Home Gaming Xbox Live functionality on Windows 10 will be free

Xbox Live functionality on Windows 10 will be free

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Microsoft is doing a pretty smart thing – they’re bringing many of their exclusives to the PC with Windows 10 and Direct X 12. For a year, they’re also making the operating system free to legitimate Windows 7 and 8 users – so there’s very little reason for PC gamers not to upgrade. Microsoft’s finally realised that they actually have two gaming platforms and not just the Xbox – so they’re leveraging that by making them work well with each other.

You’ll be able to cross buy an Xbox One game, and, if it has a PC version, get that version for free. You’ll be able to stream Xbox One games to your PC. You’ll be able to edit the video clips you record on your Xbox one on your PC –and a whole lot more. You’ll be able to chat with your Xbox Live friends from your PC, and even engage in cross-device multiplayer.

To facilitate this, Microsoft is essentially, bringing Xbox Live to PC (again…but let’s forget about Games for Windows), with a suite that gives PC gamers “access to the vast majority of Xbox Live services currently available on Xbox One.” There’s been a bit of worry that with that, Microsoft might be charging users for Xbox Live on Pc – as they do for Xbox gamers.

Well, they’re not. Microsoft’s clarified a little, saying that PC gamers won’t have to pay extra, like their console brethren do. It’s free – which is quite nice. Unfortunately, Xbox gamers will still have to fork out the now R799 a year necessary to access the service.

Last Updated: March 6, 2015

86 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief

    March 6, 2015 at 14:32

    Moerse moerse clever!

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      March 6, 2015 at 15:06

      Game changer I reckon. Time will tell but cross-platform is awesome, ask any Sony user with multiple devices.

      Reply

    • FoxOneZA

      March 6, 2015 at 15:31

      Cross device multiplayer aka KB & Mouse vs controller 😀

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        March 9, 2015 at 07:08

        Huehuehue

        Reply

  2. Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

    March 6, 2015 at 14:36

    Does this mean it’s free for life if you upgrade within the year or free for the first year?

    Reply

    • Pieter Kruger

      March 6, 2015 at 14:37

      Free for life as long as it’s done within the 1st year! ????

      Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      March 6, 2015 at 14:38

      Yes – free for life – as long as you upgrade in year one.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        March 6, 2015 at 14:39

        Yes to which statement?

        Reply

        • Pieter Kruger

          March 6, 2015 at 14:39

          No.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief

            March 6, 2015 at 14:42

            Maybe

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            March 6, 2015 at 14:46

            One!

          • Pariah

            March 6, 2015 at 14:47

            Lives.

          • Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

            March 6, 2015 at 14:48

            until

          • Hammersteyn

            March 6, 2015 at 14:48

            the

          • Pariah

            March 6, 2015 at 14:49

          • Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

            March 6, 2015 at 14:49

            xD was gonna go with Forever at first

          • Pariah

            March 6, 2015 at 14:50

            Too soon? XD

          • Matewis Jubilai

            March 6, 2015 at 15:02

            I still want to play this game one day. I only played the demo years ago. What’s it called? Sexy and Dangerous? Fabulous and Dangerous? Secret and Dangerous? Sexy and Secret? Was there a tornado in this game? I remember a PC Format screenshot with a tornado 😛

          • Hammersteyn

            March 6, 2015 at 15:04

            No One Lives Forever 😛

          • Admiral Chief

            March 6, 2015 at 15:06

            NOLF 2 to be precise (the section he is referring to)

          • Matewis Jubilai

            March 6, 2015 at 15:07

            tornado?

          • Admiral Chief

            March 6, 2015 at 15:07

            Yes, starts in a street then goes to a trailer park…against female ninjas

          • Matewis Jubilai

            March 6, 2015 at 15:09

            Wow, if only my memory was this good at useful things as well 😛

          • Pariah

            March 6, 2015 at 15:13

            LOL!

          • Admiral Chief

            March 6, 2015 at 15:13

            With a boss fight inside a trailer while in the air inside tornado

          • Matewis Jubilai

            March 6, 2015 at 15:06

            Ooooh yeah. Don’t know what I was thinking of 😛

      • Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

        March 6, 2015 at 14:39

        😐 to which one?

        Reply

        • Geoffrey Tim

          March 6, 2015 at 14:40

          Refresh. Realised my dumb in seconds

          Reply

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            March 6, 2015 at 14:41

            Look what Darryn made you do! O_o

          • RinceThis

            March 6, 2015 at 14:46

            lol

          • Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

            March 6, 2015 at 14:43

            That is fantastic to hear though, looks like Xbox’s gonna be the real winner from here

          • Pariah

            March 6, 2015 at 14:44

            I think only really if you own both a PC and an Xbox One. If you don’t have a PC, then it’s still even-stevens re: the consoles.

  3. Pieter Kruger

    March 6, 2015 at 14:38

    Very smart move!! ???? Wonder when they’ll announce free Xbox Live Gold for Xbox……..????

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      March 6, 2015 at 15:05

      Never dude. They have to recover the cash for the “free” games somehow. At least with MS you’re not just renting though.

      Reply

  4. Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event

    March 6, 2015 at 14:43

    Can understand why it would be free on PC. Steam would completely rip it to shreds if it wasn’t.

    Reply

  5. Hammersteyn

    March 6, 2015 at 14:43

    So everything on PC is free except the games? No need to buy and XBOX One or XBOX Live. I can just sit and wait for Quantum Break and Halo?

    Reply

    • Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

      March 6, 2015 at 14:44

      Sounds like it

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        March 6, 2015 at 14:44

        Sounds awesome!

        Reply

    • RinceThis

      March 6, 2015 at 14:44

      Indeed!

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      March 6, 2015 at 14:44

      MAGIC!

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        March 6, 2015 at 14:46

        Sony should do the same, everyone needs to play TLOU

        Reply

        • RinceThis

          March 6, 2015 at 14:57

          Next week I’ve taken 3 days off for my Birthday. Going to spend them playing that!

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            March 6, 2015 at 14:57

            XD XD XD

          • Admiral Chief

            March 6, 2015 at 15:00

            Birthday?

            I thought you spawned?

          • Pariah

            March 6, 2015 at 15:01

            That was hellishly funny. 😀

          • RinceThis

            March 6, 2015 at 15:04

            Well it’s actually my annual feeding on souls day. Trevor’s been invited… 0_O

    • Johann

      March 7, 2015 at 01:16

      No Xbox exclusives will still be Xbox exclusives, the only cross play games will be games that are available on pc and Xbox. For instance, you buy Fifa 16 on Xbox and you get to play it on pc as they’re available on both devices. Quantum Break is an Xbox exclusive so it will still only be available on Xbox.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        March 7, 2015 at 09:31

        But what about Ryse and Dead Rising 3?

        Reply

    • Johann

      March 7, 2015 at 01:16

      No Xbox exclusives will still be Xbox exclusives, the only cross play games will be games that are available on pc and Xbox. For instance, you buy Fifa 16 on Xbox and you get to play it on pc as they’re available on both devices. Quantum Break is an Xbox exclusive so it will still only be available on Xbox.

      Reply

  6. RinceThis

    March 6, 2015 at 14:44

    So more and more reason to not buy a Bone and upgrade my PC?

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      March 6, 2015 at 14:45

      YES!

      Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      March 6, 2015 at 14:47

      *and get my younger brother to upgrade my PC? Fixed it for you!

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        March 6, 2015 at 14:49

        Bwahahahahaha

        Reply

      • RinceThis

        March 6, 2015 at 14:54

        Oi! I don’t need his support! http://i.imgur.com/b0S0zXU.gif

        Reply

        • Pariah

          March 6, 2015 at 14:55

          LOOOOOOOOOL!!!

          Reply

        • Matewis Jubilai

          March 6, 2015 at 14:58

          They had us doing this nonsense at veldskool >:(

          Reply

          • Spathi

            March 6, 2015 at 14:58

            Hobhouse?

          • Hammersteyn

            March 6, 2015 at 14:58

            Bang heads?

          • Pariah

            March 6, 2015 at 14:59

            “heads”

            I don’t trust Veld Skool.

          • Matewis Jubilai

            March 6, 2015 at 14:59

            Lol, no that stupid trust exercise followed by an even worse part : coming up with a 2 minute play to do in front of everybody (so much rage!)

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          March 6, 2015 at 14:58

          Just look at that! Doing a trust fall with your mate & the ginger takes that moment to headbutt you!

          Reply

    • Skyblue

      March 6, 2015 at 15:03

      “if it has a PC version” – too many people not reading that even though the Xbone has a limited exclusive range.

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        March 6, 2015 at 15:11

        If even 50% of the games can be played on the PC who would want to buy a Bone?

        Reply

        • Skyblue

          March 6, 2015 at 15:15

          It has it’s uses, not many I’ll admit but some.

          Reply

  7. Guild

    March 6, 2015 at 14:48

    So why buy an XBone now? If I get a decent desktop I see no need for the XBox now

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      March 6, 2015 at 14:48

      Inorite?

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 6, 2015 at 14:50

        Shuddap draad-sitter. 😀

        Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      March 6, 2015 at 14:51

      Well they haven’t said all games will be cross play. Or if they are they’ll maybe be timed? And what will they charged for cross play titles seeing as PC games are cheaper than the console versions on day one.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 6, 2015 at 14:52

        What’ll probably happen is that it’ll be one-way. Xbox -> PC. If you want to upgrade to the Xbox version, pay x more for the digital upgrade.

        Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      March 6, 2015 at 14:51

      Not all X1 games will hit Pc.

      Reply

      • Guild

        March 6, 2015 at 14:55

        But by the sounds of it, majority will so just don’t see the worth behind this. It’s a great idea and really awesome but since I have a PS4. I’d rather buy a top of the range PC and play whatever XBox games I can from there

        Reply

        • Pariah

          March 6, 2015 at 14:56

          Best of both, except it’s the best of all 3, with just 2. It’s like Clicks entered the gaming market. 3 for 2 special yo.

          Reply

          • Guild

            March 6, 2015 at 14:57

            hahaha but exactly. I was looking at buying the XBox and a decent PC but now I’d rather buy a top of the range PC and forget the XBox

        • Admiral Chief

          March 6, 2015 at 15:01

          JUST DON’T BREAK IT!!!

          Reply

          • Pariah

            March 6, 2015 at 15:01

            It’s not a trophy, I think he’s safe.

      • Matewis Jubilai

        March 6, 2015 at 15:06

        A pity the X1 isn’t backwards compatible, it would’ve been awesome for there to have been a chance to play the post Halo2 games on PC 😛

        Reply

        • Skyblue

          March 6, 2015 at 15:07

          “if it has a PC version” – too many ppl not seeing this, Xbone exclusives will remain such.

          EDIT: backwards compatibility is always awesome though 😉

          Reply

          • Matewis Jubilai

            March 6, 2015 at 15:11

            oic 🙂

    • Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

      March 6, 2015 at 14:51

      Carpal tunnel syndrome?

      Reply

      • Guild

        March 6, 2015 at 14:53

        Suffering already from it.

        Reply

    • Brady miaau

      March 6, 2015 at 14:57

      I think the same reasons still apply for why I bought my Xbox One.

      Also, because I wanted to.

      Reply

  8. Matewis Jubilai

    March 6, 2015 at 15:12

    Oh dear god, my neighbour’s generator just went on 🙁 But I still have power? Quick! to the coffee machine!!

    Reply

  9. DrKiller

    March 6, 2015 at 15:15

    WTF????

    This makes NO sense why you won’t need to pay for Xbox Live on PC but still need to pay it if you have an Xbox.

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      March 6, 2015 at 15:30

      I’m assuming that the “free” games won’t be available on PC maybe?

      Reply

  10. Wraith

    March 6, 2015 at 15:50

    I’m guessing that cross-buy won’t cater for the reverse scenario of purchasing the PC version and getting the XBone version for free.

    Imagine getting a console game for $5! Gabe, you have forever tainted my outlook on life.

    Reply

  11. lygamnt

    March 7, 2015 at 22:36

    Sounds great, Live is an excellent service and the more places that I can access my Xbox library the better. Cant wait!

    Reply

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