This same morning we told you that Xbox Live, Microsoft’s Internet video game service, will be renamed Xbox Network, although this change at the moment is official only for users participating in the Insider program, as some of them have verified on the day of today, but it is not the only change that is coming.
In this sense, as we also mentioned this morning, Microsoft is also working to eliminate the need to have a paid subscription, that is, Xbox Live Gold, to be able to enjoy other options.
In line with the competition
Well, hours later, and officially, we found out that it is effectively no longer necessary to have Xbox Live Gold to access free-to-play multiplayer games, as they promised months ago, and even the free access to Xbox Party Chat, the chat messaging feature that allows you to have conversations with your contacts, regardless of whether or not they are playing with their Xbox consoles.
If that was not enough, it would not be necessary to have Xbox Live Gold to access the group search function. The announcement was made by both Brad Rossetti on Twitter and the official Xbox Insider profile on Twitter, noting the following:
Xbox Insiders in Alpha Skip Ahead & Alpha today we introduce some new features. Multiplayer in Free-to-play, Looking 4 Groups and Party Chat games on Xbox no longer requires an Xbox Live Gold membership as we flew and tested these service changes prior to general availability
It is clear that these changes are now reaching the users of the Insider program, with the idea of reaching the rest of the Xbox account users over the next few months, for which the company will make the relevant announcement, as is logical .
With this move, Microsoft puts its Internet video game service at the same level as rival services Sony and Nintendo, which have already been allowing access to free games without the need for a paid subscription.
Competition in the world of video games tightens, and users have already more than shown that when something does not convince them, in general terms, they are able to reveal themselves until the companies rectify the changes that generated controversy, where even Microsoft itself had They have to rectify the price hike of their paid subscription plan at the beginning of the year.
