My opinion on this might be unpopular, but I've always found the distinction arbitrary.
Online play on for a free title has the same cost/impact on the platform holder as a full price paid title (of not more so because more people are willing to try). Obviously I'd prefer it if the platform holders absorbed the cost of online and made it free across the board, which is unlikely, but I've always found the stance from Sony (& now Nintendo) odd.
Just wanna say I agree. Makes no sense that the cost of a game determines whether the online is free. Especially now when games which aren't free can also have MTX. Either online should be free or it shouldn't. I'd hoped that Nintendo was only charging for their own online games (which would have also made some sense), but this weird in-between always seemed odd to me.
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