It's odd to think that just two months ago Microsoft announced that it would be raising the price of Xbox Live Gold. Of course, less than 24 hours after that announcement, Microsoft announced it would no longer be raising the price. Further, in part to make amends, Microsoft would be making free-to-play games available to play without an Xbox Live Gold subscription. It appears the Xbox team is finally moving forward with that promise, albeit only in the early testing stages.
In a message shared via the official Xbox Insider Twitter account, it was confirmed that Alpha Skip Ahead and Alpha insiders will receive a new update soon. The update included three key features that would no longer require an Xbox Live Gold subscription. The first is, of course, access to multiplayer in free-to-play games like Fortnite and others. The second and third additions are the Looking for Group and Party Chat social features.
Some Xbox users may then be wondering what the deal is with Party Chat. It's true that Party Chat has also unfortunately been locked away behind Xbox Live Gold. It makes sense because those without a Gold subscription wouldn't be using online functionality anyway. Now that games like Fortnite will be accessible for free, however, players are going to need social features. Party Chat is absolutely necessary for most free-to-play multiplayer games, after all.
As for Looking for Group, it may not be a feature that many Xbox users use. It's a bulletin board used by players to look for other players so that they can group up for things like squads in Fortnite or raiding groups in Destiny 2. It's a feature that doesn't make sense to limit to just a portion of Xbox gamers, preventing free-to-play gamers from using the functionality. As such, Xbox is unlocking it and making it free as well.
A timeline for when free access to free-to-play games, as well as Party Chat and Looking for Group, will be made available to all Xbox users hasn't been shared yet; it'll depend on how well testing goes. The fact that it's being rolled out for Xbox Insider testing at all usually implies that the Xbox team is happy with the state of it, but just wants to make sure.
In addition to the new features, also being tested today are some fixes for known issues. Specifically, there was a problem that stopped users from turning on HDR for their Xbox, as well as a problem regarding certain localized languages that are being checked out. Another notable aspect of this update is the continued request for reports regarding Xbox controllers disconnecting, a problem Xbox had hoped was fixed this past month.
Expect more information about free-to-play games without Xbox Live Gold in the weeks and months to come.