For every proud owner of Xbox One or Xbox 360, it comes to no surprise for them to realize that they require an Xbox Live Gold membership pass to enjoy the online gaming experience. Xbox Live Gold is nothing but a membership offered by Microsoft to play online multiplayer games. Be it a co-op with your bestie or a death match with people all around the world, without a membership pass it’s impossible.

What is Xbox Gold?
Xbox Gold is a premium membership pass offered for the owners of Xbox One and Xbox 360, which enables the users to get access to the party system and voice chat. A person trying to access the online features without a pass will be put to hold by Microsoft. Although single player games with offline modes require no membership pass and Microsoft doesn’t plan to impose any rules for enjoying such games. Games which utilizes split screen features can be enjoyed without a membership pass. Streaming apps like Netflix and Hulu, which previously required a membership pass ow require only individual subscriptions apart from the Gold membership fee. Currently, Xbox Live Gold is exclusively for gaming.

How does it work?
Once signed up with a membership pass which is around $10 a month or $60 a year, the users get several free games through Xbox’s games with gold service. The offer usually remains for a month or sometimes a couple of weeks, within which a user can download the game via the website or to the console directly. Out the offer period, the game doesn’t stand free. One needs to have a regular update of the offers to grab the most out of it. Once redeemed the game can be enjoyed for as long as the user has an active subscription. However, restarting a subscription does grant all the previously redeemed games. Apart from the free games, Xbox also offers lots of discounts on newer games, which is a discount exclusive for members. The purchased games do not require a subscription to play (offline) or own.

Is it worth the purchase?
If online gaming is what a user is expecting more, then Xbox Live Gold offers lots of benefits. It has become a standard for Xbox owners to get a subscription for enjoying online games. Every console has a similar feature for enjoying the online feature, so if anyone wishes to play multiplayer games online for free, then it is better to switch to PC.