Free-to-play Happy Wars no longer requires Gold on Xbox 360

Happy Wars has updated with a variety of tweaks and a new gameplay mode, but the biggest change comes to the business model. Now non-Gold Xbox Live members can play the single-player modes.

4

Developer Toylogic has released an update to the free-to-play Xbox 360 game Happy Wars, making certain modes available without a Gold membership.

The update lets free users play the single-player modes, including the Story Campaign, Skirmish, and Tutorial stages. It's made a few changes as well. Skirmish used to be called Training, but with its new title comes the ability to earn score, items, and Happy Stars. Items have been given experience point values for upgrades, and various bugs have been fixed.

However, the non-Gold version of Happy Wars is essentially a glorified demo. Free members won't be able to play multiplayer, access missions, or use the treasure map. Microsoft's refusal to let non-Gold members play free-to-play games directly contrasts Sony's policy, where free-to-play games like DC Universe Online can still be played online on PS4, even without a PlayStation Plus subscription.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 22, 2014 4:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Free-to-play Happy Wars no longer requires Gold on Xbox 360.

    Happy Wars has updated with a variety of tweaks and a new gameplay mode, but the biggest change comes to the business model. Now non-Gold Xbox Live members can play the single-player modes.

    • reply
      January 23, 2014 1:06 AM

      Xbox Live is such a horrible service.

      No online makes it million times worse than PSN or Wii U's online service.
      I love it that Netflix/Youtube and everything else like that is free on the two others.

      The only time I've even touched the online stuff in Xbox Live is when they had those free Gold weekends and it still wasn't really worth it.

      • reply
        January 23, 2014 1:06 AM

        No FREE online I meant.

      • reply
        January 23, 2014 6:52 AM

        Lol okay.

      • reply
        January 23, 2014 7:05 AM

        I wouldn't say it's horrible, but the fact that you need a subscription to do basic stuff like Netflix is ridiculous. Some of the other more unique services I get, but Netflix is just dumb.

        • reply
          January 23, 2014 7:25 AM

          this, especially considering they stuff your face full of shit ads all the time

      • reply
        January 23, 2014 7:12 AM

        It's a little bit of a bummer that it still has such a substantial fee and that they lock services I already pay for separately behind the paywall. That being said:

        - You can find all sorts of deals that make it considerably cheaper, as low as like $30 a year if you pay attention during sales for 12 month cards.
        - Saying the service is horrible makes very little sense. Most of what they've offered on the 360 has been ahead of other competing services on Nintendo and PS consoles for a very long time and has functioned very well. Only recently has PSN really caught up and now even they are charging a monthly fee.

      • reply
        January 23, 2014 7:16 AM

        can't say i disagree, especially seeing what you get with a PS+ subscription.

      • reply
        January 23, 2014 7:34 AM

        I am pretty close to cancelling my Live subscription. I don't see myself playing much Xbox online stuff in the next 1-2 years.

Hello, Meet Lola