Xbox Game Pass Core to Take Over from Xbox Live Gold on September 14th
Microsoft has announced that it will be discontinuing Xbox Live Gold, one of the remaining remnants of the early Xbox era. Instead, starting from September 14th, the company will introduce a new subscription tier called Game Pass Core. This subscription, priced at $60 per year or $10 per month, will still be required for playing numerous online multiplayer games on consoles, although not all. Additionally, this change signifies a shift in the way Microsoft offers bonus games.
The company is discontinuing Games with Gold, which offered a steady number of titles to Live subscribers. Instead, you get a core collection of over 25 games with new entries two to three times a year. Most of them are first-party games like Doom Eternal, Forza Horizon 4, and Halo 5, although you can find the occasional third-party project like Among Us and Human Fall Flat.
If you’re already an Xbox Live Gold member, you’ll automatically switch to Game Pass Core when it’s available. Games with Gold end on September 1st. However, you’ll still have access to all your redeemed Xbox One games if you’re either a Core or Ultimate member. Redeemed Xbox 360 games are yours to keep, even if your subscription expires.
Microsoft has announced plans to change Live Gold for some time. It stopped offering year-long subscriptions in 2020 and phased out Xbox 360 games in 2022. The company planned to raise gold prices in 2021 before quickly reversing the decision.
The change might be disappointing if you liked Games with Gold’s more catalog expansions. While you do get hits, it’s a not-so-subtle way of steering you toward the Ultimate subscription, which has a much larger selection (including some day-one games), cloud play, and an EA Play membership. With that in mind, PlayStation Plus Essential (which still offers bonus games every month) may be more appealing if you’re open to Sony hardware.
Sony took over the PlayStation Plus Collection this spring. Unless the picks were acquired through other promotions, you’ll have to pay to revisit some of the best games of the PS4 era. Microsoft isn’t strictly emulating Sony’s strategy (it’s mostly a bid to introduce first-party releases), but this is a rough match if you’re just looking for an instant library.
