One of the biggest scams in gaming that we no longer question is having to pay companies like Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo for the privilege of playing games online with friends. Since Microsoft introduced this concept to Xbox Live a few years ago, other platform holders have adopted it at a rapid pace, making it an aspect of console gaming that we just accept and deal with.
Microsoft may have been the one to introduce this concept, but they could also have been the one to get rid of it. Xbox hasn't been getting a lot of positive press lately, with everything from the Xbox Game Pass price increase to Halo coming to PlayStation actually being used to sell the idea that it's a dying brand.
Xbox removes multiplayer paywall from next console
This follows a new report from Windows Central journalist Jez Corden, who claims to have heard about Xbox's plans for its next system from various internal sources. In the report, Corden claims that Xbox's current plan is for the next system to have no multiplayer paywall at all. That's because the next Xbox console will essentially act more like a PC than a standard console.
Considering that PC gamers have never experienced a multiplayer paywall service like Steam or the Epic Game Store, charging for multiplayer doesn't really make sense and will probably push more people out of the Xbox ecosystem and into more customer-friendly stores. While this hasn't been confirmed yet, it would be a very smart idea and would probably give the next Xbox a slight edge over the PlayStation, even if it's more expensive.
However, not much is known about whether Xbox's next console will be a traditional console. All we've heard from official Xbox sources are vague statements about innovation, while insider reports and rumors paint a picture of a standard Windows PC with the Xbox ecosystem anchored to the side. It sounds a bit messy, but with the PlayStation 6 reportedly going into production in 2027, we should get at least a few more details over the next year.
- brand
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microsoft
- original release date
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November 10, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499
- operating system
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Proprietary (Windows-based)
- processor
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Custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 3.8GHz
- solve
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720p – 4K UHD
