Xbox Games With Gold in 2022: 43 games worth $712.58

You may have noticed that Polygon didn’t do an analysis of what Xbox Live’s Games With Gold program offered in 2022, like it did for PlayStation Plus Essential. Honestly, it’s because expectations of that catalog are now so low — and Microsoft doesn’t seem interested in beating them — that it’s just not worthwhile.

Bagging on these games, the majority of which were small-scale titles, largely anonymous when they launched, or launched a decade ago, seems cumulative and even mean-spirited — if not also unfair to their developers. Besides, it’s not as if subscribers are really being tricked into paying for something they don’t use. Xbox Live Gold launched the concept of paying for online multiplayer access in 1997, 17 years before the Xbox 360 was released. If you’re not interested in paying for online multiplayer, it’s unlikely that Games With Gold by itself will change your mind.

We’ve devoted reams of copy to explaining that the real value is in an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which at $14.99 a month is $3 less than PlayStation Plus’ new, highest tier. Game Pass’ curated library and commitment to day-and-date launches, particularly for Xbox’s first-party games, makes it the far stronger option for a big-name library of freely accessed games.

These end-of-year subscription reviews are done to thank a carefully selected library or to encourage a platform-holder to do better. Over the last three years, Xbox Live Games With Gold has demonstrated that there’s not much chance for either. The end of Xbox 360 games’ availability in Games With Gold, cutting the monthly offers down to two titles, doesn’t have us optimistic that will change, either.

Let us just mention that Xbox Live Games With Gold members were granted access to 42 games in 2022. The suggested retail price for all of them was $712.58.