Talking Point: Is It Time For Xbox Live Gold To Be Phased Out?

Yes it probably is. When you get it with gamepass ultimate, what's the point?

Gamepass is Microsofts future anyway, and gold on its own looks a bit of a dinosaur next to it

But it would deprive Microsoft of making more money 😉 Don’t forget you also get deals with gold as well. I have Ultimate until next Feb, but was thinking of “downgrading” it to just Game Pass when the time comes, so I voted for “not sure” for the time being.

I think they shouldn't phase it out, but I see that happening with next gen. Sell people one subscription with Game Pass Ultimate and remove XBL Gold. Games with Gold was already a rental service for X1 owners. This is the natural progression, imo.

The only case where I see Gold being phased out being a good thing is if online multiplayer became free like it was with the Wii U. Having the choice between Gold and Game Pass Ultimate is much better if online multiplayer must be a paid service.

This is a tough one. I understand why so much emphasis has been put on Game Pass. It is a brilliant service and I myself enjoy it very much. On the other hand, there are 90 million monthly subscribers to Xbox Live Gold compared to Game Pass which has just reached the 10 million mark. I don't think there is any way that Microsoft gets rid of it just like that. Not everyone is interested in Game Pass and just because Xbox Live is an older subscription doesn't mean that they should do away with it.

@themightyant Exactly this for me, I like the ownership that Gold gives, providing you keep up the subscription...
No rush to play a certain game...
Plus games with gold has had a few fantastic offers on games I've purchased that otherwise I wouldn't have....

Hell no, absolutely NOT. Microsoft ending Xbox Live Gold would be a total @sshat move.

GamePass is fine and dandy for those with either enough gaming time or no desire to own titles, so basically the people that also enjoy and use services like Netflix, but I enjoy my ACTUAL free games, that I can keep until I myself decide that I don't want to play or own them anymore, instead of being dependent on a service where games either get removed or swapped out for other games over time.

A feature, which might, looking at past instances, often times mean that I'd potentially lose games that I'd actually like to play and in return I'd get stuff that I'd never be even remotely interested in.

Take away the games with Gold and just make online free. The only thing you need to pay for is gamepass.

@ThanosReXXX I couldn't have said it better. I have no need for gamepass with my current backlog.

If you are going to charge people for access to online game modes it would be scummy to force a higher subscription fee by having game pass ultimate as the only option.
If you made online play free but moved games with gold and gold discounts to game pass ultimate that would be much better.
Xbox talks about player choice a lot so reducing options would mean it's just talk.

@ThanosReXXX I'm with you on this. I have little time to play games these days, so I'd rather have them ready for when I do have the time, rather than risk missing out.

Think it would be a stupid move on Microsofts part. They've been so pro gamer and pro consumer so far and this goes against that.

I'm also not sure why so many people are for it? 4 games a month to keep and play when you want? Why would you want to give that up?

The only reason I have gamepass ultimate is that they did the convert your gold to ultimate for £1 offer. So got 3 years for £1, so will need to decide if I'm going to keep it going after that.

It is great and I've played some really good games I wouldn't have if I didn't have it. But what annoys me about gamepass is you have no say or control when the games are leaving. There's been quite a few games I've downloaded but never got round to playing before they left.

If they're getting rid of the games with gold, then they'll really need to up the gamepass service to force people to move to it.

As the games with gold started as a perk because you already had to pay to play online. Try telling people that only have gold because they want the online multiplayer that they now have to pay extra just because.

If they remove the paywall from online play, that would be HUGE. I really don’t think Sony is, today, in a position to make PSN free again. Hell, they still lock cloud saves behind their online paywall, and to this day Ps3 games still won’t auto-patch without PSN+.

It would be an huge overnight advantage, and that would free them to just sell GamePass as the only service people have to worry about. They could even combine games with gold into GamePass, to give players means to hold on to their claimed games.

I forgot gold was even a thing. As my last game played on Xbox One online was Halo 5 when it came out. Everything else from Microsoft has been on PC where Xbox Live is free and uses the same servers as the Xbox users are paying for.

@ThanosReXXX “ enjoy my ACTUAL free games”

I know what you are saying, but they are not free. You leasing them, paying a yearly fee for access to them. I can understand that taking access away from those titles would be a ***** move, but honestly, many users would be better off actually buying games they want than grabbing unexpected games they have no choice on.

I guess the ideal scenario would be:
*Make online play free
*Keep games with gold as the only point for paying for “XBox LiVe Gold”
*Heavily market Game Pass Ultimate as a better value that contains both, the rotating library and the monthly “free” games.

@MAC26 90 million? is it really that many? Damn, that’s almost 2x the number of XBox ones sold...

So many 360 consoles must still be in use!

@TimG13 @RevengeFan Thanks.

@Tharsman That's only true for Xbox One games. Any and all OG Xbox and Xbox 360 games are yours to keep forever, even after your subscription for Xbox Live Gold has expired.

@Tharsman I guess so. I looked it up right before I commented and that's what Engadget and a few other sites say.

@MAC26 I just realized: Xbox Live is free. That’s why it has more users than active consoles. It’s basically your profile + achievements + cloud backups, but no multiplayer and no “free” games.

MS does not disclose how many active Gold accounts are there.

@Tharsman Probably also including PC users on 1st party games too since we play on Xbox Live, for free. Also access to profile, achievements, cloud saves, etc

I'd say so, its going to be increasingly difficult to justify when PC owners can play Xbox games online for free and on the games side all the best titles will obviously go to Gamepass.

Xbox 360's games with gold was great, it introduced players to titles they had never heard of and gave some great AAA games, but with Xbox Game Pass succeeding and the majority use this service it's best they leave games with gold in the past. It was a solid service for the 7th and a little in the 8th generation but not the 9th, Xbox Game Pass is on another level for value and games.

It makes sense to make online free on Xbox consoles (like on Windows) and leave Game Pass as it is although the Xbox One Games with Gold we have redeemed would still be available as long as we're subscribed to Game Pass. That would be the best scenario and would put Sony and Nintendo in an embarrassing situation. You have to pay for cloud saves and online gaming on Sony and Nintendo and their services are much worse than Microsoft's, the latter gives you better online services and free cloud saves.

$180/yr or $60/yr to play online games? Not a hard choice.

I personally don't like Game Pass. It's cool getting to take my pick of a huge library, but it just doesn't complement the way I play games.

Games aren't movies. If I find out a movie I want to see is going to be delisted on Netflix tomorrow, I watch it quickly and enjoy it fully. No big deal. When I find out a game I want to play is going to be delisted, I either have to rush or drop the current game I'm working on, then rush the game to be delisted. It's stressful. I get that it's an incredible deal, but it's just not compatible with the way my brain works. I'll be damned if I'm going to be forced to pay extra for something I don't want in the first place, just to get online access.

There trying to get everyone on gamepass so it'll be inevitable.

Microsoft probably wants gamers to think so (and so do all the "AAA" publishers who are talking up $70 games next-gen to push consumers in that direction). But games-as-service means ZERO rights for the consumer. No ownership despite legally paying for the PRODUCT you non-refundably purchased. No control over what you can access or when the plug might be pulled, resulting in all the time and money you've invested dissolving in smoke.

I am an Xbox LIVE Gold member and have been for years. While I personally think the service is a mixed bag (there are many months where I don't bother with any of the "free" games on offer), online-enabled titles require it. But a subscription-only model is where I draw the line; I'll never sign up for one even if it eventually closes the doors to the hobby I've loved since the Atari 2600.

Right now a lot of folks seem to think Game Pass is a great deal, and if you understand the long-term ramifications of where it's headed and can accept that, that's your call. But don't forget that once the bridge of being able to physically purchase or own games is behind you, these companies will burn it, and then you'll be at the mercy of yet another round of increasingly draconian business practices that devalue your investment while simultaneously raising the cost. Game Pass will be the same as every program that came before it; all the things that made it so attractive will be slowly and methodically reduced or phased out.

I'm getting a PS5 if they make game pass mandatory to play online. I don't get much time to play games and I play only the AAA titles and some battle royale games. Paying for the entire game pass library but not getting time to play it would be useless. I'm in if they make online free or at least decrease its price and kill Gold.. otherwise PS5.

And have the games snatched away as soon as they drop out of Game Pass, or worse still, whenever we can't renew the membership?

How about HELL NO.

The whole free games thing is going away next gen and it will start with Microsoft as they have GamePass. The focus is there now and I wouldn't be surprised to see a new type of membership appear between the price of XBOX Gold and GamePass Ultimate for console players only.

I'd hate to see it phased out, as I prefer games I get to keep as long as I have Live over a rotating series of games that I might take too long to play. That being said, if they phased out Gold, made online play free, and allowed previous Gold subs access to all the free games they got permenantly I'd be fine with a switch to the only premium service being Game Pass. I use Ultimate anyway, but mostly for my son so he's always got something new to play.

@SuperNintendoMii Very much agreed.

they need to keep it. i don't mind having the free 360 and xbox games forever.

I’m pretty sure the answer is simple: absolutely not. For some reason the average person views this as simplifying things and making game pass more readily available. That’s not what this is. First of all anybody in the middle middle class or higher does not have a need for the game pass, we can afford to buy games regularly. And even if you are in the lower class or lower middle class and cannot afford games you are still going to be paying more per year for both services then you would’ve ever paid for just live. I am absolutely pissed that Microsoft is screwing over consumers in the middle of a pandemic. We used to be able to pay $60 per year for XB live to save money. Look at all of the current plan options they are devising. Every plan you choose will result in $120 per year spent. That is double than what the rest of us have been paying for so long. Microsoft is trying to rip you all off and you’re falling for it like sheep. They want everyone to pay double the old amount so that they can recover from this pandemic faster. Theyre a greedy corporate monster. This is ridiculous backwards logic.

Never mind the fact that every single corporation and streaming service are all moving to push subscriptions. We all have so many subscriptions already we cannot possibly keep adding more subscriptions to our financial burden. This just makes things more effing complicated.