I don't understand Gold membership requirement

So my son picked up an Xbox one about a year ago. A few weeks back he broke his controller so he has been unable to play for a while. Yesterday he buys a replacement controller but none of his games work anymore. It says he needs gold.

Clearly something must be wrong, these are games he already purchased on a console he already purchased. He told me you need gold to watch Netflix or Youtube now too. I told him that cannot be right, those services aren't even provided by Microsoft! So I
guess I want to clear it up, Microsoft isn't charging for services they don't provide are they? They are a more ethical company than that right? The entire reason I bought off on him having an Xbox in the first place is the gold features were add ons like
in game chat and stuff. But the key to responsible budgeting is controlling monthly expenses so I told him absolutely No gold! Buy the games you play when you can afford it but do not under any circumstances tie your monthly budget down with subscriptions!!!!!!!!!

He is now distraught because his XBox One is a boat anchor with little to know value due to the subscription requirement. He is crying while he looks up how much he can sell his Xbox for on Ebay, about the games he PURCHASED as
downloads that he can no longer play, and about what alternatives he has available.

:)

 

youtube app. question

Gold Membership is the old requirement to use YouTube on the Xbox. Gold Membership is also a requirement for all apps, but some, such as Netflix, will also require a subscription with them.

You don't actually need a 12-Month Gold Membership, any Gold Membership will do, and you can use apps like YouTube during the membership.

 

1 Gold Account for the whole family

My son has a gold membership on his 360. I don't have a gold membership. If I add my son's profile to my new Xbox One, then it will give me gold membership as well?

 

Gold is needed to play online multiplayer. There are a few games that are online only so they do require gold. So it could depend on what he is trying to play. Gold is not required for apps like Netflix.

 

Can you buy it with gift cards or is it a recurring fee?

 

Through Xbox you would either need a credit card or PayPal because it does start a recurring subscription. Or you can purchase prepaid gold cards.

 

Id suggest getting the 12 month subscription which is cheaper than 12x 1 month or 4x 3 minth subscriptions. It will be a bigger price to pay all at once but once your done youre sweet for 12 months no worries.

Some games only have multiplayer, so that maybe why he cant play them.

Microsoft doesnt own youtube and netflix, but everything you do online on your console goes through microsofts XBOX LIVE servers which acts as a switchboard since everything online must be approved by the xbox servers which are operated by microsoft. So
technically they legally CAN require a hold subscription as you are using their service to use those apps. Gold is required otherwise everyone will be creating multiple fony accounts and it costs mucrosoft big money to operate servers for every single user.

The price of Gold is cheaper than all your other bills. Get the 12 month sub its the cheapest per duration.

 

Sounds like the purchase of prepaid gold cards would be the option to use. A 12 month gold card is $60 U.S.D. and that's if you don't bother to check the internet for deals on them.

While I understand the importance of teaching the 'don't tie down your budget with subs' concept, the unfortunate thing about it is that many gaming platforms are headed that direction or are already there. 12 month gold cards would 'technically' not be
a recurring fee and could be used to also teach responsible planning. Many people will find them at discounts online and buy several for a good price, which may be an option depending on the budget.

 

This is one of your sons life choices, we all make mistakes, atleast your letting him learn his beliefs through experience and not bending over backwards to his every whim. 100% top notch parenting.... If more adults were responsible like you then microsoft
would have to make its services cheaper to gain users.

 

You don't say where in the world you are but buying your subscription from online sites can save quite a bit of money.
CD Keys currently have a 12 month Gold subscription for $50 or a 15 month subscription for $71.50. Yes that is a large amount of money to layout all at once but the saving over the monthly
subs is significant as smileskybird pointed out.

As to the apps I'm afraid your knowledge is a little out of date. Microsoft did use to lock the entertainment apps like Netflix, Amazon, YouTube etc behind the Gold paywall but they realised back in 2014 that such a practice was no longer acceptable and so
removed the restriction. You are now free to Netflix and Chill no matter your Xbox membership level.

Now alternatives are a tricky one. The Playstation 4 has the same online requirements as the Xbox One. The Nintendo Switch doesn't currently have a fee to play online but it will be introducing one sometime this year, though it will be far cheaper than Microsoft
and Sony's. You could jump back a generation to the PS3 but that would mean missing out on the latest releases. The only other alternative for the latest games and no fee to play online would be the PC, but a decent gaming machine would require more money
than your son could get for his Xbox on ebay and he'd have to rebuy the bulk of his game library (if he has any play anywhere titles, such as Quantum Break, he would be able to play those on Windows 10.)

My advice for your son would be to skip one game a year and spend that money on a 12 month Gold subscription. Yes he will be missing out on one game but he will be able to get more value out of the ones he does buy.

 

As I return to this post a thought came to my mind... Did you setup sign in with a controller?

Are you signed in to your gamertag?

Can you access setting subscriptions, and there it will tell you when you purchased gold and when it will expire.

We have all answered on the assumption you have expired your gold membership but it might be a controller sign in security feature.

Please update the post with more information.