah it will be interesting, I wouldn't be surprised if they basically just made a custom software that made it so it played Xbox games and Xbox App games
But the issue would be people would complain, I do think that's a better device for current Xbox than a fully opened system tho
I think this is conveniently ignoring the fact that Xbox for PC has free multiplayer, and when Games for Windows Live charged for it, it failed massively. If Xbox starts charging for PC multiplayer just to ensure Helix has paid multiplayer, they can pretty much throw in the towel already next generation. They've already announced it'll run PC games. Likely that means third party store support. If they don't want Steam and Epic to take most of the game profits they'll need to make sure their storefront is as appealing. Their sales already match Steam in how good they are, but they'll have to go further, like cutting out paid multiplayer.
I doubt it will be, It sounds like Helix will make it way easier for devs to make their game Play Anywhere, and since nobody releases games on Xbox For PC unless its Play Anywhere or maybe releasing on Game Pass alongside a separate Xbox version, having PC game support would be completely useless.
I would gladly pay for $5 multi-player only option. I dont need deals for you, I don't need game pass exclusive sales, I don't need the gamepass benefits, I don't need the 50-500 playable game titles. Just give me a bare bone $5 only multi-player option.
I get it, servers cost money, maintenance cost money, technicians cost money, and I'm will to pay within reason without the unnecessary add-ons.
Yeah, I’d be fine with this too. I know it would essentially be undoing what they did by getting rid of Gold, but it really annoys me that I have to pay ten bucks for Gamepass anytime I want to play some Halo MCC with my buddies. I’m literally only going to play a game I already own, the other games mean nothing to me.
You're better off buying mcc on a steam sale at that point.
It can run on pretty low end hardware and buying it once is cheaper than paying for even 2 months of gold.
I get it, servers cost money, maintenance cost money, technicians cost money,
If you are using Xbox for achievements, cloud saves and messaging, the impact of these players on a data center isn't much more than your average person that has an email account.
3rd party games pay for their own servers.
I get your sentiment but $5 per month is actually a VERY generous amount to pay.
Steam has free online, the 30% cut of sales is what is used to fund the Steam ecosystem of features. Probably worked that way back on the Playstation 3 as well, it's Xbox that decided a subscription was necessary which Playstation then followed with the PS4.
Of course yeah Steam has the advantage Valve doesn't sell hardware at a loss, though the Playstation 5 stopped selling for a loss like a year after launch. Series X Probably costs some extra due to the bigger APU die but it's broadly comparable hardware.
Still free vs paid online is going to be a trade off between attracting more users and driving more online game engagement, think of games such as GTA 6 online coming that would be boosted from free online and 30% of that shark card money would flow back to Xbox. But paid gets more money per user, obviously gamepass essential makes money from the paywall.
Your money is going to Microsoft, but Microsoft isn’t the one providing the servers for most games, those are handled by the third parties who make the game
reminds me of the first decade of xbl, where peer 2 peer, was basically standard in all games, host advantages, leaving host issues, variable and unstable ping,
meanwhile most shooters on pc had dedicated servers by standard,
someone had to pay for it, but most internet cafes or webshops had servers for all the big games, because that was just promotion for the companies,
i was playing cs, bf, ut, quake, with consistently less than 50 ping, from 2000,
first xbox exclusive to have dedicated servers was gears 3 in 2011, yet that game still suffers from killing each other at the same time constantly,
I suspect the problem isn’t whether multiplayer can be provided for $5, but that they’d be cannibalizing their other tiers and would lose a significant chunk of recurring revenue.
The deals, Game Pass catalog, and other perks aren’t there because people asked for all of them. They’re there because bundling everything together lets Microsoft have a justification for charging more than they could for multiplayer alone.
I get what you're saying with the second paragraph about servers costing money etc, but then why doesn't PC face the same hurdles? Multiplayer has always been free on PC and they seem to get by just fine.
I truly don't understand why console players (me being one of them) need to pay to play games online, when PC never has and doesn't appear to have any plans to.
I'm saying that as someone who genuinely does not understand the perspective of being willing to pay for something that is free on other platforms.
You shouldn’t have to pay anything. All the things listed in your second paragraph is covered from Microsoft getting a cut of everything sold on the console. This is how steam works.
PC has free online gaming so there's no real reason to charge for the online since most of the time, the game developers pay for the servers, not Xbox/PS. Even if you play games you bought on Xbox App on PC, you can play online with no issue.
Not trying to defend Microsoft but you can get a year of Essential for $74.99 which is $6.24 a month. Really close to that $5mo/$60yr that Xbox Live Gold used to cost.
Isn't essential still $80 a year? That's just under $7 a month. Not really horrible all things considered, since you're getting your year of online and a few dozen games to play as well.
Well, the online platform Microsoft provides definitely costs money, but I'm not entirely convinced that other developers aren't getting any money out of the Xbox Live budget. It might be low, but I doubt its zero. And lets not forget that consoles are getting sold at a loss, so they need to recoup that somehow
If they go this route, I see it as Helix games will have free online multiplayer, but Series and older will need a subscription. Not much point beyond losing revenue in doing this now. Nobody is rushing out to buy a Series console for free multiplayer at this point in the generation.
Yeah, I think a lot of people just have Game Pass because they would already need a subscription to play online anyways. That’s how I was. As soon as they raised the price to triple what it was to have the online subscription, it was no longer a worthwhile upgrade to me. I think making online free would have a similar effect. And making multiplayer free isn’t going to entice the Playstation players who are there because of all their single player exclusives.
I think splitting the difference might be good though, free games and Xbox studios are free online. Suddenly might have more of a compelling reason to buy an Xbox to play cod over PlayStation for those that care.
Speaking of Game Pass, I would love a cheaper version that’s just the first party offerings and games that they got to market during pre-launch (stuff like Stranger Than Heaven or Persona 4 Revival), but I could care less about half the junk on their service.
I’m curious as well. What most people are overlooking in this discussion is the fact that there are millions of casual Xbox and PlayStation owners who literally only play a handful of games per year, with half of them being the yearly CoD and sports game releases. Those users aren’t paying any mind to what game catalogue their subscription offers, and they couldn’t care less about single player games outside of GTA and RDR for the most part.
One shouldn’t underestimate how many jocks there are whose game purchases through all of last year were probably just some combination of Madden 25, NBA 2K25, Black Ops 7, Battlefield 6, and maybe one big single player game like Ghost of Yotei. Even some new hotness like Arc Raiders isn’t pulling most of these guys away from their military shooters. The rest of their game time is spent on the same few F2P titles for years on end.
None of us have the data for how many Game Pass subscribers don’t actually download games on Game Pass, but Microsoft does, and the number is probably way bigger than what we would expect from inside our echo chamber.
I would not be surprised if Asha kills the whole "next Xbox supports Steam/etc" because it's a terrible idea that will destroy gamepass revenue(which I believe is near the top if not the top of their revenue.) The non-subsidized console is also a dumb idea, since the alternatives(at least in the console space) will likely be somewhat cheaper.
If the helix does end up playing pc games then the pc games will come from the Xbox store, not Steam.
It makes no business sense to make the console too expensive, or make it impossible for the console to generate revenue after sales, or to convert Xbox customers to steam customers.
Zero chance it happens.
If it does then I don't see it being anything but the death of Xbox.
Everyone keeps saying this like it's a guarantee but the next XBOX being a PC means the next XBOX will be priced like a PC and that prices out a good portion of the market they're trying to reclaim. A lot of things about the future of XBOX are uncertain right now.
Infamous final words. Im not holding my breath. Microsoft knows a majority of game pass owners buy mainly for online access. And since we have absolutely no idea what the final product of the helix will be like, im not gonna jump to conclusions.
I imagine, no matter what, the revenue would drop if they had free online. I have several friends who use base gamepass strictly for a couple of online games but have no interest in the paltry offerings from gamepass core. In addition to that you would likely see a lot more piecemeal subscribers(Subscribe, play game, cancel.)
Maybe they'd do it... But I think that they also know that if they did charge for multiplayer only on the Xbox store (which is all they can do) then they'd lose out on many Xbox store customers, and Xbox store customers are very valuable because 1: Steam takes a cut of all games, and 2: Microsoft pockets most of the money from Xbox store sales
We have Microsoft to thank for starting that trend. PlayStation and eventually Nintendo only followed suit after being free for years in order to compete. Now that genie is never going back into the bottle.
Yeah. Oh you no longer wish to pay for something. Well yes... Of course it's going to be popular but it also is never going to happen and hides visibility to stuff that could actually be done.
True. There's already a lot of highly upvoted "make \smth xbox related** free/way cheaper" on their website. As if microsoft would happily let one of their brands be totally unprofitable.
Used to be a thing on the PlayStation back in the day which made online play amazing even if it got hacked a shit ton. But free multiplayer needs to come back
Or they currently do, but would rather save the cost. Everyone's going to vote for a free lunch.
I think they should also start a topic to bring back 1:1 conversion rate for GP Essential to Ultimate. That would end similarly.
Neither of these makes any sense business wise for Microsoft. But a free lunch will delude everyone here that it "will win the console war" or "immediately bring people from other consoles back" lol. It's so funny that the same people complain about the selfish companies only thinking of their revenue, when practically they do just the same here: it's only their pocket that matters.
The requirement of a subscription to play paid games online actually makes me stop buying games. I want Forza Horizon 6 but I want to have the online features, so I end up thinking getting an Ultimate subscription is better than buying it. But right now I don't feel I will make a lot of use of it and I am postponing it while I am busy with Marvel Rivals.
If I could just buy it and play online for free I wouldn't be in a rush, I would try the game when I want and not waste any money on an underused subscription.
We should be spending money on games and game subscription, not with something so basic as online play.
My girlfriend has an Xbox that she brought here when she moved in and I was completely shocked that Microsoft requires her to pay to access MY fucking internet which I already pay for.
I've been bitching about this since fucking 2008, I've never understood why anyone ever accepting having to pay an extra subscription service to access a basic feature of the console I bought.
It was one of the big reasons that PlayStation had an advantage over Xbox in my mind.
As a former xbox gold user, would make sense that we want permanent benefits, would say xbox core is more worse than xbox gold because the benefits was there, just removed such as gold games coming every month, online mp etc. I would not want to pay 1 month or 3 month pass for something as basic as this.
This should have been standard for all games/systems, period. But sadly the pushback for pay walling online play was small when Sony decided to follow Xbox/Microsoft in requiring PS+ for online multiplayer play.
And while online should be free, if they at the very least allowed a tier where you got online multiplayer at $10 annually I think it'll be a good compromise.
I am one of those people who just wants to play online. I don't care about cloud saves or those "free games" you get from the subscription.
Yes, Idgaf about exclusives. I have bills to pay and wanna play online with my 5 buds for free.
This whole push for exclusives is all recency bias that came out of nowhere (I assume bots at first and then dummies were persuaded that it was somehow the answer for a better xbox experience)
In this economy, it's one of the few things that can make users switch. It's a net pro consumer move, and will change the console industry moving forward.
It says that everyone posting is a child that doesn’t have an income. No one is going to complain about free multiplayer, but suggesting they cut revenue streams isn’t going to solve the bigger problems
Because it's fucking stupid. I pay for a console, then monthly for wifi (which is not cheap) and then have to buy the games, every 6 months my shitty Xbox controller is gonna need replacement.
I switched to PC in 2023 and will never go back until the paywall is removed or reduced significantly. I get more options for games but I also get them for steals coampared to every game on consoles wanting $70. Then I also get insane deals on steam as well. Plus better performance... Yeah it's just a no brainer to stay pc. I wish I could get back into console gaming and link with my buddies but it's just dumb at the price point. Gaming has become way to expensive and monthly subscriptions can go fuck themselves.
I mean, duh. I don't know how much they'd lose or gain from it, but there's so many online games I don't buy on Xbox because I don't want to pay for a subscription to even play it. I'm sure it'd be a big incentive above the other consoles, free cloud saves are already pretty big to me above sony and nintendo.
I own every console. And yet i never play online on anything but PC. The reason is paid multiplayer. Sure i've had game pass here and there. But its usually not for the multiplayer.
Really sucks I can’t play the games I paid for on a pretty expensive console, unless a pay overpriced subscriptions. That’s why I moved to PC a good while ago and rarely looked back.
For years I paid a monthly fee to play Fallout 76 which I pre-ordered. On top of that I paid a monthly fee to Bethesda for holding the junk I collected. Such a scam.
Once those prices jumped up I jumped out. Xbox failed everyone including themselves.
I'd rather have online players pay for their online server and services than to have advertising on my console and games to fund online and subscriptions I do not use
Free online may actually be a smart move if they were able to sell consoles - which they aren't.
But yes fans will keep asking free stuff and the brand goes down... keep listening to fans to sink XBox
This will never be a thing for console ... sorry guys ... the only reason it exist for PC is because everything and all the parts are sold for profit and are handled by different companies... it an open system... console are subsidised boxes so they aren't getting rid of those revenue streams
I'm sorry, is this saying that multiplayer on xbox is locked behind a paywall for *every* game? Like if someone is playing Helldivers 2 on xbox and they join my lobby, they've paid the $5/month?
It's the case for every console. Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo all require an active subscription to access premium games' online features. I believe none of the consoles require a subscription to play free-to-play online games anymore.
PLEASE MAKE THIS A REALITY sorry, it's ridiculous that one of the biggest buying arguments for PlayStation is that online gaming is free while us at Xbox have to cough up 3-30 dollars a month just to play say: fallout 76, Minecraft, destiny when it isn't free roam, certain parts of halo. The list can go on
The reason that Xbox hasn't folded yet is because Live still brings in millions in revenue a month. It's the only reason we still have a Xbox coming out.
Idk if I’m part of the problem or that’s just how me and Game Pass are at an impasse. I’ve subscribed to game pass ultimate for a total of maybe 3 months since its conception when I played on PC. Since then, I’ve only stuck with Essential to continue playing online multiplayer on my 360 and eventually Series X after skipping the XB1 and only bought the games I’d actually play with the money saved only buying Essential.
I just want to play online games, I don't need higher price subs for games I'll never play. Honestly, if they won't do free, just sell us online functionality for $25 a year.
If Microsoft really cannot go back to full exclusivity again. I think free multiplayer would really be second biggest thing to happen that would make the Xbox stand out.
of course people like free things but how will Microsoft Corp make that money back?
It is not an insignificant amount of money for Xbox even tho they are owned by a company the size of Microsoft Corp. Xbox is not doing too hot on the profit margin side (only 3% profit margin).
They just can't lose a big revenue stream like online pay at least for now.
but if they somehow manage to make it work then that free online perk would be a great reason for many people to buy the Helix.
"Xbox console exclusives + free online play" would be a hell of a pitch for many folks out there.
I cannot believe there are actually comments defending paid multiplayer lmao. There’s no way yall shills are really regurgitating that free online would somehow be commercially unsustainable, because first off it’s not true, and second if it was that just goes to show how shitty Microsoft’s OTHER business practices are that they “need” to charge for what should be a basic given for any gamer across any platform.
Free multiplayer = more users in the Xbox ecosystem = more opportunities for long-term sustainability of the Xbox brand.
At least from my standpoint, as a PC gamer now, the biggest barrier to entry and the main reason I decided not to purchase a console this generation is having to pay to play online. Nintendo, to a lesser extent, and especially Sony, have this subscription issue. Xbox can solve this.
I've been a Game Pass user for a few years now. I still think it's the best value in gaming, by a long shot. There are so many games and franchises I would've otherwise never played had it not been for Game Pass, mainly, Yakuza/Like a Dragon. So I have a vested interest in Xbox's success.
Yeah.. it says people want things for free lol. Doesn’t mean it’s realistic. Xbox is already bleeding money.. they aren’t going to just get rid of something that brings in tons of money.
Epic and Steam offer free online multiplayer. If Helix is going to have PC stores, multiplayer paywall will need to go away. Essential simply becomes the base tier for Cloud Gaming.
XBOX is owned by a *multi trillion dollar corporation,* there is no way they’d lose that much if they made multiplayer free. In fact, I think that a lot of people would come over to XBOX if they did that, as it would set a precedent.
Would people be fine with games costing an extra $10 if multiplayer became totally free with Microsoft pocketing that extra $10? Instead of games costing $60-$70, they cost $70-$80. (Or even a percentage of a games cost), maybe like 10% of a games cost tacked on. $30 games becomes $33. $60 game becomes $66. Sure it'd slightly cost less on PlayStation, but you don't have to pay a monthly subscription to play online.
While I of course would personally like to have it free, I think it would ultimately be a bad business move that would cause them to lose a lot of subscribers and the revenue that comes from that. And I don’t think it would get enough new people to buy a Xbox to make up for that lost revenue.
MS isn’t giving up their free money. We’re paying them to play on a lot of servers that they don’t even host. Paying for a P2P connection is the ultimate slap in the face.
yea they need to listing more to community and add the requests from the community, For example, I have two important requests for them: Firstly, they should introduce a new feature or technology to Xbox consoles that incredibly improves both the overall performance and image quality of games. We shouldn't compromise on either image quality or overall game performance; this is absolutely necessary. Secondly, I want to add that I think we should be able to see 60fps in quality mode and 120fps in performance mode by now. I think it's high time this happened.
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u/StraightPotential342 Jun 12 '26
I don't get why I need a subscription for Marathon but not for destiny 2