In this week’s edition of It’s The Same, But Different, But Also The Same, Microsoft has rebranded its core online service “to distinguish [it] from Xbox Live Gold memberships”, because, I dunno, people got them mixed up?
First launched in 2002 with the original Xbox console (or 2010 for us in South Africa, remember that?), Xbox Live is – or was – Microsoft’s online service for every subsequent gen console, including multiplayer and social services, digital content distribution services, and since the Xbox One, other services like media uploads and streaming via connected apps. In January this year, a proposed Xbox Live Gold subscription price increase was controversial enough that Microsoft reversed the decision, and announced as a bonus extra that free-to-play games like Apex Legends and Fortnite wouldn’t require a subscription in future, but this hasn’t yet been implemented.
Perhaps related to this incoming access update, however, Xbox Live is being split up into the Xbox network service and the Xbox Live Gold subscription service.
“’Xbox network’ refers to the underlying Xbox online service, which was updated in the Microsoft Services Agreement,” a Microsoft rep explains to The Verge. “The update from ‘Xbox Live’ to ‘Xbox network’ is intended to distinguish the underlying service from Xbox Live Gold memberships.”
Until 2010, Xbox Live featured Gold and Silver user categories for subscribers and non-subscribers respectively, so I guess it’s kind of like that. Same, different, same.