It seems that Microsoft is seriously thinking about kill Xbox Live Gold. Although the multiplayer service gave the company very good times during the lifespan of Xbox 360 and Xbox One, the new plans of the company during this new generation seem not be too compatible With the service. Because of this, they have focused much more on Xbox Game Pass, and this is the future of the Redmond.
Microsoft recently removed the need to have Xbox Live Gold to play free-to-play games, and this could be the first step only. Jeff grubb, famous video game analyst, recently commented that Microsoft has put the cards on the table with respect to Xbox Live Gold. Grubb assures the next:
Just wanted to reiterate, Xbox Live Gold is still on a board somewhere saying ‘this is going to go away at some point’. Whether they are actively talking about it right now or not, I don’t, I don’t know, but they still have it on a roadmap that says “Xbox Live Gold will be removed sometime in the future.”
Microsoft is just leaning towards user acquisition, and that means “Xbox Live will be gone, but we have to hit a certain threshold with Game Pass before we can make that decision and disconnect that revenue stream because we have enough from something else.” .
Service Xbox Game Pass had 23 million subscribers among its ranks in April 2021, and it seems like Microsoft is waiting that this number sits at a higher figure, around the 30 or 50 million, to make Xbox Live Gold disappear permanently.
It only remains to wait and see if Microsoft plans to go into the water in this way. If they do, we are sure they will get new users, but we hope it will prove profitable in the long run.