If you bought an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S console, then you might be considering whether or not to get Xbox Live Gold. You can check out this review from Seeking Tech to see if this subscription service is worth it for these gaming system.
Online Multiplayer
The biggest factor you should consider is online multiplayer. Xbox Live Gold is required if you want to play premium games with other players over the Internet.
While this is now common for console gaming with Nintendo Switch Online for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Plus for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, this online paywall was first introduced by Microsoft with the original Xbox.
With that said, Microsoft recently amended the rules so that you are no longer required to be a member of Xbox Live Gold in order to play free-to-play games online. These titles include Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite.
For games that aren’t free-to-play, however, you will need an active subscription to play with others over the internet.
Games with Gold
In 2013, Microsoft introduced the Games with Gold feature to Xbox Live Gold as a response to the monthly game offering of the PlayStation Plus.
With Games with Gold, you will gain full access to games you redeemed as long as you remain an active member of the service.
The only exception to this rule is Xbox 360 games as you can play any titles you previously redeemed from Xbox Live Gold without being currently subscribed. With that said, 360 titles are no longer a part of Games with Gold.
In the past, you can get as many as 4 games per month with this feature. However, that number has dropped to just two titles currently.
It is also important to note that, while Games with Gold would offer bigger named games in the past, this is no longer the case with the advent of Xbox Game Pass. Instead, the games being offered are lesser-known titles, especially when you compare what you get with the monthly game service on PlayStation Plus.
Deals with Gold
One last component you may want to take into account is Deals with Gold. With this feature, you can save some extra cash if you buy a lot of digital games from the Store App.
Some of the deals are either exclusive to Deals with Gold or offer an additional discount if you are a member of Xbox Live Gold.
What we like about Xbox Live Gold for Series X and S
The only real benefit for having Xbox Live Gold for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S is the Deals with Gold as you can get great discounts on eligible titles.
What we don’t like about Xbox Live Gold for Series X and S
We don’t like most about Xbox Live Gold in the online paywall, especially when you consider that the first-party Microsoft games don’t require you to pay for online if you are playing on PC. On the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, you need to pay a monthly fee to play the same titles over the internet unless it is free-to-play.
While Games with Gold can offer some hidden gems, it pales in comparison to what was offered from the same service in the past. The collection is also much weaker than what you get if you have a PlayStation Plus subscription on the PS4 and/or PS5.
Overall
While Xbox Live Gold offers multiple benefits, it is not really worth the price of admission unless you want to consistently play games that require the online paywall throughout your subscription length.
The Games with Gold service only feature a pair of smaller titles that you most likely won’t be interested in. While Deals with Gold can be great, it requires you to spend money on the Store App in order to take advantage of this benefit. Not to mention that a lot of games go on sale anyway without Xbox Live Gold.
For the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, Microsoft has been putting all of their efforts towards Xbox Game Pass. If you don’t mind the added costs, the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier comes with all the Xbox Live Gold benefits to go along with giving full access to hundreds of videogames you can play on your Xbox console. Not to mention that you also have hundreds of titles available through cloud streaming or PC as well.
So, while Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is more expensive than Xbox Live Gold, it is also a vastly superior value proposition.