Published 14:54 17 Jul 2023 GMT+1

Xbox Live Gold replacement and new pricing officially announced with 25 free games

Xbox Live Gold is dead. Long live Xbox Game Pass Core.

Ewan Moore

Xbox Live Gold is officially dead after more than 20 years. Microsoft has officially confirmed the news following a morning of rumours.

If you're a subscriber, you're probably aware that Xbox Live Gold isn't the best service in gaming. Compared to the likes of PlayStation Plus and Xbox's own far super Game Pass, Live Gold offers 'trash’ new free games (not our words) that don't really justify the price.

The writing has been on the wall for some time, of course. Last month, Microsoft announced a price hike for Xbox Game Pass with just weeks to go until the launch Starfield, leading many to suspect something was afoot. Then, earlier this morning, leaks suggested Xbox Live Gold was to be killed off in September.

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As per an official post over on Xbox Wire, Live Gold will be replaced with Xbox Game Pass Core from September 14.

"For over twenty years, Xbox players have been connecting via Xbox Live to compete, cooperate, and experience the world’s biggest online multiplayer games.," the post reads. "In 2017, we introduced Xbox Game Pass which provided a curated library of games. Game Pass Core brings online play together with Game Pass in a new offering for gamers around the world."

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Xbox Game Pass Core will net you access to online multiplayer, a 'collection of over 25 games', and exclusive discounts. This will set you back $9.99 per month or $59.99 for the year. For comparison this is the exact same price as Xbox Live Gold, so you won't actually find yourselves paying more.

Today Xbox announced 19 of the 25 free games in the collection, promising we'd find out the rest of the lineup ahead of September 14. New titles will be added "two to three times a year", but for now you can see the confirmed games so far below.