In the beginning, Xbox Live was one of the major selling points of Xbox consoles. The original Xbox stands as one of the pioneers of the current online gaming landscape, as online capability is standard across all consoles. As the years progressed and newer generations of consoles were released, competitors arrived in the likes of PSN, however, Xbox Live was still the premier online subscription. The cost of an online subscription went to good use with the Xbox Live servers proving to be miles ahead of the free alternative, PSN. This was evidenced during the notorious month-long PSN outage of 2011, during which the stability of Xbox Live was heavily praised.
Games with Gold was the icing on the cake for Xbox fans when it arrived in 2013, with fans excited by the prospect of being gifted free games every month at no extra cost. This initiative kicked off with a bang, with a number of huge titles from fan-favorite franchises making an appearance early on. However, as time has progressed, the relevance of Games with Gold's free titles on offer has begun to drop off for fans. At this stage, PS Plus has very much overtaken Games with Gold, last month offering Battlefield 5, and June bringing Star Wars: Squadrons to PS Plus. It doesn't appear Games with Gold is falling behind by accident, it's more down to a shift in focus.
June 2021's Games With Gold
June's Games with Gold lineup includes two fairly recent titles in The King's Bird and Shadows: Awakening, as well as two Xbox 360 titles in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and the original Injustice game. While each title is worth playing in its own right, none come close to standing out as the AAA software sellers that PS Plus has been featuring lately. It isn't likely that any of these titles will convince somebody who is on the verge of signing up for Xbox Live, but that could be by design.
It would probably be safe to predict that there aren't a considerable amount of Xbox owners on the verge of buying an Xbox Live subscription. A gamer typically either needs Xbox Live to play their favorite multiplayer games, or they don't. The chances that a free game tied to the user's Xbox Live subscription will push them over the edge is quite unlikely, as there are far more relevant reasons to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold. As such, it may not make the best business sense to throw the hottest titles onto Games with Gold, which has a stable subscriber base irrespective of the monthly offerings, when a service like Game Pass is reliant on the biggest titles at a premium rate.
The Best Games On Game Pass
When comparing the offering of Games with Gold with those on Game Pass, it's obvious which one Microsoft is intent on selling to as many gamers as possible. Over the past couple of years, it seems as if Games with Gold has been skimming by, with only the occasional game standing out. Of course, Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft's biggest push with Xbox Series X/S, so its collection of great games shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, but the sheer volume of big-name AAA games on Game Pass is comparatively stronger.
Game Pass offers a seemingly endless list of games to its subscribers, from Xbox exclusives to cross-platform games. Xbox Game Pass, conceptually, has something for everyone. The total cost of the biggest games on Game Pass is astronomical; the likes of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Forza Horizon 4, and The Medium make up some of Xbox Game Pass' console exclusive offerings, but they far from make up the extent of the list of big-budget games available on Game Pass.
It seems clear from comparing Games with Gold to Xbox Game Pass that the latter is the focus for the current generation of consoles. The existence of Games with Gold seems perplexing with a service such as Game Pass, offering hundreds of games at the monthly cost of $15, with an Xbox Live subscription included. Exactly who those extra four games a month are supposed to win over is up to interpretation, but yet Microsoft has not changed or cancelled the offering either. Many argue it would make more sense to replace Games with Gold with Game Pass entirely.
Game Pass Has Become Xbox's Biggest Draw
Xbox Game Pass is one of the gaming industry's biggest offering of games for the value, and for good reason. Game Pass' broad selection of games and availability across both Xbox and Windows make it one of the most lucrative services for players. Games with Gold in comparison seems redundant. It's difficult to imagine a future in which Microsoft persists with Games with Gold as a selling point for Xbox Live.
One of the things Games with Gold does well is its highlighting of older titles Xbox gamers might have missed. This can be seen in next month's offering as both The King's Bird and Shadows: Awakening released in 2018 to not a lot of hype. By including these titles in Games with Gold, Microsoft brings a much wider audience to the games than they would otherwise receive, allowing them to get the attention they deserve. PlayStation does a similar thing with its PS Plus free monthly games, but the big difference is PS Plus often offers a big, recent title alongside them, or uses PS Plus to launch those games to a much larger audience for free.
The persistence with Games with Gold seems ultimately irrelevant. There isn't the hype and anticipation around each month's announcement that there once was, and PS Plus' offering has overtaken it. Microsoft should adopt a Games with Gold-like option in Xbox Game Pass. Game Pass' backwards compatible and indie game library is already expansive, bringing attention to these smaller titles, and a $15 subscription already gives the user an Xbox Live subscription combined with Xbox Game Pass. It definitely looks like the future of Xbox is in Game Pass, as opposed to Games with Gold.