Media Apps to be free on Xbox One for non-Live subscribers

Not an Xbox Live Gold subscriber? Well, you might be able to say goodbye to being locked out of your favorite media apps like Hulu and Netflix, because the pay wall is going to be coming down.

Up till now, the Microsoft family of consoles had the unusual honor of being the only systems that actually did not allow free access to Apps like video-on-demand giant Hulu (which you already have to pay for in premium form anyway). In order to view said content, and unlike with both Nintendo and Sony, you needed to be an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, which costs $50.00 USD per year. While that’s not exactly a king’s ransom, it nonetheless stuck in the craw of many an owner of the consoles.

As of very soon though, those days will be officially done. In a message that included a myriad of other things about the console, Microsoft has announced that services like Hulu and Netflix will be going free to access on Xbox consoles as of this June. This isn’t exactly a complete surprise as multiple sources were sighted in an Ars Technica story about the move, and the rumor was that it would be announced as a part of the Microsoft keynote at E3 this June. So, even thought’s sure to be talked about then as it’ll be going int effect, it’s public knowledge now.

Also pretty interesting is that scuttle pins this change on the fact that former Xbox boss Don Mattrick has departed the company. If that’s the case, and this is an overturning of one of Mattrick’s policy ideas, then we might be seeing the tip of the iceberg here as there may be more changes on the way. Keep a close eye on that upcoming E3 presser for that.

Source: Ars Technica