Xbox Makes 2 Games Free to Try This Weekend

Xbox has brought back its Free Play Days promotion again this weekend with two different games going free-to-play for a limited time. Those games are Rainbow Six Siege and Dirt 5, and if you’re an Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you can play them for free now. The offer lasts just until March 21st for Dirt 5, but Rainbow Six Siege will be free-to-play for a while longer because of a separate promotion going on at the same time.

Though free-to-play games are hardly ever something to gripe about since these are separate from the free games given away each month for Xbox Live Gold subscribers, the two games picked this weekend are some curious choices because they’re both available through Xbox Game Pass already. Rainbow Six Siege was added first back in October 2020 while Dirt 5 came to Xbox Game Pass earlier this year. That means that Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers might already have them or could have them whenever they want, so the deal is really only valuable for Xbox Live Gold subscribers who don’t have an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

This weekend’s offer gets even stranger when you consider that Rainbow Six Siege was having a free weekend anyway. The game routinely gets free periods to entice people into its world of tactical gameplay and unique Operators, and to celebrate the release of its newest chapter called Crimson Heist, Ubisoft announced that the game would be getting yet another free period for a couple of days. The free-to-play offer was extended not only to Xbox users but also to those on the PC and PlayStation platforms. Xbox has incorporated free-to-play weekends held by other publishers into its Free Play Days promotion in the past, so this shouldn’t be too surprising to those who follow along with the weekly offers.

All that considered, this weekend’s free-to-play Xbox games might not be the most convincing offers compared to what we’ve seen in the past, but they’re still worth trying out if you haven’t already. You’ve got until March 21st to play Dirt 5 and March 24th to play Rainbow Six Siege, so be sure to take advantage of the offer before it ends if you’re interested.