Xbox Live Gold Seemingly Ending in September

Xbox Game Pass has long been one of the better deals in gaming, but Microsoft also has Xbox Live Gold, which has led to some confusion for players in the past. Now, it seems like Xbox Live Gold might be going away on September 1, moving subscribers over to an Xbox Game Pass subscription to get everything in one place. It will also mean the cancellation of the Games With Gold offers in favor of a rotating library of limited Xbox Game Pass games, while still including multiplayer and other benefits. 

The news has not yet been confirmed by Microsoft just yet but has been making the rounds on Twitter. In fact, the king of video game deals Wario64 was one of the first accounts to notice the message pop up on a Korean website. Interestingly, if you click through to that website, you’ll see a link to Windows Central, but clicking that link currently greets you with a 404 message instead. It’s possible that Windows Central posted something a bit too early and it was picked up by the Korean site. Either way, it appears that Xbox Live Gold is going away very soon.

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If this turns out to be legitimate, then all Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be moved over to what Microsoft is supposedly calling the “Core” Tier. This will cost $9.99 per month and get you online console multiplayer, a catalog of 25+ Game Pass Games, and other discounts and benefits for being a member. This appears to be very similar to the current Xbox Live Gold offering but is replacing Games With Gold with the catalog. This new offering joins the other Xbox Game Pass tiers that are already there, but the big benefit will probably come from the Ultimate Tier which gets you full access to the Xbox Game Pass library and online console multiplayer. It’s the best of both worlds, though it does cost $16.99 per month.

Again, you’ll need to take this news with a small grain of salt. Wario64 doesn’t dabble in leaks as much as other Twitter users, but they have a solid track record when it comes to that side of the business. The currently broken Windows Central page adds a bit more credibility to things, but we’ll hopefully get some added clarity in the coming days.