UPDATE: It's official.
A complaint about the Xbox One since launch has been that it locks Netflix and Hulu--services you already need to pay for--behind the Xbox Live Gold paywall, which requires a subscription. Rumor says, however, that this is finally about to change.
Netflix Subscription Cost Increasing
Ars Technica is reporting that Microsoft is planning to remove this requirement, allowing console owners to access and use Netflix and Hulu without needing a Gold subscription. Ars cites multiple sources within Microsoft, and says that the change will apply to both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
A year-long subscription to Xbox Live Gold costs $60, and Microsoft may be putting other services behind the paywall in order to compensate for moving the two popular video streaming services out from it.
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Ars also claims that the decision may have to do with the change of Xbox leadership following Don Mattrick's departure from the company and the subsequent appointment of Phil Spencer. The topic came up during discussions about what to reveal at E3, sources say, and Microsoft is still able to reverse this decision.
While Sony's PSN charges a yearly fee of $50 for online gaming, streaming apps have never required anything other than subscriptions to those individual services on PlayStation. Additional competition like Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, and others are also likely driving Microsoft to consider this change, as users will simply look elsewhere for their video streaming if they don't want an Xbox Live Gold account.
This is subject to change still, if Microsoft have in fact decided on the switch, and is not official news. We will more than likely hear about the news (or lack thereof) at E3 this June.
