So FH3 is really great! Cross-buy works like it should, and lets me play on my Xbox until they patch the really broken PC version. Everything was going fine until I unlocked the online stuff. When you try to play, it will find a game to join, but when you hit X to join it, nothing happens. No error message, nothing. At the time, I wrote it off as launch day load or something. But the next time I was on the PC I tried the same thing, and was instantly able to get into an online session. WTF? If you look a little, you will find the answer:

Xbox Live Gold membership (sold separately) required for online multiplayer on Xbox One.

I used to have Gold, for the free games I guess, but of course I cancelled it a while back because I never even use the console. I never understood the reason for putting multiplayer behind the Live/PSN wall in the first place. Maybe they were able to argue it helps offset (by a LOT) their server costs. Not sure what happens to this story now, when you let PC users play for free, in the exact same online game as the poor Xbox chumps.

For a cross-buy game (being heavily promoted as such) this should have been something they quietly allowed for free on XB1, hoping no one noticed. Now they are kinda screwed: make it fair for Xbox users, or watch next year as a lot of people put that $60 towards building a PC instead of paying for another year of Gold.

I don't know if this is really something to get upset over. I mean, Xbox Live has always required a fee to play online since its inception. Even previous Xbox-PC games like Shadowrun required it.

Also, I think you're severely underestimating the number of people feeling screwed by the $60/yr. Most who have considered going PC have already done so or are in the process of doing it. The rest are Xbox One exclusive players who probably don't even know that PC players can play online for free. Even if they did, the Games with Gold program is probably enough to justify the cost.

XBL has always been a requirement for online games on their consoles. Even cross play games, especially now since all their first party games going forward are cross buy/play

Anyone that pays the full $60 doesn't care enough to build a PC. I've been paying $40 for XBL for years. With the number of legitimately good games you get from Games with Gold, that's a damn good deal.

PC is getting a good deal because if MS wanted to charge a subscription fee to play multiplayer MS first-party titles on PC they would immediately make their PC efforts dead on arrival.

I used to think paying online for console was a good deal, the reason for that is because you were given a centralised online system with great friends list features.

Now that Steam (and some others) are as good and widely used as they are, it makes paying for online hard for me to swallow. My subscriptions often went to waste as I didn't play online enough, I don't like that feeling because it makes me feel bad for not using the service since I paid for it already.

Console gamers have to pay for online multiplayer because they don't have a choice. Well, their choice is to stop using consoles for multiplayer, but that's about it.

The reason console multiplayer is behind a paywall is because they can.

Didn't they try to charge for multiplayer with GFWL?

This. XBL has been worth the value for me over the years. And considering it's been the only place to play Halo/Gears/Forza multiplayer up until now, what can ya do.

I'm not sure why this is surprising? Only good thing about xbox live is you get to keep the games at least i think anyway, on ps+ they lock them out. I can't justify paying for online on consoles anymore, only game i want to play right now is overwatch but I'll pass. But anyway, yeah xbox games will always require gold to play online, not sure about the f2p games but they probably do to lol.

I don't understand why you are surprised by this.....

@oursin_360: I think you get to keep the 360 games, but Xbone games are tied to your subscription just like PS+.

@arjailer: oh wow, i guess both are pretty shitty this gen.