r/gaming • u/Force_Hammer • 17h ago

Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming subscribers as costs continue to climb

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/03/microsoft-xbox-game-pass-cloud-limits.html
11.2k Upvotes

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525

u/Icy-Cod1405 17h ago

Damn I guess I'll keep playing on the console I own like always.

299

u/Obscuriosly 17h ago

"We're working to fix that" - Micro$oft probably

57

u/RephRayne 16h ago

The next generation of consoles are gonna cost a grand.

53

u/Icy-Cod1405 16h ago

Unfortunately that increase tracks with the cost of building a gaming PC now.

30

u/Chikitiki90 16h ago

I was curious so I looked up the price of my 1tb Samsung ssd that I bought in 2019 for $163…that same stick costs $430 now! We live in the worst timeline.

20

u/SaltyLonghorn 16h ago

Just wait, when AI fails and they need to find something for all those datacenters to do the 15 hour a month premium plan is gonna feel generous.

We're nearing the bottom of the slippery slope that began with horse armor.

2

u/EccentricBen 5h ago

Fucking horse armor, the herald of gaming doom, in the worst timeline.

1

u/KitaharaKazusa1 6h ago

If AI fails then prices would go down.

AI succeeding is what is making prices go up.

Cloud gaming and LLMs use the exact same resources, so if AI collapses and all the LLMs stop running, there'll be a lot of surplus capacity and they'll have to lower prices to sell it.

On the other hand if LLMs continue to be a thing it will remain difficult to impossible for cloud gaming to be viable.

1

u/Strong-Finish5346 9h ago

AI is not going to fail. It's basically a national security issue and the US government will prop up Nvidia and the big players.

1

u/SaltyLonghorn 7h ago

Sing it with me now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDOI0cq6GZM

-1

u/Strong-Finish5346 7h ago edited 7h ago

Sorry, but my money's on the exponentially scaling recursive technology that's already outperforming human cognition in many domains and whose continued development is game-theoretically locked in.

Since /u/SaltyLonghorn blocked me in order to force the last word, let me just say: Zuck's balls taste like money. Should have invested in tech back in 2020, chump.

0

u/SaltyLonghorn 7h ago

I can smell Zuckerberg's balls on your breath.

3

u/wronguses 9h ago

They're close to that now. 1600-2k is more realistic at this point.

4

u/Deathmaw 16h ago

And I'd still pick that over 23 bucks for 15 hours. I'd used that up in 2-3 days. And I'm not going to be paying 230 bucks a month to play how I want.

2

u/mitch079 15h ago

I dont see myself bothering to move to it

2

u/kkuntdestroyer 14h ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they're cheap tbh, sell a cheap console with very low specs that is built for cloud gaming

2

u/RephRayne 14h ago

Then you're back to paying $22.99 a month for 15 hours of gaming on something that's a dumb terminal not a console.

2

u/kkuntdestroyer 14h ago

I agree, i just wouldn't be surprised. Maybe they release 1 normal console and their new version of an S console is the cloud gaming one

3

u/DarthBuzzard 15h ago

PS5 / Xbox Series owners probably won't feel they are missing out anyway since the next-gen leap is going to be tiny and there will probably never be a PS6 / Next Xbox exclusive because the ROI won't be there on a small userbase and all games will have to be compatible with the handheld versions.

I also highly doubt there will be any new marketable features. This gen gave us DuelSense, 3D audio, and SSDs but there are no comparable leaps left for them to try next gen.

1

u/nezroy 14h ago

There also just won't BE a next generation of XBox.

7

u/adarion29 16h ago

Your subscription service got an "upgrade"

1

u/Golden-trichomes 11h ago

Upgradde with two d’s

1

u/Repulsive_Recursive 13h ago

"we heard the community"

4

u/Redkektal 16h ago

Why I am keeping my series x with disk drive when I get Xbox helix, I might not bother if they do stuff like this.

-1

u/agitated--crow 16h ago

Until the Xbox Series X becomes obsolete or your console fails. 

3

u/Galinhooo 14h ago

Sony: FUCK YOU GO AWAY

ok, I'll get a pc

PC prices: FUCK YOU GO AWAY

fine, imma go play on cloud said no one ever

Cloud: NAME IS CLOUD STRIFE, SOLDIER, FIRST CLASS FUCK YOU GO AWAY

2

u/fallouthirteen 14h ago

fine, imma go play on cloud

(tries playing on cloud for a bit)

Player: Fuck you go away.

3

u/JuanRunJunior 14h ago

That’s wild because my series X is littered with ads, congested with stupid UI decisions and a UI I have no say in organizing. It’s much less mine than it is theirs because if you want to customize anything I can’t. If you want to organize anything the way you want it, I can’t. I have to Xbox support icon on my recent list for about three years now because I can’t remove it. I’m not allowed to. I clicked on it by mistake and it’s there until I cycle through more than half a dozen things to push it off the bar, but since I haven’t I can’t remove it. I don’t want it there, I have no choice, it’s there because they’ve forced it there. If I want to block their IPs to prevent telemetry spying and other shit constantly phoning home your dashboard stops functioning completely. It’s not yours if you can’t do any of those things, you’re at the behest of Microsoft’s decisions on how you’re allowed to use it.

2

u/soundman1024 14h ago

I thought the tariff premium on my Switch 2 was making it an iffy value at launch time.

It’s looking like a better buy with each passing week. Pokopia is great, and Civ 6 is even better on Switch 2. Plus I can no life it as much as I want and not pay a cloud gaming overage. (I like to pretend that matters with a young one at home.)

1

u/JMJimmy 15h ago

I went to play Batman Arkham City on my Xbox the other day, only to find I can't download the game I paid for

The list of unplayable games is slowly growing https://www.trueachievements.com/hard-delisted/games

1

u/AcrobaticOne231 14h ago

In the future will be like, the console you paid for only grant you a licence to use it lol.

1

u/captaindeadpl 8h ago

Your ownership of your console is very tenuous. 

Companies keep a stranglehold of what you can install on their consoles. Everything has to be vetted by them. Even mods for games.

1

u/NefariousnessOk1996 16h ago

I enjoyed being able to try games without installing them, especially for games with my kiddos. It's also nice to be able to easily stream on the tv.

0

u/Young_Bonesy 15h ago

Don't worry. They will argue you dont own it and that they are revoking your "liscence" and brick it at some point.