After years of forcing Xbox gamers to pay for the console’s Live Gold service in order to play free-to-play online games, the requirement was removed last year. Premium titles still require a Live Gold subscription, and according to one insider, the base price to access online might be increased.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is Microsoft’s flagship gaming service, offering Game Pass across PC, Xbox and through the cloud. Additionally, Ultimate includes all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold, including the monthly Games with Gold and more importantly the ability to play premium online multiplayer games.

Currently, if you only want to be able to access online play (for Call of Duty or FIFA or NBA2K etc…) Xbox players can simply pay for Xbox Live Gold – costing around £45 for a year’s subscription.

According to insider Brad Sams and as reported by PureXbox, “I've heard that Microsoft is contemplating figuring out how to raise the price of these services to include Gold so that $15 per-month is the new baseline, meaning you get Game Pass and you also get Xbox Live Gold, and that's the only tier.”

While this would streamline the tiers and offer a one-tier-for-all service, this would triple the price of online gaming for those who only want Xbox Live Gold. Game Pass Ultimate costs £10.99 a month and offers no annual plan, meaning that those who only want to play online could end up paying over £130 a year. Of course, nothing is official until confirmed by Microsoft, so we will have to wait and see.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of this plan? Would this affect you? Should multiplayer be free? Let us know down below.

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