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It’s the end of an era. Xbox has revealed the two final games it plans to offer to Xbox Live Gold subscribers in August. The service transitions to the nascent Xbox Game Pass Core at the beginning of September, which no longer includes a monthly offering of free games, meaning that these will be the last two games offered with Gold.
Xbox announced the shift to Game Pass Core earlier this month, which will keep several of the benefits of Xbox Live Gold — including access to online multiplayer — while integrating it into its Game Pass paradigm. Gold subscribers will be automatically enrolled in Game Pass Core starting on September 1. In lieu of free games, Core offers users a library of about 25 free titles to play.
The final two titles coming to Games with Gold are Blue Fire and Inertial Drift. Blue Fire is a 3D puzzle platformer, while Inertial Drift is a a retro arcade-style racing game. The typical timeline for Gold games is that one game is available from the beginning of the month, while the other is available starting on the 16th day. However, in this case, both games will be available on August 1 through the end of the month.
Xbox offered its first official Games with Gold in July 2013, meaning that the August offering will hit on roughly the 10th anniversary of the offering. The Xbox 360 games offered at the time were Assassin’s Creed II and Defense Grid: The Awakening, followed up by Crackdown and Dead Rising 2 in August. Xbox began offering Xbox One games the next year, and stopped offering 360 games in 2022. Just as a reminder, Gold users still have access to any games they’ve claimed once it converts to Core as long as they remain subscribed.
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