Why do you need a live subscription to play mmo games on Xbox but not on pc?

because they cannot charge on pc as people like myself will just buy games elsewhere, pc is an open platform with competition and is not locked down. hence why pc is better overall and in the long run is cheaper than a console (if you purchase or build a mid range pc that is more powerful than console).

over a 7 year period a total cost of pc with games will work out cheaper than a console over the same period with games and subscription.

overall pc games are 10 - 15% cheaper than on console and drop very quickly.

Because game consuls are sold at a loss and one of the ways that is through subscriptions. PC game distributors have absolutely no money in your hardware, system manufacturers start as much as several hundred dollars in red

Different networks

Pc has .multiple gateways to use epic steam xbox games for Windows etc

IOS Android various cloud services

You can play free to play games for free but not paid

This is regardless of platform with the exception of pc

Free multiplayer always end badly ask sony and nintendo

4billion a year loss because hardware doesnt pay for online maintenance as sony learned painfully in 2011 with the 120m dollar payout to psn users

Your subscription helps pay the subsidy you get for your hardware

You didn't think 1500 dollar components would really cost 500 bucks did you

With pc you pay for your hardware and software and the overhead cost of your pc

Total cost of ownership is different for pc and consoles

You pay it over time with consoles vs one huge payment upfront and freely pick whichever service or.storefront you want

If you want.a subsidy console.without online service fees look at steam.deck you pay steam .directly with your games but if you Google it you.can. Use the other functions.of.it like epic or battlenet I run dino crisis and lunar silver story off of it to save my expensive collectors disk

To play online with Minecraft on an Xbox console, you need a subscription to Xbox Live. Do you currently have an Xbox Gold or Game Pass Ultimate subscription? Or are you trying to play via PC?

PC MMOs come in 2 main flavors: Monthly subscription or f2p-with-microtransactions.

Many MMOs have both -- you can f2p, or you can subscribe and get most of the content included.

I think this is a tough sell for console players who are already paying a monthly fee (xbox gold) to access online multiplayer. Why pay an extra fee just for one game?

It's traditional for PC MMOs to have a 30-day free trial. They should do that, it might draw people in.