It’s been an odd week for Microsoft. First, they announced that they won’t be requiring consumers to own a Kinect with their Xbox One. Now they’ve announced that a lot of their entertainment apps will be available regardless of whether or not the user owns Xbox Live Gold.
It’s good news, that’s for sure, and it’s a step in the right direction for the company who has been known as something less than consumer friendly since last year’s E3.
Unfortunately, not all services will be affected. MMO’s and free-to-play games will remain behind the paywall.
According to Microsoft Head, Phil Spencer, Microsoft wouldn’t be able to completely drop the paywall since matters are complicated by “engineering constraints, policy constraints, and partnership constraints in each one of these scenarios.”
Games behind the paywall include, Happy Wars , World of Tanks, and The Elder Scrolls Online; a game which includes a subscription fee on top of Xbox Live Gold.
Source: Joystiq