Last week, Xbox Live announced its schedule of Games With Gold for December, bringing to 48 the number of free games it offered in 2016. Were they any good? What would they cost otherwise? In short, 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 three 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? Did these appear earlier on PlayStation Plus?
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.
What about PlayStation Plus?
Getting Started
In all, there were 48 games in Xbox Live Games With Gold for 2017, with an average Metacritic score of 77.19 and a combined retail price (at the time of the offer) of $1,029.52 The Metacritic average is 1.19 points better than 2016 and the total dollar value is almost $100 better, however last year the analysis took the price of the game at the time of publication (in December 2016).
All Xbox 360 games in Games With Gold are compatible with Xbox One. So we also noted those games that are playable only on Xbox One.
January
- Killer Instinct Season 2 Ultra Edition (Xbox One only)
- World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap (Xbox One only)
- Rayman Origins
- The Cave
Average Metacritic score: 80.5
Average age: 3.25 years
Total value: $89.96
Skinny: Microsoft led off 2016 with Killer Instinct: Season One so anyone who picked that up effectively got nine more characters, which sort of weakens the gaudy $39.99 list price. Do you want to bet they start 2018 with Killer Instinct: Season 3?
February
- Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Xbox One only)
- Project Cars (Xbox One only)
- Monkey Island 2: Special Edition
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Average Metacritic score: 81.25
Average age: 5 years
Total value: $74.96
Skinny: This is an excellent month — and surprisingly, not the best one by average score. The lowest-rated game of this bunch, the unloved Star Wars: The Force Unleashed still carries big-name cachet.
March
- Evolve: Ultimate Edition (Xbox One only)
- Layers of Fear (Xbox One only)
- Borderlands 2
- Heavy Weapon
Average Metacritic score: 79.5
Average age: 4.5 years
Total value: $99.96
Skinny: Evolve kind of dropped off the map but it was still a big-name launch from 2015 and a neat multiplayer concept. If that’s not your cup of tea, Borderlands 2 was a great game, however it went up on PlayStation Plus four years before.
April
- Ryse: Son of Rome (Xbox One only)
- The Walking Dead: Season Two (Xbox One only)
- Assassin’s Creed Revelations
- Darksiders
Average Metacritic score: 76
Average age: 5 years
Total value: $84.96
Skinny: Strangely, Darksiders 2 was offered on Games With Gold (in 2014) before Darksiders. Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Ryse may have been underwhelming but they’re still AAA-caliber titles making this a strong value month even if it isn’t critically acclaimed.
May
- Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams — Directors Cut (Xbox One only)
- Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (Xbox One only)
- Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
Average Metacritic score: 73.25
Average age: 6 years
Total value: $74.96
Skinny: Going back to the Star Wars well gives May some big name-brand glamor, but the Force Unleashed 2 was reviewed more poorly than its predecessor and while Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga means what it says, it’s a also a lot of repetition and puzzle-solving.
June
- SpeedRunners (Xbox One only)
- Watch Dogs (Xbox One only)
- Assassin’s Creed 3
- Dragon Age: Origins
Average Metacritic score: 83
Average age: 4 years
Total value: $79.96
Skinny: Man, does Phil Spencer have compromising photos of someone at Ubisoft? No publisher gave more to the Games With Gold cause and here are two open-world franchises in the same month. Dragon Age: Origins is a little long in the tooth but who can argue that a big role-playing game doesn’t provide a lot of gameplay value?
July
- Grow Up (Xbox One only)
- Runbow (Xbox One only)
- Kane & Lynch 2
- Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
Average Metacritic score: 73.5
Average age: 3.5 years
Total value: $59.96
Skinny: I’ll never not run a picture of Kane & Lynch 2 when there is an opportunity. Man, I remember struggling to play that S.O.B. at E3 2010. I wouldn’t pay money for it but, hey, it’s a free look at a bad franchise that somehow got a sequel. The Xbox One offerings are a couple of art-house games, making this the first real meh month overall.
August
- Slime Rancher (Xbox One only)
- Trials Fusion (Xbox One only)
- Bayonetta
- Red Faction: Armageddon
Average Metacritic score: 80.5
Average age: 4.25 years
Total value: $89.96
Skinny: Though this is the third of four months averaging over 80 on the metascore, the tastes are somewhat acquired. Bayonetta needs no introduction and is the best rated game among the 48, but if you haven’t played it in the past eight years, why would you start now. Red Faction has been a go-to series in these free game subscriptions for years but, again, those who haven’t gotten into its dense canon may have taken a pass.
September
- Forza Motorsport 5 (Xbox One only)
- Oxenfree (Xbox One only)
- Battlefield 3
- Hydro Thunder Hurricane
Average Metacritic score: 79
Average age: 4.5 years
Total value: $94.96
Skinny: Forza Motorsport 5 is the lowest rated version of the main series, but it’s still a big driving game and was an Xbox One launch title. It’s also Microsoft published so it’s not really skin off anyone’s back to give it to you, either. Battlefield 3 is still going strong but EA put that on EA Access at the beginning of the year, blunting its value for those who subscribe to that, too. I adored Hydro Thunder Hurricane. It had a mean difficulty spike at the top level but damn if I didn’t race the hell out of that in 2010.
October
- Gone Home: Console Edition (Xbox One only)
- The Turing Test (Xbox One only)
- Medal of Honor: Airborne
- Rayman 3 HD
Average Metacritic score: 76.75
Average age: 4.25 years
Total value: $69.96
Skinny: Ubisoft comes through with Rayman for those who don’t care for Gone Home, our 2013 GOTY, or The Turing Test, an over looked puzzle game from Square Enix. Medal of Honor: Airborne is one of four free games offered in 2017 that are a decade old, and three of them are on Games With Gold.
November
- Tales from the Borderlands (Xbox One only)
- Trackmania Turbo (Xbox One only)
- Deadfall Adventures
- Nights Into Dreams
Average Metacritic score: 69.75
Average age: 3 years
Total value: $104.96
Skinny: What the hell is Deadfall Adventures? Nights into Dreams is a high-definition remaster of a 21-year old game. All of this month’s critical appeal is in Tales from the Borderlands, but if you’re not down for some narrative choices, it was an eminently skippable month.
December
- Back to the Future: The Game (Xbox One only)
- Warhammer: The End Times — Vermintide (Xbox One only)
- Child of Eden
- Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death
Average Metacritic score: 73.25
Average age: 4.25
Total value: $104.96
Skinny: Games with Gold closes out with a whimper. Back to the Future: The Game is old and poorly reviewed. Unless you’re a big Warhammer fan — and that’s a multiplayer-only game — this month is, as they say in West Texas, el pass-o.
Wrapping it up
Dollar figures are nice but they’re always the least valuable piece of information because the MSRP is usually inflated to begin with, and peeling off a free download of a four-year old game is really not that much of a big favor from these companies. What does feed the bulldog, however, are four months in which the average Metacritic score is over 80. And the two 79-rated months would have been 80s without the lone dogs in their midst.
Games With Gold had the better year, by far, than PlayStation Plus. Its average score is almost six whole numbers better (77.19 to 71.3) and if you just compare PlayStation 3 and PS4 to Xbox 360 and Xbox One, the disparity is even larger (77.19 to 70.5). But Games With Gold also got started three years later, as evidenced by the fact nine of these games have already been on PlayStation Plus.
Still, Microsoft is leveraging backward compatibility in ways PlayStation cannot to continually deliver big-name games that make the user feel like they’re getting something of value. And Xbox One-only games are dramatically better this year over last in terms of Metacritic score — 78.5 to 70.6, from worst to first among all platforms. Closing out the year with two who-cares months — especially if they’re going back to the Killer Instinct well to open 2018, is not a good sign, though.
By the Numbers
Average score: 77.19
Average price: $21.45
Average age: 4.4 years
Highest average Metacritic month: June (83)
Highest dollar value months: November and December ($104.96)
Month with newest games on average: November (3 years)
Lowest average Metacritic month: November (69.75)
Lowest dollar value month: July ($59.96)
Month with oldest games on average: May (6 years old)
Published by Microsoft: Four titles (Killer Instinct Season 2 Ultra Edition, Ryse: Son of Rome, Forza Motorsport 5, and Hydro Thunder Hurricane)
Publisher with the most titles: Ubisoft with nine (Rayman Origins, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Watch Dogs, Assassin’s Creed 3, Grow Up, Trials Fusion, Rayman 3 HD, Trackmania Turbo and Child of Eden).
Appeared on Games With Gold earlier: None, however Killer Instinct: Season 1 Ultra Edition was offered in 2016.
Appeared on PlayStation Plus earlier: Back to the Future: The Game (in 2012); Rayman Origins, The Cave, Borderlands 2, Darksiders, Battlefield 3 (2013); The Walking Dead: Season Two, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (2015); Dragon Age Origins, Gone Home: Console Edition (2016); Tales From the Borderlands (May 2017).
Total value: $1,029.52
Platform Averages
Xbox 360: 75.8 Metacritic average, 6.6 years old, $18.74 per title.
Xbox One: 78.5 Metacritic average, 2 years old, $24.16 per title.
Highest rated Xbox 360 game: Bayonetta (90).
Highest rated Xbox One game: Tales from the Borderlands (88).
Highest price Xbox 360 game: Deadfall Adventures ($39.99).
Highest price Xbox One game: Evolve: Ultimate Edition ($49.99).
Lowest rated Xbox 360 game: Deadfall Adventures (43).
Lowest rated Xbox One game: Ryse: Son of Rome (60).
Lowest price Xbox 360 games: Monkey Island 2: Special Edition, Heavy Weapon, Nights Into Dreams and Rayman 3 HD ($9.99).
Lowest price Xbox One game: Grow Up ($9.99).
Metacritic ranges
90 and up: 1
80 to 89: 23
70 to 79: 17
60 to 69: 6
59 and below: 1
Price ranges:
$40 and up: 1
$30 to $39.99: 5
$25 to $29.99: 4
$20 to $24.99: 1
$15 to $19.99: 21
$10 to $14.99: 11
$5 to $9.99: 5
$4.99 and under: 0