It's XBL almost the sole source of any actual profit MS has made from Xbox over the last 2 1/2 generations? If not the only source then a large majority of it.
But it is true that an increasingly unified environment between PC and console for MS does make paid online for XBL stick out like a dog's balls. Though I think MS is more likely to try to slap paid online onto PC somehow than relinquish it for console. Of course the problem for MS in PC is that while PC is virtually a single platform, there are many game providers and online services. and if MS slaps a fee for gaming through a MS service people will merely get their gaming from Steam or G2A, or GoG or Origin, or wherever. So MS would need to be pushing all those other players out of PC before they could introduce paid online for PC. And that wouldn't be easy if they were to try.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
