At this point I think MS is just waiting for a big event to ditch Gold.
Completely pointless service at this point.
It is opposite of pointless. (to customers / new customers)
Without this option, I would not have even bought series x when they started to be available on stores last december:
1) buy 36 months of gold (I got mine for about 91€ total)
2) activate gamepass trial for 1€
3) now have gamepass ultimate for 36 months, only 92-93€ total.
It would suck.
As service vs game pass, yes it is kind of pointless. But for customers to get cheap GPU == priceless.
I know I would never pay that ridiculous price of 16€/month for GPU, and I bet there are plenty of people like me. Maybe not statistically enough to make MS care, but still lost customers.
paying 93€ vs paying 576€ in 3 years is big difference for second system or multiple systems owner.
If they will remove gold, I guess this epic upgrade path will be also removed