Searched a lot about why you have to pay Xbox live gold for online, no answer. Why you have...

Hi WorriedCannon14,

Thanks for asking such a great question! There are many factors and costs that go into making such a great online service such as Xbox Live. Microsoft have to maintain the servers for one to ensure a consistent and enjoyable experience for all of the players,
and as you can imagine, that doesn't come cheap. Part of the reason for the subscription charge is to be able to fund this. Also, when you take into consideration the rewards that Xbox Live subscribers inherit each month, such as free games and great discounts
on many titles in the Xbox Store, I for one see this as pretty good value for money. I hope this helps to answer your question. Happy Gaming!

The subscription is used to maintain the servers etc mentioned by the others.

You can however get gold if you have Microsoft rewards available in your region. By doing easy searches on Bing etc you get points. If you have enough you can trade them in for Gold, and other great rewards.

We as Ambassadors do NOT get paid, we are here as volunteers helping out the gaming community as far as we possibly can.

keeps everything running smoothly and cost of the servers that we play our games on and the chat servers etc etc

Hi WorriedCannon14,

that's a good question and I guess we could spend lot of time discussing business strategies. I'll give you my point of view as gamer and marketer.

Live ensures us some addictional services which are perceived as worth paying by gamers.

Plus, some features requires additional costs fro ma provider's standpoint (ie. servers setup and maintenance), so it makes sense to pay for them.

What do you think?

The real reason, as you asked, is for sustainability. And they add value to the service to justify the costs and make it worthwhile to the end user.