Xbox Live Gold has been on a downward trend for a few years now. What was once the flagship service for Xbox and paved the way for other popular services like PlayStation Plus, has been offering lesser-known games for quite some time while charging a price that was not justified solely for online play. While it made sense as resources were primarily directed towards Xbox Game Pass, it always felt like Xbox Live Gold was destined to disappear. And now, that is being confirmed.
Microsoft has announced that Xbox Live Gold will be discontinued on September 1st. But don’t worry. For those still using this service, Microsoft has created an alternative: on September 14th, Xbox Game Pass Core will be launched. Priced at $9.99 per month or $59.99 per year, it will offer online play for all games on Xbox Live, along with a collection of 25 Microsoft games. These 25 games include:
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
All Xbox Live Gold members will automatically become Game Pass Core members on September 14th, with no change in their subscription prices and respecting the remaining months of Gold they have in their account. Additionally, all games claimed through Games with Gold can still be played as long as a Game Pass Core or Game Pass Ultimate subscription is maintained. While new monthly games will no longer be received, members will have a permanent catalog of 25 high-quality games, which will also serve as a showcase for Microsoft’s Game Pass library. It remains to be seen if this move will satisfy current Xbox Live Gold members.
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