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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110

u/ll30yd 17h ago

It's OK, you can buy more

172

u/LezDoTheBoogerWooger 17h ago

Wait until "the 15 hours per month are supported by ads. Do you want more? It's 2.99 per hour with ads, 3.99 without ads! PLAY MORE!"

59

u/49e-rm 16h ago

PLEASE DRINK VERIFICATION CAN TO CONTINUE

61

u/letsgotgoing 17h ago

I guess in the infancy of the all-digital future, I'll buy games from GOG.com to own my digital games without DRM, and, of course, physical versions of retro titles.

5

u/PsyOmega PC 16h ago

One day it'll get so bad there'll be roving bands of feral gamers, breaking into corporate offices to steal the last remaining PC's capable of running independent operating systems and local rendering. Sure it'll be intel HD gpu, but everyone will still be playing cs2 and fortnight anyway

3

u/jormugandr 14h ago

Make sure you keep good care of your current PC. They're doing all they can to price the average gamer out of PC affordability. Those GOG games won't do much good if you need to spend 5k on a new PC.

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u/JimmyDejesu 17h ago

This is the same situation right? Warning people about a shitty idea (in this case cloud gaming ) and people ignoring it anyway and ruining another part of the hobby

1

u/edgiepower 16h ago

Their immediate convenience is more important than their long term convenience

3

u/fozzy_bear42 17h ago

They one day the drop the ‘L’ from the motto and say what we’ve all been thinking.

3

u/Cachar 15h ago

Currently they don't want you to play more. Microsoft wants to lend OpenAI money, so OpenAI can buy GPU compute from Microsoft. 

I wish I was joking.

3

u/LezDoTheBoogerWooger 13h ago

Next Xbox pad will have copilot button in the middle. 

1

u/Distorted0 1h ago

You joke but they have already replaced one of the windows keys on laptops with a dedicated copilot key.

2

u/jonstarks 16h ago

they just love stepping on rakes

2

u/x_Animus_x 16h ago

It directly states in the article they plan to test ad supported streaming.

2

u/LilStrug 16h ago

This made me think of the meme video with kid waking up in the middle of the night to the TV ad of the guy asking,’ hey punk, wanna talk some shit? Call me now, let’s start some shit.‘

2

u/TwoMoreMinutes 16h ago

“DRINK VERIFICATION CAN TO CONTINUE”

0

u/sithelephant 17h ago

dlss6, and this time it's compulsory. Product placement.

40

u/PhotonBarbeque 17h ago

I could at the arcade too. Then I bought a computer for home. Now I’m… paying to use it by the hour to stream a game in from outside my home…???

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u/GokuBlack722 17h ago

If you have a computer why are you streaming these games to it instead of running them natively

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u/frogguts198 17h ago

He didnt say he had a good computer.

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u/Kabirdb 17h ago

why do you think people stream games? Cause their pc can't run the game decently.

Have you seen pc parts prices?

2

u/WillametteSalamandOR 17h ago

So you’re outsourcing your costs to someone else but don’t expect to pay for it?

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u/f4s7d3r3k 17h ago

We ARE paying.

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u/ohyouretough 16h ago

But as someone with gamepass eh you’re not really for the streaming. You’re paying for the library. If you really thought they would continue to give unlimited streaming for those prices you don’t know what computing costs.

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u/Zarkanthrex 16h ago

Unfortunately, if you didn't get into PC over the last 5 years or so, you are kinda screwed with rising prices. My 3080 is chugging for now. Im fucked if it dies. Same with my ram.

1

u/OralSuperhero 14h ago

Xbox came pre installed on my Alienware. Some titles are only available on that platform. Never was tempted to use it but it's there.

I really hope steam doesn't go down this path

-1

u/Dr_Socko 17h ago

Some games on Game Pass, including Cyberpunk 2077, are only available via cloud gaming.

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u/19HzScream 17h ago

I’m confused. It’s available for download (cyberpunk) as well as the dlc. I own and downloaded both a few months ago

1

u/Dr_Socko 14h ago

I'm talking about access to it through Game Pass - not if you own it outright.

0

u/GokuBlack722 16h ago

Really? That’s terrible.

16

u/DatedReference1 17h ago

Article says they did not specify fees for more hours. I'm sure it's coming but they're waiting to see how unpopular this is before they give a price.

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u/S31Ender 5h ago

We know the base minimum at least.

22 dollars for ultimate at 15 hours and 15 dollars one tier down at 10 hours is 7 bucks.

15 for 10hours and 10 for 5 hours is 5 bucks.

So an hour is worth at a bare minimum, one dollar.

Eff that.

We know what this really is.

“There will be a new addon package for 7 dollars per month to give unlimited cloud streaming.”

And now we’re back to 30 dollar true ultimate.

1

u/Korotan 16h ago

I am not paying Cloud Gaming. But if I would, I would accept 1cent per hour.

2

u/dontcha_wanna_fanta 17h ago

In a true capitalist fashion