Xbox Live no longer exists: Microsoft renames it ‘Xbox network’

Microsoft’s strategy for its current generation of consoles, the Xbox Series X | s, differs from your approach in the past. While the sale of consoles so far has involved protecting games and exclusive content, Microsoft is taking a more service-based approach. Game Pass, a subscription service similar to Netflix, is the crown jewel of your offerings, and Microsoft expects its xCloud, which allows you to play next-generation games on your phone, to be a blessing.

Therefore, a change in strategy comes with a change of brand. Xbox Live is no more, as Microsoft quietly renamed its online service “Xbox network” over the weekend.

Xbox Live is what Microsoft called the console’s online platform, which includes the ability to interact with friends, download games and more. Xbox Live Gold, a subscription service that allows you to play online, will remain named as such.

“Xbox network ‘refers to the underlying Xbox online service, which has been updated in the Microsoft Services Agreement,” a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement to CNET. “The upgrade from ‘Xbox Live’ to ‘Xbox network’ aims to distinguish the underlying service from Xbox Live Gold subscriptions.”

It may seem like a small and cosmetic change, but it is one that has hit longtime Xbox gamers. Xbox Live has been around since 2002, being released on the original Xbox before being upgraded to each subsequent console. Others noted that the name change is likely an omen for the expansion of online services.