Although the possibility of Microsoft removing Xbox Live Gold and integrating it into one of the Xbox Game Pass modalities has been rumored for months, the announcement of the renewal of PlayStation Plus this afternoon, which merges PS Plus and PS Now, could be the final push for Redmond to get rid of this service that has been losing value since the arrival of Xbox Game Pass. At least, that’s what Windows Central’s Jez Corden points out.
After the announcement of the new PS Plus, Corden has shared on his personal Twitter account his suspicions that Microsoft could take an example and put Xbox Live Gold in Xbox Game Pass. «I suspect we’ll see Microsoft consolidate Xbox Live Gold into an Xbox Game Pass tier in the future,” he says. Although so far, Microsoft has not given the green light to this idea.
I suspect we’ll see Microsoft consolidate Xbox Live Gold into an Xbox Game Pass tier in the future.
— jez (@JezCorden) March 29, 2022
It makes sense that before this merger of PS Plus and PS Now, Microsoft would not want to remove Xbox Live Gold, gateway to online gaming on Xbox and direct competition from PS Plusbut this movement by Sony, although it would continue to have a “low cost” modality similar to the old PS Plus, could lead Microsoft to also integrate its proposal into a single service with more versatile modalities.
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