Games with Gold Says Goodbye to 2020

Games with Gold will be back in December with four more games, but I have questions about the future of this service given the recent Xbox Series X|S launch and the expected end of Xbox Live Gold.

First, the games. Nothing special really:

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The Raven Remastered (Normally $29.99). Available December 1 to 31

Bleed 2 (Normally $14.99). Available December 16 to January 15

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell (Normally $14.99). Available December 1 to 15

Stacking (Normally $14.99). Available December 16 to 31

So … Hm.

Games with Gold is a perk of the Xbox Live Gold subscription, but with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate now including that subscription, it’s a perk of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate too. I expect Games with Gold to disappear by this time next year, or perhaps only be made available via Game Pass, so perhaps Games with Gold can continue beyond that.

More important, perhaps, only two of the games we get each month are Xbox One games; the other two are usually Xbox 360 games, but we sometimes even seen an OG Xbox game in there. Those older consoles are getting a bit long in the tooth: The Xbox 360 was replaced seven years ago, after all. Does Games with Gold evolve to only (or usually) provide newer (Xbox One+) games? Or is Games with Gold on the way out too?

I’d love to get some clarity from Microsoft on this.

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Conversation 10 comments

  • Brazbit

    24 November, 2020 - 1:59 pm

    <p>I really hope it doesn't go newer games only. Often the older games are the best part of each month. With the Series S/X supporting all four generations of games it would be nice if Games with Gold or Ultimate did the same. </p><p>I enjoy being able to play some of the best games on the older systems without having to dive into storage to dig out old discs. As a bonus, they often give them a bit of a polish, without major changes, when they go digital. </p><p>Plus there is always a chance that reviving some of the old titles for Gold might cause a resurgence of interest and perhaps create enough buzz to inspire a publisher to dust off a stalled, nearly forgotten or discontinued series. There are several franchises I would love to see start back up or gems that could use a sequel.</p>

    • atimms

      24 November, 2020 - 3:40 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#595457">In reply to Brazbit:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Microsoft's backwards compatible team stopped work on 360 and OG games a while back so unless they restart, they're going to have all been included in GWG and will have to repeat.</p>

  • darkgrayknight

    Premium Member
    24 November, 2020 - 2:41 pm

    <p>I'm not really interested in moving to Game Pass and would rather stick with Xbox Live Gold. I spend a lot of time playing each game, so I would really just purchase the ones I want and play some of the Games with Gold ones I've added.</p>

  • Mike_Peluso

    24 November, 2020 - 2:42 pm

    <p>As a subscriber of XBL Gold since the early days of the 360 I'm very disappointed. Every year I would buy a new 1year card at a discount around the holidays. Now the 1 year cards are going for more than face value. This means I either have to pay the higher price via the quarterly cards, or all my XBL Gold game library will be inaccessible to me if I stop subscribing. For someone who plays very little because of life commitments, neither of these are good options. </p><p><br></p><p>If cloud saves go free, then I'm most likely out of XBL Gold for good, I only have 1mbps down at the house and 25kpbs up, so online gaming is simply not an option. Ironically this pushes me, a long time Xbox'er into Sony's camp because their full steam ahead on PS Plus. </p><p><br></p><p> </p>

  • Daniel Kay

    25 November, 2020 - 7:58 am

    <p>I think Xbox Live Gold will merge into Game Pass for Xbox games only and then if you wish you can then upgrade to Game Pass Ultimate.</p>

  • rsfarris

    25 November, 2020 - 10:59 am

    <p>Pure speculation, but if you look at the cover images for the Games with Gold (search here on thurrott.com to do this quickly), they all of course say Xbox Live Gold on the bottom, but a while back Xbox Game Pass Ultimate was added. Specifically Ultimate. With Microsoft doing away with the Gold requirement for online play, couldn’t the Xbox Live Gold logo just one day disappear from these release images?</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      25 November, 2020 - 12:16 pm

      Absolutely.

  • Rycott

    Premium Member
    26 November, 2020 - 6:46 pm

    <p>Games with Gold has been pretty much on life support for a while with the quality of games it has been getting.</p>

  • riopato

    30 November, 2020 - 6:27 am

    <p>Considering all the studios Microsoft scooped up to lock in Xbox games, Games with Gold should be exclusive titles that xbox users have played a lot in the past instead of random games that no one ever heard of. Their library is extensive and Gamepass will make it harder for people to trying every game made for xbox. Free games should be 1 triple A game that's relatively recent, 1 triple A game that's really old going back as far as the original xbox and 1 game that should be a promoted pick based on trends on what xbox users are playing the most but aren't backed by major game publishers.</p>

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