Microsoft has announced that it will no longer be giving away Xbox 360 games as part of its Xbox Live service Games with Gold from October.
Despite adding more Xbox 360 titles to the Xbox Game Pass service, Microsoft will discontinue giving away these older games as part of its Games with Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The company has previously discussed the difficulty of porting its legacy games to its modern consoles. This is due to data collection and preservation as well as licensing issues.
However, it has still added around 100 games from the 360’s library to Xbox Game Pass. These are reportedly all the games the company was able to preserve and port. Any games which have been previously downloaded as part of Games with Gold will not be affected by the changes after October.
Microsoft still intends to share some of its older games after this date. Alongside games made for the Xbox Series X/S, games for Xbox One will still be included in the Xbox Live Gold subscription.
Below is the email sent to users of the Xbox Live service. (Thanks to The Verge.)
“From 1 October 2022, the monthly games provided to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Live Gold members via Games with Gold will no longer include Xbox 360 titles.”
“We have reached the limit of our ability to bring Xbox 360 games to the catalog; however, Games with Gold will continue to include exciting Xbox One titles and exclusive savings each month.”
“This will not impact any Xbox 360 games that you downloaded before October 2022. Any Xbox 360 titles that you redeem via Games with Gold before that time are yours to keep on your Xbox account, regardless of whether you continue your subscription.”
In other Xbox news, the list of games being added to Xbox Game Pass in July has been announced with a number of Yakuza games, including fan-favorite Yakuza 0, coming to the subscription service.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
