XBOX is making big changes to their Xbox Cloud Gaming service.
Starting November, Game Pass players will have playtime limits to use Xbox Cloud Gaming. The tier limits are as follows:
- Game Pass Ultimate: 15 hours
- Game Pass Premium: 10 hours
- Game Pass Essential: 5 hours
If you have a Game Pass subscription and want to play beyond this limit, you can pay to keep using the service.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is currently only available in Game Pass, but that’s about to change too. They promise that it will also be available as a separate service soon, paid per hour instead of per month.
Last July, XBOX launched tests for ad-supported game streaming as part of the Xbox Insiders program. While Xbox didn’t bring it up here, an ad-supported option could be announced as part of the payment plans soon.
As we expect from Asha Sharma’s administration at this point, they end this announcement by saying they will ‘listen closely to player feedback,’ so we can expect them to calibrate prices and playtime ratios as they find broader adoption for Xbox Cloud Gaming.