Introducing Xbox Game Pass Core, Coming This September

Game Pass Core will give players access to advanced multiplayer network, a select collection of over 25 games to play with friends around the world, and exclusive member deals, all for $9.99 USD per month or $59.99 USD per year.

[Jin_Sakai]

Basically the same as GWG except you get 25 games added 2 to 3 times per year instead of monthly games. Good list of games to start.

[Christopher]

Actually not the same. Microsoft can freely remove titles from this and it will remove access to the game unlike GWG where it would remain in your library as long as you were subscribed (or resubscribed) if you claimed it. Currently most are first party, the few that aren't as well as future titles of a similar nature would fall into this category.

Having said that, how they are handling past games remaining in your library use great.

[Profchaos]

I always liked that you got to permanently keep the 360 era games you collected on the service I got a few really great games via that. The x1 selection however the only good games we got from my recollection was gears 5 and sunset overdrive I'm sure there were more but that's what stood out to me

[Christopher]

GWG was a great place for AA games, IMHO. Lots of Castlevania, EDF, Saints Row, Lost Planet, etc.

[crazyCoconuts]

And the roster will only have changes a few times a year vs. getting something new every month.

[Lightning77]

No SF or any major games on core on day one either unless you sign up with Ultimate or the $10.99 version.

GWG is finally scrapped after 2 or 3 years of poor offerings every month. Just like you said they won't be able to keep those games which is the only down side to this.

[4Sh0w]

GWG hasn't been good for years, they obviously put it on the back burner since GP has been the focus. This is a improvement but honestly I don't think it's a great value compared to the lower teir GP option.

[KillBill]

Most of the titles shown included initially are 1st party games that are permanent entries in Game Pass. The likelihood those titles are removed is low. There is a chance that others will see rotation but we have only heard of the insertion of added 2~3 games per year into the subscription service tier. It has basically turned into a sampling of Game Pass and the same online access as seen previously.

[VersusDMC]

They don't say they will add 25 games 2-3 times a year. That sounds like they will have 75 games by the end of the year.

They just say they will add games 2-3 times a year...we don't know how many.

[darthv72]

I've been an ultimate member for nearly two years. I dont really play online multiplayer so dropping down to the Console tier seems like a better fit for me.

[VersusDMC]

Keep in mind you lose EA play games if you leave Ultimate so hopefully you don't play those games often.

[MrNinosan]

1 year EA Play is cheaper than the difference between GP Console and GP Ultimate if that would be the case.

[darthv72]

Wish they'd add ubisoft+ to that package at no additional cost. I'd likely stay an ultimate member.

[GamerRN]

Really? I just both a year of ultimate for 96$ on a website. After taxes it was 105$ or so... Honestly for that price I ended up grabbing another year. $100 a year for ultimate is a no brainer...

[TheEnigma313]

The EA selection isn't that great.

[Petebloodyonion]

I'm in the same boat, I don't really use Xbox online since I mostly play on PC.
I have Ultimate because I love the idea of Streaming for quick checking and for the 2 libraries.
Also, you can find cheap ultimate code online if you know where to look (ultimate cost me an average of 9$ per month).

[anast]

They adopted Sony's plan.

[Petebloodyonion]

not really aside from the naming convention
Sony still gives you a monthly offering of 2-3 games per month yours to keep as long as you subscribe compared to MS which gives you access to a static complete collection like Nintendo.

[MrNinosan]

Sony has never given "only" 2 games.
Always 3 or more, but yes, I agree.
GP Core is nothing like PS+ Essentials

[VersusDMC]

It's the PS plus collection except it's mostly 1st party games.

[Petebloodyonion]

@Mr Ninosan
Sony has been constantly giving at least
2 PS4 titles
1 Ps5 title
So yeah 2 titles if you're a Ps4 owner and 3 if you're a PS5 owner
So I don't see where I'm wrong with my initial statement.

[blackblades]

You wre not wrong but techincally 3 for ps4 user as well cause they can redeem the ps5 only game via website or app store until they get a ps5. Also sometimes they give out a bonus game making it 4 games but that's super rare.

[anast]

They will have the tiers which will be priced similarly. That statice library is filled with bottom barrel entertainment with about only 3 or 4 games worth playing, which is the same amount Sony offers. The window dressing is different but the MS store is Sony's plan.

[MrBeatdown]

This is better than Sony's plan. See, if you have Xbox Live Gold, now you get Game Pass Core. And if you like it, you can upgrade to standard Game Pass. But then if you want multiplayer back, you can upgrade to Ultimate, which has PC games, so you can play online on your Xbox.

And if you're an Ultimate subscriber already, the Core users are getting some of what you're paying for already, plus you don't have to worry about claiming your two free games a month, because they don't exist!

[Extermin8or3_]

On what planet is it better than sonys plan? You get multiplayer on the lowest proced ps plus tier aswell as the gsmes each month to keep forever as long as you are subscribed- also ps plus edsential is cheaper than games pass core. This is inline with the pricing of ps plus extras price, essential is 3 quid cheaper and premium is cheaper than gsmes pass ultimate by about the same amount.

If your an ultimate aubscriber you are technically losing a feature.....

[MrBeatdown]

#sarcasm

[anast]

If you like a buffet of shovelware...

[VersusDMC]

Glad they kept the 60 a year so there will no price change to people who just want online multiplayer. And that list of games is better than what GWG was giving so it's a good change.

[crazyCoconuts]

Yeah GWG got so bad it's easy to improve.
Still, this relatively static set of games that only gets updated a few times a year is still far behind what PS Essentials is offering for the same price.
It's a step in the right direction though I guess

[VersusDMC]

It is definitely behind PS plus essential but a welcome change.

Sony actually spent money getting third parties like RE7,MHWorld, P5, FFXV, etc on the PS collection while MS just put old games that they own on the list. And they add high profile games every month like COD cold war and Alan Wake this month.

But it can't be argued that it isn't an improvement over GWG.

[S2Killinit]

PS+ is offering more for the same price. At this rate Sony might increase their prices too which would suck. GwG had gotten real stale but I reckon MS had this planned all along so it makes sense now.

[VersusDMC]

They offer 25% off their yearly subs every days of play and other sales times like black friday.

So until they stop giving discounts i doubt they will increase the price.

[Petebloodyonion]

It's a better solution compared to GWG because old members lose nothing (old games), and new members get access to a Nintendo-like Library composed of decent titles.

Still, I believe that the best solution would have been to drop GWG/core completely to be on par with Steams, Epic, Battlenet, PC Xbox, etc. simply because servers are now handled by 3rd parties instead of MS
so the purpose of having ppl to maintain servers is meh.

I guess that free money is too good to pass for MS.

[blackblades]

So you want them to give out permanent free games without having a sub? Or do they pc store have a sub I dont know about.

[Petebloodyonion]

No, what I meant is that they drop Xbox live gold completely (the Internet Paywall) and with the free game offering.
Just keep the current GWG library active for Gamepass members.
Do you pay to play on Steam, EPIC, Battlenet, Window store, mobile, etc?

As I said the initial argument of the 360 days doesn't hold up (server maintenance) because now 3rd parties pay for their own servers.
And about free games... Epic has been giving REAL free games every week and they have often been better in quality compared to GWG.

[TheSenorCheese]

To be fair, their GWG program really dropped off following the exclusion of Xbox 360 games. So...this was inevitable.

[Father__Merrin]

It will have a curated 25 game rosta and 2 or 3 times a year they will add a few titles. It's rubbish if u ask me.

[gold_drake]

only 2-3 new titles a year?
doesnt sound that good if its that low.

[dumahim]

I read it as 2-3 times per year, but no idea how many games will be switched out. Might be one at a time or maybe 4-5 games at a time.

[Crows90]

It specifically says that the games will be updated two or three times per year. This does not equal games with Gold. Games with gold was giving you new offerings every month so that's 12 times per year. Granted those offerings sucked but it can't compare with PlayStation Plus essential which I also believe is cheaper. So yet again Xbox which is the losing of the three platform holders according to them is also the most expensive. And as you can see in the list most of the games being offered are Xbox game studio titles. So now with more studios instead of making deals with third-party developers they can more easily add some of their games to the catalog two or three times per year. So essentially Xbox gamers are going to be getting less than they were getting with games with Gold. If they wanted a subscription service they were able to do so with Game pass.

[raWfodog]

"...but it can't compare with PlayStation Plus essential which I also believe is cheaper."

Actually, PS+ Essential is also $60/yr which is an option for GP Core if you pay for the year. If I ever do pick up an XB, that will be the route I go if any of the 25 games are games that I am interested in. I'm happy with my PS+ Essentials sub as well.
Edit: Just looked at the GP Core game list and it doesn't have anything I'm really interested in.

[Crows90]

Shoulda double checked. Thanks for that.

Still...essential is better value. Sony already gave a catalog for everyone to keep and on top of that had been giving monthly games. CORE will no longer give monthly games...less value.

[ModsDoBetter]

Should just scrap this, make online free & just keep GamePass as one individual subscription rather than all of thos convoluted tier nonsense.

[JEECE]

It's definitely getting lost in the shuffle, but it's kind of crazy to see Xbox abandon the "Live" branding completely. I suppose it really hasn't been as important in the last few years where everyone is now used to playing online and takes it for granted, but it was a pretty powerful piece of marketing in the early to mid-2000s when a lot of people were playing console games online for the first time. I had friends who didn't say "I like playing online," they'd say, " I like playing on Live."

[Christopher]

It was a thing that mattered back when you were selling always online gaming stuff, but nowadays it's so prominent that everyone is doing it so you don't really need it. It's just understood.

[purple101]

This is a massive improvement on games with gold, die to guality of games, but I have to mention, sony gave me 20 games just for buying a ps5.

2-3 games a month for £36 per year. (Its advertised as £50 but you can get less on black Friday or one of their many sales.) So that already equalls this offering. Perhaps betters it if the games are better / more to in your liking.

They even gave FREE Ratchet and Clank as a family game, during COVID, so kids staying at home had something to play.

Edit- also astrobot a family game, comes preloaded onto every ps5.

Between all that + buying one or two blockbusters a year… THEY GIVE ME SO MANY GAMES I PHYSICALLY CANT UPGRADE.

[dumahim]

How is it a massive improvement? Going from 2 games a month you keep as long as your subscribed to games getting swapped out 2-3 times a year with no clue on how many games will be changed over?

[purple101]

Because of the quality of the games offered. Said it in the comment.,..

[Exthun]

You don't see it they are swiping us to the Gamepass model, First, we lost the x360 games with GwG less games is a price increase. Now they are giving us 25 burned games!

[aconnellan]

What’s a ‘burned game’?

[Exthun]

More than 2 years on gamepass

[Exthun]

If for stats purposes also, now by adding the 60 millions of xbox live members, the goals can be reached from investors point of view.

[Hedstrom]

Why the f cant they have a 5$ a month för Mp only!

[Deathdeliverer]

I TOLD y’all they would be changing gamespass up once the Activision deal looks likely to close or after it closed. Next will be further tiers or add-ons like a cable network. Stay tuned.

[Kyizen]

Ouch no longer getting 2 games a month to keep as long as you are subbed...

[FoxQ]

Updates switching from monthly to 2 or if you're lucky 3 updates a year with no guarantee what will stay or leave or what will be added during these updates, and a pull even further away from ownership by not even granting you a license while you subscribe.

The fact that they are only giving you a small list of games that are already on game pass shows that what they really wanted was to not have to deal with licensing with third parties as you can see from the list of games on offer here that are all either Microsoft owned and a couple games they purchased long term rights too years ago.

So the cost cutting begins, Microsoft is offering less value and charging more, also highlighted by the bait and switch with the Family Plan and recent price increases.

I wonder what is going to happen to all these studios that now need to produce games on a budget that is already showing signs of financial struggle.

How long before game pass itself is only 2 or 3 updates a year and only Microsoft games, I wonder?

[Petebloodyonion]

"So the cost-cutting begins, Microsoft is offering less value and charging more."
1) You can explain to me how charging 9.99$ per month for core = charging more compared to 9.99$ per month for XBLG? And please tell me what's the less valuable portion cause I'm pretty sure having suddenly access to 25 games is more fun compared to 2 crappy 2014 indie games that nobody played like this month's offering.

also highlighted by the bait and switch with the Family Plan and recent price increase
Do you mean the giant beta that asked to pay 7$ for additional accounts running since August last year in 8 small countries?

[FoxQ]

I was going to make a long reply, but there is no point.

This is what is happening.

Microsoft is reducing it's expenditure, pulling away from third party software and increasing revenue from fees from the consumer.

[ocelot07]

That's actually not bad at all. Better than Xbox live gold is offering.

[jlove4life]

Now the dictatorship begins reminds me when ppl kept begging for a king they didn't need and ended up with one and he was a tyrant

[shaenoide]

So it's the end of XBL conversion to GPU:/

No way i'll pay GPU full price.

[Extermin8or3_]

I see day and date gsmes being moved to the essential tier in the future and/or activision being kept as separate entity and their games added oky to game pass essential like ea play....

[rippermcrip]

Not including online in the "console" tier is same old Microsoft bullshit. Literally makes no sense.