Elder Scrolls Online and other MMOs still locked behind Xbox Live paywall

Recent changes to Xbox Live have not liberated Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls Online from its Xbox Live Gold requirement.

As part of its Kinect announcement yesterday Microsoft also confirmed rumours that video streaming apps such as Netflix will now be made available to all, regardless of whether they subscribe to Xbox Live Gold.

The changes, however, do not mean that MMOs or free-to-play titles like Warframe or World of Tanks will be openly available.

"Right now we haven’t changed the policy on MMOs and free-to-play games," Xbox boss Phil Spencer told Joystiq, noting that with some games there are "engineering constraints, policy constraints and partner constraints in each one of these scenarios".

Spencer also indicated that MMO and F2P paywalls are not always Microsoft’s decision – that’s a bit of a surprise seeing as both Bethesda and Wargaming have expressed their frustration with Microsoft’s Xbox Live structure.

The Elder Scrolls Online for both PS4 and Xbox One was recently delayed until the end of the year.