What does 'going gold' mean?

What does 'going gold' mean?

Harry Ravenswood (Lead Designer, Kuju Entertainment) gives expert video advice on: What is a developer and what do they do?; What are 'easter eggs'?; Why do developers put easter eggs in games? and more...

Going gold is the final stage before the game gets released. Prior to that you had, usually, two key milestones which most studios work to. These are the alpha and beta stages, which are various points at which the game is almost finished but needs some bug fixing or something like that. Going gold is actually when you've done all of that and the game is complete and ready to send off to the printer to get released. Going gold is the last point in game design, and its' usually cause for celebration when you actually go gold.