Microsoft, in the midst of its attempts to acquire Activision-Blizzard, have confirmed that Xbox Live Gold will be discontinued as of September 2023. It will be replaced by Xbox Game Pass Core, launching on Sept. 14.
The move towards Game Pass has been a steady march for Microsoft and Xbox gamers over the last few years. Instead of players purchasing games as and when they choose, the subscription service essentially opens up multiple titles that are downloadable and playable to subscribers.
The announcement, coming from Xbox on July 17, confirmed that Game Pass Core is the “evolution” of Xbox Live Gold. Subscribers will pay $9.99 per month for access, or make a one-off annual payment of $59.99.
In return, they’ll get “access to our advanced multiplayer network, a select collection of over 25 games to play with friends around the world, and exclusive member deals”.
The full list of titles that will be included upon Game Pass Core’s release in September was also included, with Microsoft promising more to come. They said that new titles would be added two to three times per year. Right now, the games available to Game Pass Core subscribers are:
- 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
They explained their decision to end the Xbox Live Gold service, saying: “With this evolution, we’re saying farewell to Games with Gold. We wanted to use this opportunity to re-imagine how to include content with this subscription. We found that the answer to the most compelling catalog was to leverage select titles from our Xbox Game Pass catalog.”
For current Xbox Live Gold members, they will automatically become Xbox Game Pass Core members on Sept.14. Games with Gold will come to an end on Sept. 1, 2023.
It’s all change at Microsoft, especially with the company’s efforts to purchase Activision-Blizzard still in-progress. They recently overcame an initial injunction from the FTC, but still need to win their appeal against the UK CMA’s initial blocking of the deal. Following its victory over the injunction from the FTC, Microsoft agreed to a 10-year deal with PlayStation to continue bringing Call of Duty to Sony’s platform.
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