Microsoft changes the name of Xbox Live to Xbox Network. The Xbox online experience is updated to reflect this new name.
The news originally appeared on The Verge: Microsoft released an official statement confirming the name change. “Xbox Network” refers to the online service, something that was updated with the Microsoft Services Agreement, a brand spokesperson has said. “The upgrade from Xbox Live to Xbox Network is intended to distinguish the service available to Xbox Live Gold users.”
Xbox Live Gold is an online subscription from Microsoft that has been running for years, a paid service thanks to which players have access to online games and free games every month with the “Games With Gold” program.
They announced a price change on Xbox Live Gold that almost doubled it, but they changed their mind and have stuck with it. In addition, free-to-play games (such as Fortnite) will not require a subscription to be played online.
Xbox also added Xbox Live Gold features to the Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which includes everything for a single monthly payment. With this new name, Microsoft’s online services will now be called Xbox Network. The subscription to access the online game will continue to be Xbox Live Gold and with Ultimate we will also have a Network membership. Yes, the network of names is strange, but it is probably nothing more than the path to a unification of services that in the future will include more online options, whether to play in the cloud, or to access our data from Microsoft devices, be from any other company.
