Microsoft is launching a new Xbox Game Pass Core subscription to replace Xbox Live Gold. The new Game Pass Core subscription will include familiar Xbox multiplayer support, promotions and discounts, and a new small catalog of over 25 games including Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4 and Psychonauts 2.
Existing Xbox Live Gold members will be automatically upgraded to Xbox Game Pass Core on September 14th for $9.99/month (or $59.99/year) the same as Xbox Live Gold.
As part of this subscription replacement, Microsoft is ending the Games with Gold program effective September 1, which allowed Xbox owners to receive free games every month for ten years and add them to their content library. All Xbox 360 games that have been redeemed in the past will be permanently stored in the library, but Xbox One games will require a permanent subscription to Xbox Game Pass Core or Game Pass Ultimate.
The more than 25 games that Microsoft includes in Game Pass Core are meant to replace Games with Gold, and new games Microsoft says will be added two to three times a year.
“We wanted to use this opportunity to reimagine how to include content in this subscription,” said Jerret West, CVP of Game Marketing at Xbox. “We’ve found that to create the most compelling catalog it’s essential to use select games from our Xbox Game Pass catalog.”
The game catalog will be much more limited than a full Xbox Game Pass subscription ($10.99 per month), and today Microsoft only confirmed 19 games from the launch list:
