Xbox LIVE Gold pricing is going up by 50%, and will now cost $10 a month regardless of what option you buy.
Today Microsoft announced a substantial price hike for Xbox LIVE Gold. 6 months of Xbox LIVE Gold now costs $59.99, the old cost of the 12-month membership. This is a 50% price jump that doesn't include Xbox's most popular Game Pass service--only multiplayer and an allotment of free monthly games are included.
Here are the new pricing tiers for Xbox LIVE Gold:
- 1-month - $10.99 ($9.99 previously, +10% price hike
- 3-month - $29.99 ($24.99 previously, +20% price hike)
- 6-month - $59.99 ($39.99 previously, +50% price hike)
- 12-month - Now removed? ($59.99 previously)
It's implied that Microsoft will start adding more games to its Games With Gold lineup to reflect the price hike. The Xbox LIVE Gold free game offering for February includes five games for the first time ever and has an assortment of heavy-hitters:
- Gears 5: 1-28 Feb
- Resident Evil: 1-28 Feb
- Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition 16 Feb to 15 Mar
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb: 1-15 Feb
- Lost Planet 2: 16-28 Feb
The motivation here is clear. By offering more intrinsic value by holding more games for ransom under the XBLG subscription, Microsoft is betting players will keep their subs active to maintain access to the games library. The same is true for Game Pass Ultimate. The idea here is to lower the gap between Game Pass and Xbox LIVE Gold while adding more value--and cost--to each sub to help justify recurring spending and reducing lapsed subscriptions.
It's worth mentioning that the Microsoft Store still has the old pricing for Xbox LIVE Gold, but you can't actually buy the 6-month or 12-month options from the store.