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

A bit of surprising, but very welcome, news, Xbox will drop the Live Gold requirement to enjoy free-to-play games on the platform. After testing the service internally with games like Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Apex Legends, the move was made to make this adjustment available for the public. The first tests for the Alpha insiders started March 25th with a rollout planned for early May.

"As part of listening to your feedback, this change will take place starting today, and all Xbox players will be able to access online multiplayer at no charge for a library of over 50 free-to-play games that support online multiplayer."

The idea was implemented after the attempt to raise the price of Xbox Live Gold backfired, leaving fans and its user base unhappy. Microsoft has been working to integrate Xbox Live Gold, almost downplaying it, in favor of rolling it more into its Game Pass Ultimate subscription service. Alone with the heavy hitting battle royale titles, games like Warframe, Phantasy Star Online 2, Rocket League, and Too Human are included in that list of online multiplayer. (Battle Ages, Battle Islands, and Gems of War from the list because they do not support Online Multiplayer, but are still free to play.)

The full list of games, which will be updated, are below: