‘The Elder Scrolls Online’: Bethesda Trying To Remove Xbox Live Gold Requirement
The Elder Scolls Online may require two subscriptions to play, and Bethesda is hoping to eliminate one. After the $15 monthly charge to play the game, there would still be the Xbox Live Gold requirement on top of that. The game’s developers are trying to cut the gamers a break and drop the Xbox Live Gold requirement for gamers who only play The Elder Scrolls Online.
Xbox Live Gold has been basically a paywall behind which Microsoft keeps most of its consoles’ online functions locked away. If you want to use Netflix, you have to subscribe to Gold. If you want to use the internet to do more than buy games, you have to subscribe to Gold. If you even want to play Street Fighter IV competitively, you have to subscribe to Gold.
Bethesda sees the Xbox Live Gold requirement as nonsense, especially when you’re already paying to play the game on their servers. The charge per month combined with a new year’s subscription to Gold would cost you the price of another new game, so a lot of hesitant gamers would likely pass it up and play something else on their Xbox One.
Microsoft is not giving any ground to Bethesda at the moment, but that won’t stop the developer from persisting on behalf of The Elder Scrolls Online gamers.
Bethesda’s VP of marketing and PR Pete Hines says:
“We feel like most people such as yourself currently pay that subscription not to pay a game, but to play all games online. … Whatever game I’m playing at the time is the one that benefits. Having said that, we have been in talks with Microsoft about that very thing, and seeing whether or not there’s any room to change their minds about that, for folks who are only [playing] The Elder Scrolls Online and don’t want to pay for an Xbox Live Gold subscription, just to pay [The Elder Scrolls Online]. The answer right now is that’s the way it works.”
Bethesda isn’t happy about that, and plans to keep pestering Microsoft in an effort to change their mind about an Xbox Live Gold requirement on the side to play The Elder Scrolls Online on Xbox One.
