Following years of rumors and speculation, Microsoft is officially ending its Xbox Live Gold subscription service and replacing it with a tier of Game Pass called Xbox Game Pass Core. Xbox Live Gold's potential demise has been rumored since the introduction of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and its online multiplayer support. Now it's finally happening.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, while more expensive than Xbox Live Gold, effectively made the service obsolete. Not only did it give gamers access to online multiplayer and the free Games with Gold games, but it also threw the entire Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass libraries into the mix. Combine that with Microsoft clearly putting less effort into Games with Gold to focus on bolstering the Game Pass lineup, and the writing has been on the wall for the classic Xbox Live service for quite some time.
On September 14, Xbox Live Gold is going away and being replaced by Xbox Game Pass Core. Xbox Game Pass Core will cost $9.99 per month or $59.99 per year, so in-line with what Xbox Live Gold currently costs. It will not include monthly free games, but will instead give subscribers access to a small selection of Game Pass titles. Any free Games with Gold games that have already been claimed will carry over. Microsoft plans on updating the list of Xbox Game Pass Core games 2-3 times per year.
List of Xbox Game Pass Core Games
- Among Us
- Descenders
- Dishonored 2
- Doom Eternal
- Fable Anniversary
- Fallout 4
- Fallout 76
- Forza Horizon 4
- Gears 5
- Grounded
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Halo Wars 2
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Human Fall Flat
- Inside
- Ori & The Will of the Wisps
- Psychonauts 2
- State of Decay 2
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
What's not clear about this big change is what it means for those who may still be playing online games on Xbox 360. Xbox Game Pass is not a part of the Xbox 360 ecosystem. But it's possible that since Xbox Game Pass Core is effectively the same thing as Xbox Live Gold when it comes to online multiplayer support that there will be no big changes for 360 gamers to worry about.
In any case, the introduction of Xbox Game Pass Core means Xbox effectively has four different versions of Game Pass on offer: Xbox Game Pass Core, the vanilla version of Game Pass for consoles, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It remains to be seen how the community will react to this change, but since the Games with Gold program has been neglected for years, it's unlikely to upset too many people.