Microsoft recently pulled the curtain back on the Xbox free Games with Gold for December 2020. Xbox One owners can download The Raven: Remastered from December 1 to December 31, and then Bleed 2 from December 16 to January 15. As usual, two Xbox 360 games are part of the lineup as well, with Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell available from December 1 to December 15, and Stacking available from December 16 to December 31.
While some Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be happy about this selection, with Stacking standing out as the best-rated game of the bunch, others are not pleased. At the time of this writing, the YouTube video announcing the Xbox free Games with Gold for December 2020 has 3,000 dislikes versus just 1,600 likes. There's over 700 comments on the video, and the vast majority of them appear to be negative.
Going through the comments, there seems to be multiple reasons why many Xbox fans are upset about the free Games with Gold for December 2020. One reason is the lack of any Xbox Series X optimized games. While all four of these games are technically playable on the Xbox Series X, none of them were built ground-up for Microsoft's next-generation console, which seems like a missed opportunity, to say the least.
The other issue some fans have with the Xbox free Games with Gold for December 2020 games is that they're getting the Xbox 360 version of Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell as opposed to the Xbox One version. While the two versions of the game are virtually identical gameplay-wise, the Xbox One version of Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell is still superior to the 360 version of the game, and so some are disappointed that they are getting the lesser version.
And finally, it seems some Xbox Live Gold subscribers are upset by the lineup because it is lacking when compared to the recent batch of free PS Plus games. While the free PS Plus games for December 2020 have not been announced at the time of this writing (though that could change in a matter of hours), the free PS Plus games for November 2020 included the big budget game Middle-earth: Shadow of War, as well as the critically-acclaimed Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition. Not only that, but PS Plus subscribers were also able to claim a free PS5 game for November in the form of Bugsnax, a quirky title that has earned mostly positive reviews from critics so far.
The free Xbox Games with Gold have been criticized for awhile now, though, and it doesn't look like Microsoft has any intention on changing course. It seems like the company is far more concerned with bolstering its library of Xbox Game Pass games, and so it's no surprise that rumors of Xbox Live Gold being phased out are so prevalent. Whether or not that comes to pass remains to be seen, but fans can keep expecting at least four free Xbox games each month until told otherwise.