In The Game Pass Era, Xbox Live Gold Shouldn't Exist

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Ever since the debut of Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Live Gold has grown to look very outdated. Game Pass is more than a higher tier of an Xbox Live subscription, granting access to a large library of games while Xbox Live Gold offers nothing of the sort. What perks that Gold does offer look very meager in comparison.

With players flocking to Game Pass for the selection of games on offer, Xbox Live Gold has been criticized for offering less value. Of course, Xbox Live Gold came along long before Xbox Game Pass, but it has failed to evolve in any considerable way. Charging players to access multiplayer games may have been Xbox's style a decade ago, but it feels out of step now that Game Pass exists, and the weak perks Xbox's Games With Gold offers rarely justify the cost of a Live subscription.

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Xbox Live Gold has been a part of the Xbox series for a very long time, but Game Pass has surpassed it very quickly. If Xbox Live Gold were to upgrade and evolve, it could gain a better reputation. However, considering how far it has fallen behind the times, it may be too late for it to recover. There are a few specific points that can explain Gold's failings, and why it now feels like a relic that Xbox should part with.

One of the biggest original draws of Xbox Live and its paid subscription model was that it gave players the ability to play against and with other people online. This was a major boost for Xbox's early multiplayer games such as Halo 2. At first online play was a bit of a novelty, but it quickly spread, eventually reaching the point where online multiplayer has become a staple of the industry and a major force in its own right. In the present day, there are entire games such