The final batch of free games announced ahead of Xbox Live Gold shutdown

A week ago, Microsoft announced plans to officially retire Xbox Live Gold. The original console multiplayer gaming subscription will end on September 1st and will be replaced by a new entry-level Game Pass subscription. Now, the final batch of free Games with Gold has been announced. 

In August, Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be able to claim two final games. While this would have been a good opportunity for Microsoft to send the service off with a bang, unfortunately, there are no major surprises included here.

From the 1st until the 31st of August, Xbox Live Gold subscribers can claim a free copy of 3D platformer “Blue Fire”, or 90s arcade-inspired racer “Intertial Drift”. If you have yet to claim July's free titles, then they are still available for a few more days, including Darkwood and Past Was Around.

Xbox Game Pass Core will launch in September, replacing Live Gold for good. This service has the same price point as Xbox Live Gold and includes access to 25 Game Pass ‘greatest hits', with plans to add additional games to the library a few times a year.

While the cheaper Game Pass Core subscription includes access to online multiplayer services on Xbox consoles, the standard Xbox Game Pass for Console subscription does not include online multiplayer as a perk. This erodes the standard Game Pass subscription for console users and almost forces users to jump up a tier to Game Pass Ultimate to gain access to multiplayer, as well as the full Game Pass library. With Xbox Live Gold going away for good, I think Microsoft should consider just opening up multiplayer services to all tiers of Game Pass.

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KitGuru Says: Games with Gold is going out on a bit of a whimper, which isn't intended as a knock on the games offered, but Games with Gold has consistently been outperformed by PS+ Essential, which more regularly offers more popular titles to subscribers. Game Pass Core may be a good fix for that, although it is limited to a smaller library of older games. 

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