Xbox Live Free Games for Gold Members... or not

Short:

Never delete your xboxlive gold exclusive "free games" after the exclusive window, you cannot re-download them as you did not receive a license.

"Abaddon: so the free games being given to gold members through the rest of the year are only free while you have them on your hard drive?
Xbox: That when you were downloaded it as free, and when deleted or tried to have it re-downloaded after a year or two, it will be for a certain price already.
Xbox: Yes, that's the case, Abaddon."

Long:

This morning I was preparing for a vacation and I was planning on bringing my 360 with me to catch up on some gaming while I have the extra time. I deleted Fable II to make room for Fable III (ironically enough) and then immediately noticed that Fable II didn't display "download again", just the price of $19.99. Checked my download history and sure enough Fable II is in there and listed in 2010 and clearly states "game", not to be confused with something like "trial game". Fable II is in my download history but not in my purchased history, so I must have gotten this through a gold exclusive game.

I had assumed that exclusive free game meant that you had to download it within the exclusive time to get the license, but that it would be yours going forward. This is a reward for being a loyal customer all these years, right? This is part of the justification for the money I spend for a gold subscription, isn't it?

I spent about an hour with xboxlive support trying to get this resolved. I won't go into how frustrating that experience was, I'll just leave it with the fact that I had to ask to talk to a supervisor to get any traction and that was after 45 minutes. The end result was that I was promised the message would be cleared up on the site about the nature of the exclusiveness, but that these games are only available to download within the exclusive window, basically I was out of luck. The helpful supervisor then suggested I contact support before deleting content if I was in question. Great.

Perhaps this is just me, but this seems incredibly misleading. I feel like I was given a "reward" that was then stolen out of my back pocket when I wasn't looking. Perhaps this was just the push I needed to help me decide on which console I'm buying next generation but in the least if my story can save somebody else keeping their gold games that are being released through the rest of the year it would make me feel better about the encounter.

Ultimately I would love to convince Microsoft of the error of their ways so that they treat their customers a little better. Yet I am just a humble gamer, and posting in a community that I respect is the best idea I've got.

I have logs of the xboxlive support, screenshots of my download history, screenshots of the current Fable III page and fine print as well as the Fable II page showing the current price. If anybody has any ideas or contacts that can make enough noise to rattle Microsoft enough to make them listen I'd be glad to lend my time and resources.

(Edited original post to make it clear that Fable II was a gold exclusive reward originally)

That's an issue with Fable 2. I own the full version, but when I download it through the Xbox 360 store interface or add it to my download queue from my purchase history on Xbox.com, I get "Episode One": the trial version.

The only way I can download the full game is by browsing through the download history on my console.

I don't know how well-known this issue is, but I've had it occur only with Fable 2.

EDIT: Although I wish Microsoft would come right out and say whether these free games are permanently on users' accounts once they download them, or if they are removed at the end of the year.

Unless I'm mistaken, with PlayStation Plus, you can end your PS+, then renew it, and still get access back to the stuff you had before when you were PlayStation Plus.

In other words, Microsoft's half-assed and bad policies strike again! I feel for you though.

Edit: Or not? I dunno!

I first noticed the issue on my console, so I am pretty sure I cannot even download it there. I will double check this when I am back home however this is a direct quote from a xboxlive spokesperson:

"That when you were downloaded it as free, and when deleted or tried to have it re-downloaded after a year or two, it will be for a certain price already."

Wait... Fable II? Fable III is the first "free for gold" game, not Fable II... So I'm missing how this is a problem with the promotion if it's a problem with Fable II and not Fable III...

That said it's a problem that you can't easily redownload a program you've bought...

I believe I got Fable II through a similar gold exclusive "free game" years ago, it's not in my purchase history but is in my download as a full game so while I can't clearly remember how I picked it up that makes the most sense. This is more going to impact every "free gold game" being released through the rest of the year. If Fable III behaves as this experience did, once the next set of games roll up, if you delete your Fable III it's gone.

@abaddon: Access your download history on your console and see if Fable 2 shows up. If so, mark it for re-download and confirm that it is around six Gigabytes (the trial is two or so). I've no idea why it marks itself as not purchased after a while, and that's a bug Microsoft should have fixed long ago, but at least there's a way to access the thing you paid for!

http://christykirwan.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Access-Your-Xbox-360-Download-History

Best of luck!

Fable 3 was the free one. Not 2.

Huh? I was able to download it again, but then again I had owned the original disc so maybe that had something to do with it.

Fable II was free because someone fucked up a few years ago. For a couple of hours it was listed and available for free before someone caught the mistake and fixed it.

As for this current promotion, the wording implies that these games are yours forever, whether you remain gold or not. I believe the actual wording is "no matter what"

I understand that, but my fear is that once we get past July 1st and Fable III is no longer available, if you did download it during the exclusive window and delete it after that point you lost the game. I suppose somebody would need to delete Fable III after July first to confirm this though. I know I don't want to be the one to lose the free game though...

@abaddon: I'd suggest plugging in a flash drive large enough to hold Fable 3, transferring it over, turning off the system and removing the drive, and seeing if Fable 3 still shows up as a purchased, downloadable item.

Hopefully these free games are just like any other GoD purchases, but I can accept it if they aren't.

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/708087/fable-2-available-for-free-on-xbox-marketplacefor-now/

That's the Fable 2 fuckup from a few years ago. Sorry I can't link it as the iPad editing doesn't work

@mooseymcman: No, you're right! Sony 4 Prez!

Also, to Abaddon.. Thanks for being there for me. Your resistance to physical attacks really got me through some tough times.

Fable 2 for free was a glitch. I don't expect to be able to redownload Assassin's Creed 3 after I delete it, either. That does't mean they're going to take away games you actually pay for. Fable 3 is being bought the say way any other GoD game is(but as an incentive for XBL Gold). It wasn't flagged as "downloaded during a period where it was free when it wasn't supposed to be."

I almost laughed.

I don't have a flash drive big enough but I can probably just remove the hard drive and then check the marketplace and get the same test results. I won't be able to test this out until I'm back from vacation though which'll be on the 8th. I really hope I'm wrong and these gold reward games are permanent, but quotes from xboxlive staff make it seem otherwise:

"Abaddon: so the free games being given to gold members through the rest of the year are only free while you have them on your hard drive?
Xbox: That when you were downloaded it as free, and when deleted or tried to have it re-downloaded after a year or two, it will be for a certain price already.
Xbox: Yes, that's the case, Abaddon."

(I changed the names for privacy)

Im pretty sure they said this window of free games will only last until the next gen consoles are released. Correct me if im wrong.

Seems a little silly giving away games that are 6+ gigs and expecting somebody to have to store them forever if they want to keep playing. I don't know about you guys but my hard drive tends to be pretty full. I know they said they were only giving away the free games until the next console release, I get that. I even understand and am fine with having to download it within the window, but once you do seems like you should be able to grab it again later.

If I am proved right, it will just mean that I have to free up space on my hdd, which isn't super bad. Free games are my favorite price. Still seems a little unreasonable given other similar services.

The "window" is from July 1 to Dec 31. In that time, they will be offering a game or two on a bi-monthly schedule (the 1st and the 16th). When you download that game, you get to keep it forever, not just the 6 month time period, but if you don't get it during the half-month period that the specific game is available, then you miss your chance. However, I don't know if that counts as a purchase on your history, which will allow you to delete and download later.

As a test, i just checked Wreckateer which was offered as free over the holidays last year. I never downloaded the game, but I did complete the tranaction to add it to my history. Looking at it now, I have the "download again" option available to me. Now the rules might be different for this "games for gold" promotion, and I am totally willing to delete Fable 3 on monday to find out since a) I have a steam version already and, b) that game is bunk

@mildmolasses:

You are absolutely correct. Unfortunately it seems like their customer service is just awful and just gave me false information. After the deal Fable 3 is still available so sorry for the false alarm community!

Nothing to see here, move along...

@abaddon: Good to know I could redownload it. Because I refuse to buy it on disc.

The reason you cant re download Fable 2 is because you didn't download it with the account you are using ... When you download any game or game content, it is permanently saved to the xbox you download it to with the license, so any account that is on the xbox can play it, if the content is deleted, the license also goes and you need the account that downloaded the game connected in order to play said game, unless you do a license transfer ... you still need to connect with the original account, download the game and do the license transfer with that account ... This was happening to me and my nephew as I gave him my xbox when I got the slim version and when he wanted to play on his profile in my new xbox he needed me to be signed in before the games would launch

Old thread is old, bro.

Hey man, be nice. That creepy XBox tech help person posing as a regular forum user has to get paid too.