Xbox Big Gaming Weekend offers free multiplayer for all, Borderlands 3 and more also playable for free

In place of the regular “Free Play Days” events that Xbox Live Gold members enjoy quite regularly, Microsoft has just announced a Big Gaming Weekend for all gamers on Xbox One and PC. Starting today through Monday, Microsoft will unlock Xbox Live multiplayer for all Xbox One owners, and the company will also make a couple of big games playable for free on Xbox One and PC, no Xbox Live Gold required.

If you have an Xbox One, you’ll be able to play Black Desert, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Monster Hunter World, Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, Borderlands 3, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, and the multiplayer mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (available August 7-10). Three Xbox Game Pass PC titles will also be available for free on both console and PC, Gears 5, Subnautica, and Ark: Survival Evolved.

It’s not the first time that Microsoft makes Xbox Live multiplayer free for everyone for a limited time, but the timing is quite interesting following the recent rumors about Xbox Live Gold. Microsoft recently updated its Services Agreement to replace Xbox Live with “Xbox online services,” but the company confirmed yesterday that the language change was to distinguish the cloud services from the paid Xbox Live Gold subscription, which isn’t going away.

Do you think Microsoft will eventually cave and make multiplayer free on Xbox One consoles, maybe just for free-to-play games like Fortnite? Xbox Live Gold still has some value, but the company may want to shake things up ahead of the launch of the Xbox Series X later this year.