It may not be Microsoft ending Xbox Live Gold and making online multiplayer entirely free, but it's a good taste of what could be. Thursday morning Xbox announced what it's calling the "Big Gaming Weekend." The Big Game Weekend unlocks 10 different games for Xbox users on PC and Xbox One to play entirely for free from August 6 through 10. That includes online multiplayer at no extra charge. With titles including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's multiplayer and Borderlands 3, this is one Big Gaming Weekend not to miss.

10 games in total are being made freely available as part of the Xbox Big Gaming Weekend. All 10 games are available on Xbox One, but only a handful are also available on PC. Available on Xbox One alone are Call of Duty: Modern Warfare multiplayer, Borderlands 3, Dragon Ball Z FighterZ, Monster Hunter World, The Elder Scrolls Online, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, and Black Desert. Available on both PC and console are Gears 5, Subnautica, and ARK: Survival Evolved.

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There is some fine print for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Borderlands 3. Modern Warfare's multiplayer won't unlock on Xbox One until August 7 rather than August 6. It'll then run through August 10 like the other games. However, Call of Duty: Warzone's online multiplayer will be free to access on August 6 like normal. Xbox online multiplayer for free-to-play games like Warzone typically requires an Xbox Live Gold subscription, so Warzone being available without one is a special occasion. As for Borderlands 3, it's available between August 6 and 9.

No reason for the Big Gaming Weekend was provided by Xbox. There doesn't seem to be a special occasion or a related event which the Big Gaming Weekend is tying into. Xbox didn't even build up to the announcement. The Big Gaming Weekend has simply arrived.

There is one potential tie into the ongoing gaming discourse. That being the major rumors swirling regarding Xbox Live Gold being discontinued and online multiplayer for Xbox becoming free. Yesterday Microsoft stated it had no plans to make online multiplayer free, but less than 24 hours it's doing just that. Albeit, it's limited to just 10 games and it's only lasting the weekend, but it's still a plan that's now been executed. Perhaps that's a nod to fans or perhaps it's just a coincidence.

In other words, what the Big Gaming Weekend might be is a beta test. It could be a way for Microsoft to test how well free multiplayer access works on Xbox. It could be a way for publishers to see how their servers hold up when console gamers can play without an extra fee. It might be a taste of what's to come. Hopefully, this isn't the last Big Gaming Weekend. Hopefully, there are even bigger weekends to come for Xbox.

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