Jeff Grub has claimed that Xbox will be doing away with the need for a Gold subscription to play games online.

If this is true, it’ll make the Xbox Series X the only next-gen machine without an online gaming subscription.

This could be Xbox’s most significant power move in the next-gen console wars.

Online gaming is a massive part of modern gaming culture, considering that an average gamer spends three days of their life playing online. The Xbox Series X appears to be trying to lean heavily into this fact.

According to leaker Jeff Grub, Microsoft will soon be doing away with the need to have an Xbox gold subscription to play online.

This could be the most significant power move in Xbox’s next-gen arsenal.

Free Online Gaming Is Rare on Consoles These Days

Free online play is a hallmark of PC gaming and has been for years. With the Xbox Series X seemingly trying to stray closer to PC Gaming, offering free online play is a big step in the direction.

Removing the need for a subscription to play online is also a big message to both Nintendo and Sony. In the previous generation, Microsoft was the outlier in charging for online gaming, but that didn’t leave competing platforms with any significant advantage.

In the current-gen, paying for online play has become the standard for the entire industry. At this stage, if the Xbox Series X doesn’t require pay-to-play for online features – it’s a telling message from Xbox to the gaming community: We’re here to let you play.

Watch: Free Xbox Gold Explained

The Xbox Series X Could Be the Go-To Console for a Lot of People

The Xbox Series X could be the console for the masses. It offers a lot of advantages over other consoles for both casual and hardcore gamers.

Game Pass gives players an out-of-the-box library, something that neither Nintendo nor Sony seems ready to offer just yet. Free online gaming would only be the icing on the Xbox Series X cake, especially for parents of younger, online-focused, gamers on a budget.

Whether or not this new move will see returns for Microsoft or not is still a mystery. If previous console generations have shown anything, it’s just how unpredictable the so-called ‘console wars’ can be. One thing’s for sure, Xbox knows what they want to do, and they’re upfront about how they intend to do it.

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