Xbox One Games With Gold requires ongoing subscription

Microsoft has revealed one big difference between Games With Gold on Xbox One and Xbox 360.

On Xbox One, active Gold membership required to play free games you’ve downloaded,” the company has said. [Users] must download titles during designated window.”

That’s different to how things work on Xbox 360, which despite requiring users to be subscribers at the time of downloading a title also allows them to access forever, even if their subscription expires.

It is, however, the same policy as that employed by Sony on PS4, PS3 and Vita.

Games With Gold will arrive one Xbox One in June, launching with discounts of between 50-75 per cent for Forza 5 and Ryse and free copies of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault for subscribers.

From that point on four games will be made available to subscribers for free each month – two on Xbox One and two on 360.