Xbox users can now play free-to-play games without an Xbox Live Gold subscription, which means that 67 titles can now be enjoyed by all Xbox owners. There are numerous video games that have a freemium model, where it's free-to-play and the developers make money on optional extras like costumes and battle passes.
The issue with freemium games is that the console developers require paid subscriptions for their online multiplayer modes. Nintendo has Nintendo Switch Online, Sony has PlayStation Plus, and Microsoft has Xbox Live Gold. Freemium games can still be played for free on consoles, as well as separate subscription-based games, like Final Fantasy 14. As such, the people who enjoy these games exclusively don't need online subscriptions on consoles. The only exception to this until today was Microsoft, which required an Xbox Live Gold subscription to play free-to-play games online. This was a major blow against the Xbox brand, as it meant that some incredibly popular games required a subscription on one line of consoles, but not on the others.
The Xbox Live Gold restriction has now been lifted. This means that people without a subscription can now play 67 free-to-play games online on their Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S systems. Microsoft has released an official list of all of the games that are now playable on the official Xbox website.
Xbox Free-To-Play Games That Don't Need Gold Anymore
The free-to-play list on Xbox systems also contains single-player games, like A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV, but those could already be played without an Xbox Live Gold subscription. The list below covers games with an online component that was previously restricted. The following free-to-play games can now be enjoyed on Xbox systems without any subscriptions:
- 3on3 FreeStyle
- Aegis Wing
- APB Reloaded
- Apex Legends
- Armored Warfare
- Battle Islands: Commanders
- Bless Unleashed
- Brawlhalla
- Call of Duty: Warzone
- Crackdown
- Crackdown 2
- Crimson Alliance
- Crossout
- CRSED: F.O.A.D.
- Darwin Project
- Dauntless
- DC Universe Online
- Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters
- Dead or Alive 6: Core Fighters
- Defiance 2050
- Destiny 2
- Doritos Crash Course
- Dungeon Defenders II
- Enlisted
- Eternal Card Game
- Family Game Night
- Fishing Planet
- Fortnite
- Galaxy Control: Arena
- Happy Wars
- Harm’s Way
- Hawken
- Hyper Scape
- Killer Instinct
- Korgan
- Minion Masters
- Neverwinter
- Outriders (Demo)
- Paladins
- Path of Exile
- Phantasy Star Online 2
- Phantom Dust
- Pinball FX2
- Prominence Poker
- Realm Royale
- Rec Room
- Resident Evil Revelations 2
- ROBLOX
- Rocket League
- Rogue Company
- Skyforge
- SMITE
- Spacelords
- Spellbreak
- Star Trek Online
- Techwars Global Conflict
- TERA
- The Four Kings Casino and Slots
- Too Human
- Trove
- Vigor
- War Thunder
- Warface
- Warframe
- World of Tanks
- World of Warships: Legends
- Yaris
The free games with Xbox Live Gold get worse every month and the new loosening of restrictions means that the service has lost even more value, even if it was being artificially boosted. The time might have come for Microsoft to just incorporate Xbox Live Gold into Game Pass (which is already possible with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate), in order to integrate several services into a single package. Microsoft has rebranded Xbox Live as Xbox Network over the past few months, so gradually reworking Gold into the other platforms won't be as jarring if it happens as part of a larger change.
Source: Xbox