Well, there it is. Xbox has just announced the final Games With Gold selection that'll feature Xbox 360 titles (and seemingly original Xbox titles as well), as the company recently announced that it was ditching the 'classics' part of the program. It's been a long, and at times less-than-thrilling ride we have to admit, which is ironic considering original Xbox title Thrillville is one of the very last classic GWG offerings.
Having said that, we've received some amazing Xbox 360 titles over the years for absolutely no extra cost considering most of us subscribe to Xbox Live Gold in some fashion. 360 titles have always been free to keep as well, meaning that if your sub lapses you still get to keep those classic games tied to your account.
That fact alone means this particular part of the service has been incredible value since its introduction in 2013, even if the last few years worth of games have dropped off a little bit in quality. This got us thinking, will Microsoft offer up something new to replace Xbox 360 Games with Gold?
The company has said that, for now at least, the program will continue with just Xbox One titles. If that's the case long term, Xbox Live Gold will become a lot less valuable from October 2022 and beyond. Here's Xbox's official statement on the end of Xbox 360 GWG:
"We have reached the limit of our ability to bring Xbox 360 games to the catalog; however, Games with Gold will continue to include exciting Xbox One titles and exclusive savings each month."
Of course, much of the focus is on Xbox Game Pass now, and to be honest, we wouldn't moan too much if Xbox decided to introduce more GPU perks as a way to make up for the lack of original Xbox and Xbox 360 Games With Gold titles. Maybe Gold will be ditched altogether like previously rumoured? We'll just have to wait and see what happens next.
But, what do you think? Will Xbox give us something new to replace 360 GWG? Vote in the poll and let us know!
Comments 18
I doubt they'll continue it for much longer. Feels like they've wanted to make Game Pass the focus for a while.
I think it'll just be 2 XB1 games similar to how ditching PS3/Vita games on PS+ back in 2019 didn't improve the PS4 output.
@Kaloudz agreed. Hell give us one game people want to play instead of 4 that spur 0 interest
As long as the don't get rid of gold. If I get a few good games on sale and new releases I won't have the time for game pass games for a while.
I have been wondering this as well. Will they start offering something else since the x360 games are being dropped.
I think it will be gone soon but I’m hoping they just use the money they would have spent to license them to give us higher quality Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S games.
I should add that I don't think Microsoft will kill GWG right now(or soon). They are desperately trying to grow market share and they have few exclusives coming to the table right now.
I don't think it would be worth it to them to risk the outcry it would cause. Less painful for them to just let it limp along.
@uptownsoul It would seem like that would close that door, yes.
@uptownsoul If they get rid of gold won’t the promotion that uses gold to get cheap gamepass go away?…yes, yes it would. Which is why I personally, I’ve long said mp shouldn’t be behind a paywall, don’t want to see gold go…simply because I get super cheap gamepass ultimate because of it.
Of course… they’ve announced the new family scheme now, which should become a viable alternative to getting cheap gamepass.
If they do drop gold they better atleast ensure mp is now free on Xbox…and not simply keep it behind another pay wall of Gamepass ultimate.
But then again…I wouldn’t really be surprised… took years to finally get f2p games free from the gold paywall…only to then start putting those in gamepass.
@uptownsoul That’s an interesting question to raise.
As I’m new to all that angle, does my current method of buying GamePass Ultimate at £1.30 a month every month work out cheaper or more pricey?
As I already get gold with it.
They should ditch gold and offer free online play. I think that would attract more people to their platform, I had a PS3 because it offered free online play.
Two games per month only, but of better quality.
I am sure everyone's backlog is huge enough at this point, so at least if the games are 'better' (very subjective! Whatever that means haha) then I will be happy.
I think that Gold is going to disappear but very slowly. No more backwards compatible games to add to Games with Gold, free-to-play games no longer require Gold and have you noticed that last generation most deals were Deals with Gold and now most deals are available for everyone? Microsoft might make online play free and the Game Pass family plans and different tiers (Family, Ultimate, Cloud, Basic) can make up for the disappearance of the Gold-Game Pass saving method.
I don't think they'd ever ditch gold because it's included with gamepass ultimate & that's the subscription they want you to buy
If they really want general public on board make playing online free to all Xbox users whatever system they play Xbox on.
This would be a massive uptick especially in these hard times and anti the PS5 price increase.
Then ditch gold and go with game pass only.
Getting rid of older games, for the monthly is cool. But instead of adding something, get rid of xbox live gold, as well. Make that whole tier free. Pile on Sony, while you can. Start advertising:
The poll results are more optimistic than I was expecting.
Gold sucks. I don't get why I can play Xbox and Game Pass games on PC online for free but have to pay a tax when I want to play with my friends on console. It's the one big thing I really hate about playing on Xbox, especially now that they've gotten rid of the 360 games and are making you pay the same price for less.
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