Xbox Live 12 month plans vanish before tomorrow’s showcase

Looking to buy into Xbox Live for some online multiplayer (and “free” games)? Well, hang on, because something is afoot at Microsoft.

No more yearlies?

So this is interesting. Covering a story that’s popped up this week, industry website MCV has revealed that the 12 month Xbox Live plans have indeed vanished. Why? Well, we don’t know. Yet.

The company did make a statement on the move though, telling website TrueAchievements that:

“At this time, Xbox has decided to remove the 12 months Xbox Live Gold SKU from the Microsoft online Store. Customers can still sign up for a one month or three month Xbox Live Gold subscription online through the Microsoft Store.”

Microsoft

While that’s a statement alright, it doesn’t actually say too much. There are however, a few things to keep in mind as brought up by MCV.

For starters, Game Pass Ultimate has Live Gold built right in. So it could be that Microsoft simply would rather make fans buy into that, instead of Live Gold all by itself. Then again though, there’s the rumor that the paywall might be dropped entirely for Live Gold.

If that happens, it might be occurring around the time that the Series X launches. And since that’s happening in the fall/Holiday, it’d make sense to get rid of the 12 month subs now. And finally, there’s the xCloud factor.

Microsoft has announced that their much-awaited xCloud ‘play anywhere’ system will be making its way to Game Pass Ultimate as a part of that deal. Apparently, the move will be made without extra cost to the consumer. So definitely something interesting happening with that.

If there is something to announce, we’re all going to find out pretty quick. Microsoft’s big Xbox showcase event (complete with Halo Infinite reveal) will be happening tomorrow.

Source: MCV