When do Xbox Live Gold games release every month?

Xbox 360's "Games with Gold" promotion will be releasing its games on the 1st and 16th of each month, Microsoft has announced.

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Microsoft has already started rolling out its Games with Gold promotion for Xbox Live Gold members. The monthly offerings will be released on the 1st and 16th of each month going forward, until the end of the year.

The promotion page (via Joystiq) detailed the dates. Fable 3 is currently on tap, and you can grab it through June 30. Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed 2 have already been announced as July's games, though Microsoft hasn't detailed which will come first.

Microsoft has only committed to this promotion through the end of the year, though we'd expect it to keep going if fans react positively to it. It also distinguishes itself from Sony's similar PlayStation Plus promotion by promising that once you have the games, you can keep them forever "no matter what." That implies that the games are still yours even if your Gold subscription lapses, unlike PS Plus which requires a constant subscription to continue accessing freely downloaded games.

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  • reply
    June 21, 2013 9:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, When do Xbox Live Gold games release every month?.

    Xbox 360's "Games with Gold" promotion will be releasing its games on the 1st and 16th of each month, Microsoft has announced.

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      June 21, 2013 9:51 AM

      This "promotion" is like a kick in your nads by a horse.
      Who exactly benefits from this plan? I've been a gold member for 6 years and got nothing for it.
      Sony has an effective plan, that dishes out top games to its members and here again is M$ trying to cash in on others innovation.

      Who hasn't played, rented, borrowed or stole the games they are peddling now?
      Halo3? Assassins Creed 2? FABLE?
      This is sitcom at its best.

      IF M$ really wanted to keep its exodus client base, they would have done this years ago.

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        June 21, 2013 9:54 AM

        [deleted]

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        June 21, 2013 10:00 AM

        I'm amazed M$ isn't just dropping this promotion citing it isn't compatible with their new position on the xbone80

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        June 21, 2013 10:10 AM

        I for one haven't played fable 3 nor halo 3 and I'm glad they are giving them to me.

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          June 21, 2013 10:11 AM

          also it seems there is lots you could complain about for xbox, this move isnt one of them.

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        June 21, 2013 10:12 AM

        [deleted]

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          June 21, 2013 10:12 AM

          Because it's not the hip thing to do.

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          June 21, 2013 10:15 AM

          Because it's Son¥ and those characters are fiddly.

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            June 21, 2013 10:35 AM

            It would also imply that sony is profitable

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        June 21, 2013 10:17 AM

        how dare they take steps to fix problems in the past and compete with their competitors

        how dare they

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        June 21, 2013 10:18 AM

        it's free old games. you don't have to download them. they also stay with your account forever whether or not you continue to subscribe to XBL Gold, unlike the PSN+ library which is a subscribtion service that ends when you end PSN+.

        seriously. they are giving away free games. yeah, they're old. no, some of us haven't played them yet. yeah, they're probably going to add more current and desired titles over time.

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          June 21, 2013 10:34 AM

          I was kind of snarky during the E3 announcement of it, but then I realized that after beating Reach, I was kind of curious about the other Halo games. :3

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        June 21, 2013 10:23 AM

        I haven't played Fable 3. Not the greatest game, but free is free, and it's not going to sway me one way or the other in terms of keeping my Gold account, so I don't see the problem.

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        June 21, 2013 11:41 AM

        Wow. So if someone gives you ice cream you complain about how unoriginal and derivative it is?

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        June 21, 2013 2:57 PM

        I haven't played AC 2 or any Fable games, so I'm actually pretty happy about it.

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          June 21, 2013 3:10 PM

          I've played all three of these and I'm still planning to download these versions. They're digital so I will be able to install them and play discless, also helps out when guests are in the home and we can do some Halo 3 LAN. Am I the only person who still does this?

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        June 21, 2013 3:15 PM

        I hate to defend Microsoft but Sony's PSN+ is completely and utterly unsustainable. The quality of games they have given out in the last year is frankly, madness and it comes at the end of a console cycle so of course there's a huge huge catalogue of games to choose from for to release for free.

        They can't keep it up and at least Microsoft is giving away something.

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        June 21, 2013 5:13 PM

        Holy shit, people still use "M$"?

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        June 21, 2013 6:34 PM

        FinalSp4rtan, we need your wise words up in this bitch.

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      June 21, 2013 10:28 AM

      [deleted]

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      June 21, 2013 12:39 PM

      It is clear that MS will be declared wrong regardless of what actions they take by many as this is the popular thing to do at this time.

      Did MS do this in reaction to PSN's perks? I imagine so. Isn't that the point of competition to get companies competing for the same dollars to improve their services to try to convince the consumer to buy from them?

      That was one of the best perks of paying for PSN and I've seen a lot of PSN subscribers bring that feature up. I was not aware that once you stopped subscribing you lost access to those games on PSN however. While it sounds like MS may allow you to keep those games even if your subscription lapses I wouldn't be surprised if that changed. Either way it's either the same feature Sony has or better by letting you keep the games. Yet people bitch.

      As stated by Azenmaster there are enough things to complain about and this isn't one of them. If you're complaining about this then that is a signal to me that you just want to have a company for being that company.

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        June 21, 2013 1:09 PM

        It's not much of an improvement to the service overall as they plan on dropping it once the Xbox One is out. What's clear is that they were very up front about it only going to the end of the year. It's a stop gap promo, while Sony has already committed to keeping PS+ going on the PS4.

        It's good they are giving gold members some games for free, but my subscription runs out next month, I've already played these old games and won't be resubbing for it.

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        June 21, 2013 3:12 PM

        Playing catch up is far less impressive than trumping the competition.

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      June 21, 2013 3:55 PM

      I'd forgive everything if they just brought back 1 vs 100.

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      June 21, 2013 4:03 PM

      God damn it, can any of you get Fable 3 through the Xbox Live website? I can't access my 360 until next month.

      I try to "buy" it but it says it can't complete the transaction. :(

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        June 21, 2013 4:29 PM

        You need to choose the option to use points to purchase, if you try to do it with your debit or credit card it will get rejected. I know, even though it is only asking for $0.00.

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        June 21, 2013 4:29 PM

        you can but you have to select points as currency

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      June 21, 2013 6:17 PM

      GOLD GAMEGOLD!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnoDYyNVS1o

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