Xbox Live is now Xbox Network — what you need to know

Xbox Alive is now Xbox Network — what you demand to know

(Paradigm credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft is rolling out a rebrand of its Xbox Alive service to 'Xbox network'. The movement is intended to differentiate the online infrastructure from the paid Xbox Live Golden membership. Nothing is changing for gamers, although at that place are impending improvements in the works.

Historically, Xbox Alive has referred to Microsoft'due south online service for its consoles as a whole, with the tiered membership denoting whether players were paying for online play, or just getting the free benefits available. Xbox Alive Gilt allows players to play online multiplayer, too as bask a selection of gratuitous-to-play games.

In a argument to The Verge , Microsoft clarified that "'Xbox network' refers to the underlying Xbox online service, which was updated in the Microsoft Services Agreement. The update from 'Xbox Live' to 'Xbox network' is intended to distinguish the underlying service from Xbox Live Golden memberships."

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Speaking to Eurogamer, a Microsoft spokesperson explained that "Xbox Alive isn't going abroad," adding that the company is "making ongoing adjustments to create a simpler, more descriptive messaging system for Xbox in dissimilar areas. None of these experiences or features will change as part of these updates."

Microsoft is still refining its service with the debut of its new Xbox Series Ten and Xbox Series S consoles. It attempted to jack up the toll of its Xbox Live Gold membership back in January, just dropped the rollout in the face of the backfire it received.

The Xbox Live service is already under scrutiny for the requirement of a paid membership to play free-to-play games like Fortnite. Over on PS5 and Nintendo Switch — which both require paid membership for online play — gamers don't demand to pay to participate in free-to-play titles.

Happily, that's something Microsoft is planning on scrapping and that we'll run across implemented in the next few months.

Shabana is T3's News Editor covering tech and gaming, and has been writing virtually video games for almost a decade (and playing them since forever). Also as contributing to Tom'south Guide, she's had bylines at major gaming sites during her freelance career earlier settling down at T3, and has podcasts, streaming, and video content nether her belt to kick. Exterior of piece of work, she also plays video games and should really retrieve about expanding her hobbies.