Xbox Killing Its Greatest Game Service
After nearly two decades, Xbox has decided to kill its greatest game service by putting Xbox Live Gold to rest on September 14 this year. In its stead, the company announced the launch of Xbox Game Pass Core, a more affordable version of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service that would allow gamers online-play access and offer a curated selection of games.
According to Kotaku, Microsoft and Xbox are soon saying their final goodbyes to Xbox Live Gold, as the service is receiving a major rebranding into Xbox Game Pass Core—which also implies a major restructuring of the service itself.
The new service will offer a new selection of games for its customers, including some massive hits, such as Doom Eternal, Dishonored 2, Gears 5, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and many other titles. Microsoft and Xbox also promised to add new games to their new subscription service every four to six months.
Xbox Live Gold will cease In September as the Xbox Game Pass Core takes subscription service takes its place.
Those worried about their Games with Gold game collection previously associated with the Xbox Live Gold will get to keep their collection as long as they remain an Xbox Game Pass Core or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, which is an oddity in itself, considering that the new service will be charged approximately $10 per month—a whole dollar less than the regular Xbox Game Pass.
On one hand, it’s really hard to imagine anyone choosing the new subscription plan over the regular Xbox Game Pass, which has a far larger game library that’s constantly updated with new titles.
On the other hand, one could argue that we’re paying an Xbox Game Pass subscription fee to gain access to what’s now being hailed as an Xbox ecosystem with over 400 gaming titles included in the subscription plan.
The new service will offer a new selection of games for its customers, including some massive hits, such as Doom Eternal, Dishonored 2, Gears 5, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and many other titles.
And there’s no way that anyone would go over all 400 gaming titles. What we’re paying is access to said gaming titles and access to day-one releases—which is arguably the most important aspect of the service. So, we can actually see why anyone would pay a dollar less for the former Xbox Live Gold service.
Xbox Live
The original Xbox Live launched back in 2002, shortly after the release of the original Xbox and before the release of the legendary Xbox 360. It was a turning point in gaming history, as it shaped today’s online gaming.
That particular service was fused with Xbox Live Gold, which was the subscription portion of the service that offered online play and several free titles each month after Microsoft launched its Xbox Game Pass subscription service in 2017. Now, the Live Gold is being rebranded into Game Pass Core to align better with the Xbox Game Pass terminology.
The launch of Xbox live was a turning point in gaming history, as it shaped today’s online gaming.
So, the core of the service (pun intended) isn’t actually going anywhere. Xbox 360 games redeemed via Games with Gold in the past will be kept in the player’s library, and the aforementioned subscription requirements only apply to Xbox One games redeemed through the service.
All of this means that the Xbox is now matching PlayStation’s Plus subscription service, especially their Essential tier, which has the same price but still offers a few free games every month.
