We look back at 2018’s Xbox Games with Gold games and run the numbers, looking at how many games (and how good those games were) Microsoft delivered to Xbox Live Gold subscribers.
Microsoft once again served up 48 video games, for Xbox 360 and Xbox One, to Xbox Live Gold subscribers in 2018. Were they any good? What would they cost otherwise? What do the numbers say about the value of this Xbox Live Gold benefit?
We’ll try to answer that question this year as we have the past four years. To that, however, we’ve added a few more questions: How old is the game? Did Microsoft publish it? What publisher did Games With Gold use the most?
These questions may shed light on where these free games programs are headed, particularly as the previous console generation ages and the Xbox One’s backward compatibility program continues to pile up old titles.
In all, there were 48 games in Xbox Live Games With Gold for 2018, with an average critical score of 76.9 and a combined retail price (as of yesterday) of $866.28. The review average of this year’s free games is 1.1 points better than 2017 but the total dollar value is sharply lower, by $163.24
All Xbox 360 games in Games With Gold are compatible with Xbox One.
Average score: 72.25
Average age: 5.9 years
Total value: $53.
