Xbox Live Gold No Longer Needed For Free-To-Play Games

Free-to-play online multiplayer games are truly free-to-play at last for Xbox gamers. Microsoft has finally removed the Xbox Live Gold requirement that was previously needed in order to play them.

Microsoft getting rid of the Xbox Live Gold paywall for free-to-play games has been in the works for a few months. Earlier this year, the company announced its intention to tear it down after reversing their widely criticized decision to raise the price of Gold to double what it currently is. Three months later the change is finally in place, allowing access to over 50 free-to-play games. Some of those games include Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, Brawlhalla, and Apex Legends. The full list is available in the company’s announcement post.

That’s not the only thing being removed from the Xbox Live Gold paywall. As part of the April 2021 system update, the Looking for Group feature will also be made available to all Xbox owners, regardless of whether or not they’re an Xbox Live Gold member. Party chat in all free-to-play games won’t require Gold either.

For years, PlayStation owners have had free access to online multiplayer in free-to-play games, begging the question of why Xbox still had them behind a paywall. Especially when some of the biggest games around are free-to-play, it just didn’t make much sense. Making it easier for people to play these games is a win for everyone in the Xbox ecosystem.

In other Xbox news, special invites have started going out to select Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to try out the iOS and PC beta for Xbox Cloud Gaming. If you haven’t checked your emails yet, you definitely should keep an eye on it to see if you’re one of these lucky few. For all the baseball fans out there who are also subscribed to Game Pass, don’t forget that MLB The Show 21 is now available on the service too.