Microsoft defends Xbox Games with Gold scheme

Microsoft has defended the Xbox Games with Gold scheme, saying that although it can be "constrained" it still offers a great service.

Microsoft Studios vice president Phil Spencer said that the company couldn't offer newer games like PlayStation Plus, because with Games with Gold you get to keep whatever you download forever.

This means that financially it is a lot harder for them to give away the same kind of games.

"One of our issues with Games with Gold - not 'issues', but differences between the other system we get compared to, is the fact that with Games with Gold, you get to keep that game, regardless of whether you continue to subscribe," Spencer said in a presentation [via Polygon].

"And the business around Games with Gold, for us, is just fundamentally different from some of the other programs that are out there, which does put a different financial picture on a - you're going to go buy a game that's brand new, the cost of putting that in, just to be kind of blunt about it."

However Spencer added that plans are in the works to offer better games in the near future.

"I have been sitting down, monthly now, with that team - some of the earlier months were already programmed - and playing a more active role in picking franchises that show up in Games with Gold, and I think you'll see at least something that feels, at least, more true to what I think Games with Gold should look like with the constraints that are there."

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