{"id":216108,"date":"2025-09-29T07:44:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T07:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/article.php?article_id=2148323"},"modified":"2025-09-29T07:44:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T07:44:34","slug":"epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Epic Games head honcho Tim Sweeney petitioned Xbox boss Phil Spencer to ditch Microsoft&#8217;s Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games last summer. <\/p>\n<p>The exchange is one of several revealing, private emails sent between company top brass made public as part of the ongoing Apple vs Epic Games trial. <\/p>\n<p>Last August, Sweeney emailed Spencer to suggest Microsoft drop the F2P Xbox Live Gold firewall and time it alongside Fortnite&#8217;s Marvel season launch and permanent V-Bucks price-drop.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2021-05-05-epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/articles\/2021-05-05-epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Epic Games head honcho Tim Sweeney petitioned Xbox boss Phil Spencer to ditch Microsoft&#8217;s Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games last summer. The exchange is one of several revealing, private emails sent between company top brass made public as part of the ongoing Apple vs Epic Games trial. Last August, Sweeney emailed Spencer to suggest Microsoft drop the F2P Xbox Live Gold firewall and time it alongside Fortnite&#8217;s Marvel season launch and permanent V-Bucks price-drop. Read more Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Epic Games head honcho Tim Sweeney petitioned Xbox boss Phil Spencer to ditch Microsoft&#039;s Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games last summer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Epic Games head honcho Tim Sweeney petitioned Xbox boss Phil Spencer to ditch Microsoft&#039;s Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games last summer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-29T07:44:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"167\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-29T07:44:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":100,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/\",\"name\":\"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-29T07:44:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Epic Games head honcho Tim Sweeney petitioned Xbox boss Phil Spencer to ditch Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games last summer.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":167,\"caption\":\"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal | Arcader News","description":"Epic Games head honcho Tim Sweeney petitioned Xbox boss Phil Spencer to ditch Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games last summer.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal | Arcader News","og_description":"Epic Games head honcho Tim Sweeney petitioned Xbox boss Phil Spencer to ditch Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games last summer.","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2025-09-29T07:44:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":167,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal","datePublished":"2025-09-29T07:44:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/"},"wordCount":100,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg","articleSection":["Eurogamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/","name":"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-29T07:44:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"Epic Games head honcho Tim Sweeney petitioned Xbox boss Phil Spencer to ditch Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold requirement for free-to-play games last summer.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal.jpg","width":300,"height":167,"caption":"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/epic-games-and-xbox-discussed-dropping-xbox-live-gold-requirement-for-f2p-games-last-year-emails-reveal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Epic Games and Xbox discussed dropping Xbox Live Gold requirement for F2P games last year, emails reveal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1340317,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216108\/revisions\/1340317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}