Xbox Live Gold Membership Won’t Be Required for Free-to-Play Multiplayer Games

As stated in the last few minutes by Brad Rossetti of the Xbox Preview Program, the Microsoft Xbox Live Gold service will no longer be necessary to play free-to-play games online and for the Xbox Party Chat and group search features (LFG).

The news comes a few weeks after the announcement to increase the prices of the Xbox Live Gold, a decision revoked almost immediately due to the negative feedback received from the public, which prompted the famous American company to change its mind and move in a new direction.

These new changes seem finally ready to reach the public, and testing has officially started today for Insiders. As per tradition, in fact, it will be the Xbox Insiders belonging to the Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead segments of Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S who will test what it will be like to play free-to-play games online without using Xbox Live Gold, a feature that it will be extended only later to all other players.

At the moment, no official information has yet been released regarding when the update will be extended to all owners of Xbox consoles, but it is likely that it will be necessary to wait sometime to test the change to these features as effectively as possible.

A big change for platform owners who will be able to play free-to-play online titles like Fortnite without having to buy an Xbox online subscription. Also, we remind you that Microsoft has recently decided to change the name to the Xbox Live service, officially renaming it Xbox Network.

Below you can find the message shared by Brad Rossetti on his personal Twitter profile.

Xbox Insiders in Alpha Skip Ahead & Alpha today we are flighting some new features. Multiplayer in Free-to-play games, Looking 4 Groups and Party Chat on Xbox no longer requires an Xbox Live Gold membership as we flight and test these service changes ahead of general availability