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
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u/OPMajoradidas 17h ago

Shitttt. That's like one days worth

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u/Jops817 17h ago

Yeah that's like, a Saturday free. That would stress me out making sure I am maximizing my time, better not idle at all, might even join the piss bottle meta over it because can't waste any time (jk, maybe).

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u/welzed11 16h ago

Wild that they have the audacity to limit it this much when their cloud gaming is worse then PlayStations. PS5 cloud gaming has 4k resolution which Xbox doesn’t, HDR which Xbox doesn’t, better image quality and less latency 

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u/TheWizardGeorge 16h ago

I mean honestly I pretty much never use it because of how much worse it is than both Playstation and GeForce now, despite having had(canceled earlier this year) game pass for so long.

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u/AdorableTuck 16h ago

I tried playing black ops zombies on pc last week end. I didnt want to make room on my HD so I tried it through the cloud. The blurriness during movement made it the worst experience. I've played POE2 and Destiny 2 on geforce now and they dont look that blurry.

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u/TheWizardGeorge 14h ago

Yeah, it was quite bad when I tried it. It's crazy because when I do GeForce now directly on my pc, you can't tell it's not being played native(have a 4090 build with 9850x3d) for any of the games that use the 5080. Granted, I do have fiber internet and my connection is wired, however it is VERY noticeably worse. Like, significantly worse bordering, on unplayable in comparison.

Then, when I try playing on my iPad it just feels like there is so much more latency. I genuinely thought it was maybe me or my network, so I even tried it on my cellular network and even my wifi at work. Same. Results with both my iPad and z fold 7.

The fact that it's so bad and it's limited to 15 hrs is insane. It's embarrassing, even, because it's like they're playing a telltale game or something and intentionally picking all the worst choices lol.

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u/Jops817 16h ago

Yeah I've used it to try out a few games I was curious about but not buy the game curious. It was good for that but has outgrown its usefulness.

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u/razo18 16h ago

Have they finally gotten around to adding the elusive rumble feature to cloud streaming? Mind you I haven't tried it in quite some time but it seems like such a simple feature to implement.

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u/TheWizardGeorge 14h ago

For xbox controllers, yeah. Not sure about others, but I imagine they do as well.

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u/Dazzling_Line_8482 11h ago

I thought the PS limits you to PS4?

Isn't that a problem? Or are most new games available for both 4 and 5?

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u/nostalgic_gamer95 13m ago

Xbox cloud gaming is really good on the steam deck though. What trash by Microsoft.

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u/eelam_garek 13h ago

Sony will follow suit, guaranteed.

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u/inosinateVR 16h ago

has playstation gotten better recently? I always heard it was the complete opposite and PS Now or whatever it’s called is a lot worse than xbox cloud

edit: maybe I just got it mixed up with Geforce Now

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u/welzed11 16h ago

Nah Xbox cloud gaming has always been worse since the generation started in 2020. Xbox cloud gaming only just got 1080p in 2021 and 1440p in 2025, they’re a long way away from catching up to Playstation

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u/inosinateVR 15h ago

yeah I think I must’ve gotten it mixed up with Geforce Now in my head

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u/TheWizardGeorge 14h ago

It's fine when I'm streaming from my home console and I'm on the same network. The streaming can be iffy depending on the network set up. Like if you have a wireless internet service(for example, tmobile home internet or att air), then it's bad due to the CGNat(carrier grade NAT - it reuses IPs and creates lots of issues in peer 2 peer games and sometimes when you stream games on ps, but not GeForce now for whatever reason).

If you have fiber, it's great. Copper is hit or miss.

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u/tevert 16h ago

Gotta balance pissing against all those verification cans you have to drink

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u/Jops817 16h ago

Such is the struggle...

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u/Koolco 14h ago

Its so strange because other services don’t have caps on the total service, but do cap session times (geforce now has a cap of 8 hour sessions). It is wacky that they consider 4 hours a week the “premium” experience.

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u/Jops817 13h ago

Yeah, I work 4 days a week, and probably average an hour on workdays just as a decompress thing, so basically this means I cannot play when I actually have off. So dumb.

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u/MandoFett117 16h ago

The return of the poopsock!

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u/Ch33s3m4st3r 15h ago

Don’t worry, you can pay for extra hours :)
-Microsoft

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u/RepulsivePea4613 14h ago

The fact 408 people agreed that 15 hours of gaming on a free Saturday is normal is disqusting lol

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u/DDisired 14h ago

I get it, it's just people with different priorities and life stages.

15 hours on a saturday at my current age is unthinkable. 5 years ago? Doable with some priorities shuffled around. 10 years ago? I wasn't doing much on saturday anyway.

I'm not here to judge what other people want to do on a Saturday, but if Microsoft wants more people to play in their ecosystem, they maybe should be catering to the hardcore gamers because they are the most likely to spend money.

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u/Jops817 14h ago

I mean you obviously aren't doing it every Saturday, and there are people that will binge 15 hours of Netflix on that same Saturday easily. Free time is hard to come by a lot of times, so I'm not going to shit on how someone wants to spend it.

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u/DEVIL_LOCK PC 16h ago

Yeah the jrpg crowd isn't gonna like this one.

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u/iccs 17h ago

Im not saying 15 hours per month isn’t a pittance, but in one day? Jesus

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u/Deathdy 17h ago

Why, what's wrong? 15 hours of gaming. 2 hours of sleep. 1 hour of bathroom stuff. And uuh. 5 hours of gooning. The final hour is contemplating your life.

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u/Driftysilver 16h ago

That sounds like a great Saturday to me. What's the problem?

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u/Solid_Wind_3234 16h ago

Not enough gooning obviously

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u/OblivionJunkie 16h ago

The gooning/contemplating can be redistributed as needed

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u/Solid_Wind_3234 16h ago

Oh phew, that makes things better then!

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u/urixl 15h ago

Gooning while contemplating, gotta be efficient dudes!

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u/YerLam 14h ago

Post-nut clarity meditation?

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u/Driftysilver 16h ago

Hahahahaha

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u/SuperSocialMan PC 16h ago

5 hours is crazy holy shit

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u/St0rmr3v3ng3 14h ago

People who say they have no time to hang out be like:

15 hours of gaming. 2 hours of sleep. 1 hour of bathroom stuff. And uuh. 5 hours of gooning. The final hour is contemplating your life.

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u/rbrgr83 14h ago

1 hour of bathroom stuff. And uuh. 5 hours of gooning.

6 hours of gooning, got it

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u/almostoy PC 16h ago

And that one hour is the catalyst that puts it all back into the aforementioned tail spin.

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u/FrankSand 16h ago

We found Jynxzis burner profile.

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u/sembias 14h ago

The final hour is contemplating your life.

You mean grinding fresh bud, right?

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u/ElwoodJD 16h ago

No way I want to contemplate that life if it were the one I was living

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u/highersense 16h ago

You definitely never played classic WoW

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u/stone_magnet1 16h ago

Me at 6am: is that the sun???

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u/HungryDiscoGaurdian 16h ago

Me on a Tuesday: shit the servers are going down again?

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u/Telekinendo 14h ago

Me playing Crusader Kings: I'll just finish this war. I'll just plot this guys assassination. I'll just redo some laws. I'll just- why the fuck do I hear birds, its only like 11.

Its 11AM?!

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u/_Ocean_Machine_ 14h ago

You think to yourself that you'll go to bed once you're done with that questline, and then you hear birds chirping out the window.

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u/iccs 16h ago

Only retail, but classic I could definitely see being played in my sleep 🤣

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u/tylerjehenna 14h ago

Or any elder scrolls game on launch day

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u/RetPala 12h ago

I clocked more than 24h once on a MUD during a holiday break

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u/siggydude 16h ago

If you get 8 hours of sleep, you get 16 hours of being awake. If someone turns on their console first thing in the morning and has it on all day, it's easy to hit 15 hours of playtime. 15 hours a month for a subscription that costs that much is insanely low to me

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u/PMagicUK 16h ago

I work 12 hour shifts and audio book limits are hit in literally a shift and a bit.

15 hours is fuck all.

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u/thejokerlaughsatyou 15h ago

Does your local library have Libby? If so, it has free audiobooks with no time limits!

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u/_Ocean_Machine_ 14h ago

Back when I worked a 4/10 Libby was a lifesaver; I love music but I can't stand to listen to it for ten hours straight. And the one free book per month you get through an Audible sub is almost an insult.

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u/PMagicUK 15h ago

Its the UK so dunno. According to google some might use it.

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u/dj92wa 14h ago

Look into it! I’m in the US and it’s incredible app. Your library curates what’s available and it’s all connected via your library card, which in case that’s not a thing over there, is a free registration anyone can do with their local library.

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u/JoeVanWeedler 16h ago

I get 2-3 hours per day, more on weekends but this would cap me out after a week or less.

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u/ChristopherRobben 16h ago

That's probably just active game time too; you leave it sit on the pause screen for too long and you may have just wiped out a day.

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u/lonnie123 15h ago

We are aware of how math works and the number of hours in a day… it’s the 15 hours of gaming in a single day that’s the extreme part.

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u/siggydude 13h ago

I agree that it's a long time to be gaming, but the game being on for that long doesn't mean that the game is being played that entire time. That's another part of the problem though.

If someone has to get up from the game for any length of time, that means that they are wasting their allotted time. That will lead to people not being able to actually enjoy the game because they are worried about wasting the limited amount of time they have with it if they aren't efficient with their gaming

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u/Jops817 16h ago

I wouldn't say that every day is healthy, but certain release days, or social/multiplayer games with things like raids and stuff like that, you can hit that mark pretty easy on occassion.

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u/klingma 16h ago

You're home sick or injured with nothing else to do, yeah 15 hours can add up pretty quick then. 

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u/DigNitty 16h ago

My first thought was 15 hours a day is plenty **for most users.

There are a few out there who it would adversely affect.

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u/Tenthul 16h ago

I mean the college/unemployed range of people have A LOT of free time, and I'm sure it's not an insignificant part of the market for Xbox. People really underestimate how easy it is to game the day away sometimes. It's basically a dream day for the people who DON'T have that time anymore and grew into their lives.

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u/IdleSteps 16h ago

It's 15 per month.

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u/klipseracer 15h ago

ikr. Just because a few people can do that does not mean everyone does or should or will.

For those users they can buy more time apparently.

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u/Admiral_Snuggles 16h ago

aren't we on the gaming subreddit?

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u/ninjapro98 14h ago

I’ve been playing games my whole life and even at my worst unemployed out of school I never reached 15 hours a day gaming.

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u/Sweaksh 2h ago

Pfft, casuals

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u/control_09 16h ago

Pretty much every subscription based platoform will have this issue one way or another. It's like going to a gym. If you are a regular gym goer like I am then you're ending up putting more wear and tear into the machines than the gym recoups on you. The gyms make money on the people that have memberships but don't actually go there.

Gaming has the issue of you're not into it unless you're REALLY into it most of the time so there's not the horde of casual people who would purchase a subscription.

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u/Fach-All-Religions 14h ago

bro it's right. it's 15 hours worth.

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u/klingma 16h ago

Yeah, that's the crazy thing, if parents subscribed to this because it's easier than buying new games or whatever then their kids absolutely would blow out this limitation in a weekend or two. 

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u/SpinShine-LEDSlipMat 15h ago

Seek help

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u/OPMajoradidas 15h ago

Seek gamefaqs

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u/SpinShine-LEDSlipMat 14h ago

No clue what that is because I have a wife and kids and a job.

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u/Fach-All-Religions 14h ago

oh you think gaming is for kids right. you also think jesus is god and fairies are real and that your company loves you. you also post on linkedin right? it's all grown up stuff. strong alpha masculinity. fuck yea!!

fuck off would you please

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u/JTalbotIV 17h ago

Fr. That's one day, if you really got into the game. There's a reason they're trying this right before a new GTA launch.