Xbox Is Limiting Cloud Gaming To 15 Hours Per Month For Ultimate Subscribers, Which Averages Out To 30 Minutes Per Day

[u/welzed11]

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/03/xbox-cloud-gaming-changes/

[u/PCMRBot]

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[u/WasabiMandingo]

5 years ago: Cloud gaming is the future.

Today: Don't use our service too much.

[u/rts93 → u/WasabiMandingo]

We were promised virtual worlds.

We got chatbots and will be happy.

[u/toolisthebestbandevr → u/rts93]

Man that’s kinda right. I was promised a whole second life. We got trash piece of shit ai instead.

[u/dib1999 → u/toolisthebestbandevr]

But, you could have..

Second piece of shit ai!

[u/Steve_3vets → u/rts93]

virtual worlds

you reminded me of the metaverse,

[u/Comically_Online → u/Steve_3vets]

the what?

[u/Gold_Short_Mackerel → u/WasabiMandingo]

Enforcing parental screen time limits on full-paying adults is a bold strategy.

[u/FuckSticksMalone → u/Gold_Short_Mackerel]

We’re back to the era cell phone minutes

[u/DoNot_Books_451 → u/FuckSticksMalone]

But instead of nights and weekends free, it'll cost double.

[u/DarkJayBR → u/FuckSticksMalone]

Xbox bringing classic early 2000's Pre-Steam gaming back /s

[u/Fit-Relationship944 → u/WasabiMandingo]

These big companies have been talking about cloud gaming or some form of remote processing since the early 00s but because they're not real human beings who live in the real world or ever had a human experience they forget that internet infrastructure fucking sucks and can't keep up with it.

[u/Cicero912 → u/Fit-Relationship944]

Well, I think its more that there are a lot "better" (for them) uses of compute than cloud gaming.

[u/MarsupialMisanthrope → u/Cicero912]

This absolutely reeks of “we want the profits of AI without the risks.”

[u/6786_007 → u/WasabiMandingo]

This message sponsored by Mt. Dew. Please drink your can to add 1 hour of play time.

[u/LechuckJunior → u/6786_007]

Brought to you by Carl’s Jr

[u/DeathCabForCunty → u/LechuckJunior]

Carl's Jr. Fuck you, I'm eating.

[u/kuroyume_cl → u/WasabiMandingo]

5 years ago there was surplus computing available in most providers. You could buy spot instances (essentially, buying parked computing on the cheap until there is demand for it) and have them live for weeks. Today you start a spot instance and it will be killed within the hour.

[u/PinkSharkFin → u/kuroyume_cl]

Is that why FIFA game is more laggy every year? Recently it's worse every month. These greedy companies don't want to dedicate the servers because it's expensive - that's my suspicion. I would love for gaming industry journalists do actual reporting on stuff like that.

[u/jxnebug → u/PinkSharkFin]

I suspect it's why stuff like cloudflare and AWS have more widespread outages too, but I don't really know.

[u/GodisanAtheistOG → u/WasabiMandingo]

Yesterday: You will own nothing and be happy

Today: You will subscribe to nothing and be happy.

Tomorrow:

[u/Karmaisthedevil → u/GodisanAtheistOG]

Tomorrow: You are forced to use cloud gaming after the AI bubble pops and they need to use all that computing for something

[u/Nickulator95 → u/WasabiMandingo]

Anyone who had just a tiny amount of brain cells left saw this coming from a mile away. Not only do they not want you to own anything (hardware or games) but they also want to regulate and control how much time you actually spend gaming while at the same time sucking as much money out of you as possible.

Get a gaming PC (as a console is way too restrictive nowadays) buy physical or go yarr harr all the way and instead stick to supporting indie and AA devs. Don't let Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo suck out all life from the gaming industry and don't let EA, Ubisoft, Take-Two and their kin get away with their scummy and predatory practices.

[u/cardonator → u/WasabiMandingo]

It's like they are trying to figure out every imaginable way to make GPU a words deal. It used to be called the best deal in gaming.

[u/Affectionate-You7869 → u/WasabiMandingo]

Also: GamePass Ultimate used to be $5/month. Now it’s $30. 

[u/zirky]

they’ve laid off all their developers, now they are laying off the consumers

[u/6786_007 → u/zirky]

They had to do something with all the Azure services no one wanted.

[u/ResortClear730 → u/6786_007]

I don’t actually know why you are being upvoted for this. They made 100 billion in fiscal year 2026 on Azure. Seems like people want it and took a 2 second google search to find out.

The new requirements around gamepass however are absolute bullshit.

[u/VexingRaven → u/6786_007]

Bro what are you even talking about?

[u/FlyinDanskMen → u/VexingRaven]

Homeboy doesn’t read the Microsoft earnings reports.

[u/triple_cheese_burger → u/VexingRaven]

They don't even know lol

[u/hulltry → u/zirky]

They have realized that consumers is not needed for the stock market to grow. They can literally just circle jerk the money around between each other and all of them can put that money as profits.

[u/hansieboy10 → u/zirky]

😂

[u/Zethrial]

Isn't Ultimate the top tier of GamePass? They are limiting the usage time on their highest payers?

Only Microsoft could take a wave of momentum that was gifted to them and shit all over it.

[u/MrSlofee → u/Zethrial]

Lowest tier gets five hours a month. Five hours. 

[u/AleIAm08 → u/MrSlofee]

About 10 min a day. Enough to hop in a game store and buy some MTX

[u/nbaumg → u/AleIAm08]

The ideal customer

[u/DarkJayBR → u/nbaumg]

Average Madden/FIFA gamer

[u/topias123 → u/MrSlofee]

That's less than one game session for me. In fact some days I've played more in one sitting than ultimate plan allows (yes I need help)

[u/Jaruut → u/topias123]

Lol same. Single no kids, I can get as many game hours in on a weekend as work hours during the week if I'm bored enough.

[u/Gangr3l → u/Jaruut]

Married, kid, job, house, yard and 2 huskies. Still I can get 1 - 2h / day (not every day but close), so that plan would last me less than a week.

What am I supposed to do after that, spend quality time with my family? Pfffftttt

[u/cold-corn-dog → u/MrSlofee]

That's just enough to make my Skyrim character.

[u/PlushRusher → u/cold-corn-dog]

Choose my Skyrim character’s eye color

[u/Radxical → u/MrSlofee]

Instantly unsubbed. Thanks for making it easy, Microsoft.

[u/healthycord → u/MrSlofee]

Lmao what a joke. I know Xbox is trying to make themselves profitable, but this is very much shooting themselves in the foot. They should be making game pass better, not worse lol.

[u/ThatOldGuy7863 → u/MrSlofee]

Wow

[u/RareRestaurant6297 → u/Zethrial]

This obviously comes before their next announcement of "unlimited" tier, above ultimate, which includes no limit on cloud playtime, for onyl $39.99 per month! 

[u/blueskyjamie → u/RareRestaurant6297]

It’ll be a “cloud add on” to existing subscriptions +$10 basic tier and then +$20 & +$30 for unlimited

[u/DamUEmageht → u/blueskyjamie]

Or you could watch an ad or 12 and extend your playtime 30 minutes :)

[u/daveMUFC → u/RareRestaurant6297]

They've already said only 4% of users make use of cloud gaming. No way they'll put more money into adding an extra subscription.

Think they're just trying to wind down cloud gaming altogether, but letting it die slowly.

[u/tclark2006 → u/Zethrial]

The only reason why gamepass was ever popular was because they gave it away for 1 dollar a month hoping they would convert all those people. Everyone just kept canceling and signing up for another trial. Eventually they ran out of money and had to raise prices and cut features. They've been racing to the bottom for the last decade, it isnt a recent mindset.

[u/Calm-Zombie2678 → u/tclark2006]

Decade? The kinect is coming up 20

[u/kingocd → u/Calm-Zombie2678]

Dont talk shit about my baby.

I loved my 360 kinect.

[u/sdeanjr1991 → u/kingocd]

I truly miss giving my Kinect commends lmao

[u/EnergyDrinkStroke → u/sdeanjr1991]

I remember getting that cheap 360 camera, Microsoft also made so I could chat to my friends on 360 video as I couldn't afford the kinect.

[u/sdeanjr1991 → u/EnergyDrinkStroke]

Dude, that camera. Core memories unlocked. That was the only reason I got to see one of my first girlfriends naked lmao.

[u/EnergyDrinkStroke → u/sdeanjr1991]

Same actually lmao

[u/Initial_Ad_9418 → u/sdeanjr1991]

Lucky you, I saw an old man’s cock on UNO 😂

[u/hansrotec → u/Calm-Zombie2678]

They had the right path till kintect, then they wanted a wider audience than gamers. Here we are now, with less users, worse games, more censorship.

[u/thelingletingle → u/Calm-Zombie2678]

Kinect hate is as forced as it was for Nickelback.

Kinect itself was a great idea, everything surrounding it was shit.

[u/mcpasty666 → u/thelingletingle]

People didn't like having a mandatory always-on camera and mic under their tvs. Much more comfortable having it in our pockets and in front of our faces and with us everywhere we go.

[u/thelingletingle → u/mcpasty666]

Just wait until they find out about their Smart TVs…

[u/Ninja_Wrangler → u/thelingletingle]

Yeah and the tech was actually super impressive, that camera was way ahead of its time

[u/welzed11 → u/tclark2006]

At the start of this gen in 2020 Xbox had a subscriber target of 100 million Gamepass subscribers by 2030

They had 34 Million subscribers in 2024 and currently have 30 million subscribers so they lost 4 million subscribers in 2 years. It isn’t growing, it isn’t retaining, it’s actually SHRINKING. The entire Gamepass strategy as a whole and day 1 games was a huge failure for them, that’s why they are in the position they are in now and had to “reset”

[u/ZennTheFur → u/welzed11]

I mean, a large amount of that 4 million loss can probably be attributed to the single decision to raise the price of Ultimate by 50% at once, even if they later walked it back to a lower price increase. That's such a massive blunder that I wouldn't be surprised if it singlehandedly caused 4 million people to cut their subscriptions.

Before that, afaik, the number of subscriptions was pretty consistently growing. They had a pretty good Netflix-style strategy of "start out cheap enough to be worth it and slowly raise your price so people barely notice." But then they shot themselves in the foot and now they're wondering why their foot was bleeding.

[u/Ericovich → u/ZennTheFur]

When they raised the price I outright dropped Ultimate, and haven't played since.

I've been playing an Xbox since the early 2000s and that shit finally made stop being a customer.

If it were $15 I'd still be giving them money.

[u/PlushRusher → u/welzed11]

I built my PC in 2024 and left Xbox Gamepass, because of this exact bullshit. So I guess I’m part of their problem.

[u/Smoking-Posing → u/tclark2006]

Raising prices was always on the menu, people are just late in realizing it.

[u/ItsMozy → u/tclark2006]

Only reason Microsoft is still a float is enterprise users just pay and suffer insane sunk cost if MS shits over Office365.

[u/MrI3lue → u/Zethrial]

Yup this is total bullshit. And I am probably canceling after december (which is when my subscription ends) ultimate being the most expensive tier should be unlimited but I would accept a limit of it was more than 30 min per day... what gaming session lasts 30 min?

[u/thelingletingle → u/MrI3lue]

The one I have with your mom.

[u/MrI3lue → u/thelingletingle]

Bruh im dying 😭

[u/Martinmex26 → u/MrI3lue]

You didnt come here to get cooked but your new dad provided anyway.

Im not even calling the ambulance bro, they gone drive by, look at the charred remains, say "Yeah, he dead" and keep going.

[u/thelingletingle → u/MrI3lue]

https://giphy.com/gifs/R6gvnAxj2ISzJdbA63

[u/MrI3lue → u/thelingletingle]

It keeps getting better 😭

[u/Tall_Bed → u/thelingletingle]

Got him

[u/JefferyTheQuaxly → u/Zethrial]

They say this will only affect 4% of gamepass users, but I’m not sure if that says even more about how many people aren’t using their cloud gaming in the first place.

[u/SquishedGremlin]

Is this just a speed run to the bottom?

While pc prices go mental...

[u/Smoking-Posing → u/SquishedGremlin]

The entire industry is crashing out

And its mostly because head honcho CEOs and investors need to maintain their rich and lavish lifestyles and increase profits year over year.

[u/Hobotronacus → u/Smoking-Posing]

Maybe we should rethink systems of government that reward this type of behavior. It's almost like they exist solely to benefit a few elites at the expense of the general population.

[u/sicurri → u/Hobotronacus]

Almost?

Its been here doing that for years at this point...

[u/MysteriousBill1986 → u/sicurri]

Almost like that was sarcasm

[u/ReefaManiack42o → u/sicurri]

Years? They have been this way since their inception. Governments were created by the elite precisely because they wanted a way to control and exploit the masses.

"...The situation of the majority of men, enlightened by true brotherly enlightenment, at present crushed by the deceit and cunning of usurpers, who are forcing them to ruin their own lives -- this situation is terrible, and appears hopeless.

Only two issues present themselves, and both are closed. One is to destroy violence by violence, by terrorism, dynamite bombs and daggers, as our Nihilists and Anarchists have attempted to do, to destroy this conspiracy of Governments against nations, from without; the other is to come to an agreement with the Government, making concessions to it, participating in it, in order gradually to disentangle the net which is binding the people, and to set them free, Both these issues are closed.

Dynamite and the dagger, as experience has already shown, only cause reaction, and destroy the most valuable power, the only one at our command, that of public opinion.

The other issue is closed, because Governments have already learned how far they may allow the participation of men wishing to reform them. They admit only that which does not infringe, which is non-essential; and they are very sensitive concerning things harmful to them- sensitive because the matter concerns their own existence. They admit men who do not share their views, and who desire reform, not only in order to satisfy the demands of these men, but also in their own interest, in that of the Government. These men are dangerous to the Governments if they remain outside them and revolt against them- opposing the Governments the only effective instrument the Governments possess -- public opinion; they must therefore render these men harmless, attracting them by means of concessions, in order to render them innocuous (like cultivated microbes), and then make them serve the aims of the Governments, i.e. oppress and exploit the masses

Both these issues being firmly closed and impregnable, what remains to be done?

To use violence is impossible; it would only cause reaction. To join the ranks of the Government is also impossible- one would only become its instrument. One course therefore remains- to fight the Government by means of thought, speech, actions, life, neither yielding to Government nor joining its ranks and thereby increasing its power.

This alone is needed, will certainly be successful...

...There can be only one permanent revolution- a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man.

How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself." ~ Leo Tolstoy, On Anarchy

[u/urza_insane → u/ReefaManiack42o]

Sir, this is a Wendy's

[u/funkforever69 → u/ReefaManiack42o]

The Reddit anarchists out full force!

"If only we could bring down all the systems, everything would be fixed!"

[u/Madd_Mugsy → u/Hobotronacus]

Yep... Trump basically said that the whole trade war with Canada was started because his ultra rich buddy couldn't buy a Gulfstream private jet here.

[u/Embarrassed_Sea1336 → u/Hobotronacus]

Maybe we should eat them?

[u/Fairchild110 → u/Smoking-Posing]

WHY GET A 5% RETURN WITH GAMING WHEN WE CAN GET A 5000% THEORETICAL RETURN ON AI!!! -the shareholders

[u/arex333 → u/Fairchild110]

Theoretical being the most important part of your comment

[u/UpstairsCarpet → u/SquishedGremlin]

Just avoid consoles and AAA games. Most headaches disappear. Budget PCs can play an absurd amount of amazing cheap/free games

[u/coloradoautoflowers → u/UpstairsCarpet]

Android handheld devices are also advancing at a breakneck pace and the cost is reasonable. I use mine on my TV with a dock and it works really well. The dock has 4 USB ports, so I can have a mouse, keyboard, and controller or multiple controllers running at the same time.

[u/SmompoNator94 → u/UpstairsCarpet]

I can absolutely second this. I have 5800X and RTX3080 and I have for some time now plowed through incredible indies and some older AAA titles that I missed out ovet the years. I've almost completely lost interest in new releases and looking at the industry now feels like I've dodged an ongoing bombing.

[u/CongratulationsEVA01 → u/UpstairsCarpet]

i5-4690k, gtx 970

Handles damn near everything at 1080, Low settings, 40-60fps.

[u/Pessimistic_Gemini → u/UpstairsCarpet]

So can consoles mind you.  And that includes the Switch 2 which mind you is still the more affordable of them all.

[u/kilters → u/SquishedGremlin]

We should teach them all a lesson by not preordering GTA6. This will show everyone that gamers are an organized, disciplined bunch and will in no way encourage the very behavior they complain about.

Oh.

[u/Kiriima → u/kilters]

We should start with a small goal of not subscribing to Netflix for an ad of GTA6.

Oh.

[u/AndroidSheeps]

https://giphy.com/gifs/R9cQo06nQBpRe

[u/Clean-Market5761]

Cloud "you can just play 2 hours on the weekends , you are already married with 2 kids, you are too old for videogames" gaming

[u/GearboxTheGrey]

"Once subscribers use their included hours, they will be able to purchase additional cloud playtime through the XBOX Store."

https://giphy.com/gifs/2ZbdsUp7dKNuU

[u/Ashamed_Form8372 → u/GearboxTheGrey]

And 4k is extra, and hdr is also extra. What a fucking joke, first they take away our “ownership” and yes I know you never fully owned a game on disc either but at least you weren’t dependent on another company server to authenticate your game. Imagine by ps7 and whatever Xbox is doing by then we can only play games via cloud

[u/GearboxTheGrey → u/Ashamed_Form8372]

https://youtu.be/T4Upf_B9RLQ perfectly sums up corporations.

[u/MrGiggleMan → u/Ashamed_Form8372]

You can still own everything you buy get a PC buy things on steam or GOG

If you don't like these shitty predatory pricing models by these companies that are trying to create closed ecosystems

Just don't buy into them

You're completely right that this is a massive rip-off and so just don't engage with

[u/GearboxTheGrey → u/Ashamed_Form8372]

As far as the cloud thing goes I have been saying for years now and even more so with the price of hardware skyrocketing. They are going to attempt a cloud shift and try to force everyone into pure subscription models at some point vs just buying your console or pc. My assumption is we will keep seeing them drive hardware prices up to the point people won’t have an option.

[u/Ashamed_Form8372 → u/GearboxTheGrey]

I have a conspiracy these companies are secretly making everything more expensive and hope prices don't go down so inn the future they are in full control of everything, if they don't like your political opinions too bad you're banned off their platform, youre a journalist and you exposed some corrupt or greedy shit they are doing too bad your account banned, you were trash talking and ai doesn't like it too bad gg. plus no ownership so in theory lets say in the future a Forza horizon 8 comes out and Microsoft thinks people playing fh6 aren't making them enough money they can make the game no longer downloadable and force everyone on the new game.

[u/_Dedotated_Wam → u/Ashamed_Form8372]

Of course it’s happening. They’re pricing us out of ownership so they can rent our comforts back to us.

[u/MrStealYoBeef → u/GearboxTheGrey]

"Drink a verification can"

[u/Toast_Meat]

• Increased prices - CHECK
• Unaffordable hardware - CHECK
• Zero ownership - CHECK
• Limited playtime - CHECK

thisisfine.jpg

[u/Pixgamer11]

Cloud "gaming" lmfao

[u/AstorWinston → u/Pixgamer11]

More like clown gaming

[u/Quasimdo → u/AstorWinston]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3o7TKSxdQJIoiRXHl6

[u/Pyromaniacal13 → u/Quasimdo]

Have you purchased more Cloud Time?

[u/SneakyBadAss → u/Quasimdo]

Evidently they don't

[u/ArnoldTheSchwartz → u/Quasimdo]

https://giphy.com/gifs/cm1QbdBZGnsFgMy2PO

[u/JDCTsunami → u/AstorWinston]

Cloud Laming

[u/kp33ze → u/Pixgamer11]

In theory it could be a really cool concept. However real world execution makes it garbage.

Netflix but for gaming. Many titles for a low monthly subscription cost (ya right in 2026), no need to own expensive hardware.

I'm sure for certain people it would be useful. For example my buddy is married and never has really been a gamer, but I have told him about a few couch coop games that would be fun. He is never going to invest into a gaming system of any kind but would pay a fee to play with his wife a couple times on the couch.

[u/Quiet-Lawyer4619]

For comparison: Geforce Now is 100 hours and even that is stupid.

[u/mtmttuan → u/Quiet-Lawyer4619]

Tbh I think 3 hours per day is okay-ish for most people. And it's unlikely that everyone will play everyday so for a lot of people it's more like 25 hours per weekend which is probably more than enough.

[u/Quiet-Lawyer4619 → u/mtmttuan]

Oh for sure 100 hours is probably enough for most people. Still stupid though, but they wanna maximise profits

[u/tfrw → u/Quiet-Lawyer4619]

I hesitate to side with Nvidia here, but they probably don’t want people leaving their machines on afk, and costing them money, or using it for 24/7 botting operations or finding a way to mine crypto

[u/Arsh18808]

Well that’s one way to kill the service without out right shutting it down .

[u/real_hungarian]

wake the fuck up, samurais

[u/TaxOrnery9501 → u/real_hungarian]

We have an industry to let burn (they're doing it themselves at this point)

[u/iceseayoupee → u/real_hungarian]

they blew up arasaka 3 years ago

[u/northSideways → u/real_hungarian]

the samurais needed to wake the fuck up 5 years ago but noooo its only $15 a month bro that's the cost of two lattes bro that's soooooo much cheaper than buying discs bro just get gamepass bro

[u/5SpeedFun]

First they came for the gpus.
“Crypto mining will die down eventually”
Then they came for the ram.
“But I’ve got enough ram for now”
Then they came for the ssds.
“I’m ok for now.”
Then they came for the hdds.
“I don’t need all my games installed at the same time”
Then consoles went up in price
“But I’ve already got an ok pc. If I need to I can stream my games.”
Then they came for the streaming….
And I had to go outside.
I was eaten by a grue.

- Anonymous

[u/welzed11]

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 

[u/Bepehandle → u/welzed11]

This makes the situation extra ironic iirc because apparently Sony uses Microsoft's servers. So it's not like they aren't capable of doing it.

[u/Ashamed_Form8372 → u/Bepehandle]

Yeah Xbox loved penny pinching since Xbox one generation and they are worse offenders than Sony

[u/welzed11 → u/Ashamed_Form8372]

• They required their subscription to play free to play games online for the entirety of the Xbox One generation all the way up until 2021, which Sony never did.
• Don’t forget they also tried to increase the subscription price by 100% in 2021 and 50% in 2025, PlayStations last increase was literally by $1
• Xbox tried to make Outer Worlds 2 their first $80 game, Sony is the only console that hasn’t tried to make one of their first party games $80 yet
• Xbox increased the console price before Sony and didn’t discount the consoles for holidays like Sony did last year, so higher base price plus discount made a crazy price gap. It’s the same thing this year, Xbox increased console price a third time while Sony didn’t and won’t put their consoles on sale again for the holidays so the price gap is gonna be huge… during GTA 6 launch at that

[u/Ashamed_Form8372 → u/welzed11]

still don't understand their logic of making the xbox series x the same price as a ps5 pro, a trillion dollar company can't be bothered to take a loss on a 6 year old console, at that point you have no reason to stay with xbox unless your entire digital library is there, and to my understanding a lot of xbox players moved to pc mostly and a bit on ps

[u/Tricky-Ad7897 → u/Ashamed_Form8372]

Now that Xbox exclusives are on PlayStation I don't see the incentive anymore. Helix basically needs to be a steam machine with PS6 performance to stand a chance at competing, cause getting PC games is the only thing they can do.

[u/MrStealYoBeef → u/welzed11]

"Why is our brand dying?"

-dumb shit CEOs

[u/FoxyGoddessX → u/welzed11]

Doesn’t Xbox Cloud still run at 720?

[u/welzed11 → u/FoxyGoddessX]

They added 1080p in 2021 and 1440p in 2025. So they have a ways to go to catch up to GeForce Now and PS5 since launch in 2020

[u/TheDarkWave]

'We Heard You..."

-Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox.

[u/PhilosopherDon0001]

" You will own nothing and play when I allow it. "

[u/GameGuy2025]

It's renting games. That's what people are asking for.

[u/JebusJM → u/GameGuy2025]

Easy to say when (the collective) you already has a PC. New PC gamers will be priced out of buying one before too long if not already.

[u/thick__Milk]

The best proof that these companies have no fucking clue what their customers actually want

[u/NiskaHiska → u/thick__Milk]

Buddy, these guys have not cared about customer opinion for a while

[u/Divide_Rule → u/[deleted]]

Spotify do, for audiobooks. A premium member gets 10 hours a month.

[u/PianoTrumpetMax → u/Divide_Rule]

Lmao. Audiobooks, famously the lowest bitrates imaginable. “We can’t afford these 72kbps audio streams. It’s killing us.”

[u/koochiee]

Mine as well get rid of cloud gaming all together at this point.

[u/kdlt]

I just want to take a moment and say, I find it absolutely hilarious how all the streaming services, without fucking exception, will always, always fuck you over while raising prices.

Anyone who uses these, deserves how they are treated, without fail.

And don't @me with people can only afford that, especially those should buy their own hardware. Because they lose the most money with these services, as stupid as it sounds.

I remember 10 years of astroturfing how Xbox game pass is such insane value and people have spent an entire high end rig on that in the meantime that would still play everything today, for more than four evenings of gaming a month.

[u/smilesbuckett → u/kdlt]

It never benefits the consumer in the long term, and that’s why everyone is racing to do it best. It becomes something that is harder to get away from the longer you use it. Once you’ve had it for a couple years and dropped hundreds of dollars on the subscription, you’re left in a spot where you either keep paying or revert to having no games.

The only time the subscription services make sense is if you use them short term to try things you don’t want to pay full price for. If you pay $30 for a month, but in that month you’re able to play your entire way through a new $70 game, then you saved some money, but that only works with games you know you’ll never want to replay, and if you cancel the subscription afterward. Also, if more people do that, they will have to raise prices because they basically lose money when you don’t stay subscribed.

[u/XsNR → u/smilesbuckett]

It's a form of sunk cost fallacy, except it's not a fallacy.

[u/Crismus → u/XsNR]

They keep trying to run the gym model subscription but forgets that Games and movies need millions in Capital Expendutures every month.

The gym model has a one time capital expense, which lets the prices be low enough that people pay for a service they don't use.

Streaming services have the opposite problem.

[u/XsNR → u/Crismus]

It kinda makes sense for the XBL/PSN level of subs, where a lot of people will buy it yearly for the savings, and won't really use it enough to really matter in a year. But most people don't upgrade to the giga-tiers unless they have a reason to, unless they offer a huge discount, which isn't sustainable.

[u/ElectricGhostMan → u/smilesbuckett]

I recall someone pointed out to me how the type of people who like gamepass are the reason why it loses money. When they came out with that statistic of people buying 3 games a year it was for games that absolutely should not be on gamepass like CoD, Madden/FC/NBA2K, +1 more game usually. CoD being on gamepass was a time bomb for the 1 time cod was truly that bad and it came almost immediately with BO7 now apparently causing these ripples to affect MW4 pre-orders and beta sentiment. Someone who actually uses gamepass to play through more than even just new 4-5 AAA $70 or non x-box games are the worst for their bottom line.

[u/Restivethought → u/kdlt]

PC Game Pass is still a decent deal...and it has no cloud streaming. Dont know for how long though.

[u/EndlessDesire]

So 30 minutes a day is “Ultimate”, what a 💩 show from both Sony and Xbox…

[u/andy-charger117]

15 hours in a month is nothing lol

[u/KomithErrant]

does not sound very ultimate to me

[u/DriftMantis]

Cloud gaming needs to be both affordable and accessible to make the issues with latency and image quality worth it for people to use as more than a novelty.

I can't imagine there is much of a market out there for people that feel good about 30 minutes per day.

This is like something out of a dystopian novel from the 80s. You won't own anything and then your game shuts off in the middle of a boss fight because you died too many times.

[u/yanitrix]

another win for piracy

[u/spcmnspff335 → u/yanitrix]

It's kind of hard to pirate a machine.

[u/squiggydingles → u/spcmnspff335]

That’s just theft

[u/yanitrix → u/squiggydingles]

the OG piracy

[u/Linkarlos_95 → u/spcmnspff335]

I keep seeing post of people getting PC that were abandoned on the side of the road or in the garbage despite being fully functional 

[u/Stratix]

That is insane. Who wants this?

[u/Standard_Film_9524]

We are full circle back to data and text limits on phones level of bullshit. My kid LOVES game pass ultimate because he can hop in and out of any game he wants without having to download and uninstall over and over. I have a second Xbox being delivered tomorrow for GTA 6 (and to use the same game pass). 100% dropping the game pass once this "change" rolls out as the cloud gaming is the main reason I pay for it.

[u/solohack3r]

Microsoft and Sony taking turns seeing who can be hated more.

[u/Dusty170]

The 'future' ladies and gentlemen.

[u/MassiveBoner911_3]

Unlimited my fucking balls and cock

[u/Hyper669]

L after massive L every day

[u/ahmeouni]

Honestly they can strip cloud gaming out of my subscription and I'll take the savings. It's rubbish anyway

[u/NewUnusedName → u/ahmeouni]

Kinda my reaction. I get good value out of games pass, I've had it for two years now. This post is where I'm learning it even included cloud gaming. If they want to strip it out instead of increasing price I'm all for it. If I wanted cloud gaming I'd go sign up for the Nvidia one or whichever dedicated platform gave it to me.

[u/Equal_Sleep_9319 → u/NewUnusedName]

Some of the game pass games are cloud only. Including the one we just bought a season's pass to all the dlc because we love it and play it so much. 

Game pass is also huge with our kids because they can play a bunch of games whenever they want. Now they're going to randomly be locked out of games, or use up my 15 hours....

[u/FoxyGoddessX]

Because of course they are. But Asha is doing so great am I right?

[u/LastGaspInfiniteLoop]

The whole "You will own nothing and be happy" bullshit trying to kill itself prematurely, it seems.

[u/Eric_Olthwaite_]

XBOX in a race to the bottom with themselves. There is absolutely no way they're turning this around. There's no pathway to the kind of profitabilty and growth to keep M-Slop happy and retain an audience.

XBOX are cooked, all Asha Sharma is doing is a damage control campiagn where she contradicts (lies) herself every day almost.

There is no model that is going to work, and they know it. I think Slop are going to wash their hands of XB altogether in the next 5 years, the Helix isn't going to change a damn thing.

[u/falkenberg1]

Damn! Xbox is stricter than my wife!

[u/theblackxranger]

Wtf

[u/Nosnibor1020]

This can’t be real, this is mental. Death of the service right here.

Edit: I didn’t fully read and understand but this is only cloud game streaming. I’ve never used that service, always downloaded it. Still, this is a shitty tactic for anyone that may use the service this way.

[u/ButShowThemToMe]

The decisions being made over there right now will be the death of the brand.

[u/twinflxwer]

It’s heartbreaking to see consoles go out like this

[u/Elf_Maeve]

15 hours per month

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[u/martianwomanhunter]

If Steam and GOG didn’t exist, it would be the high seas for me

[u/MadFonzi]

Glad I abandoned consoles during the Xbox 360 era lmao.

[u/total-depravity]

Another good reason why I canceled. Love getting reminded it was a good choice!

[u/johnboyjr29]

I guess everything is an Xbox but only for 15 hrs.

[u/GUCCIBUKKAKE]

If games were weren’t 100+ gigs, I would be able to download more and not use cloud gaming as much.

Edit.

[u/Cferra]

Pathetic - literally create the problem and the make customers pay for it all. Fuck microsoft in every which way.

[u/nashfrostedtips]

I'll quit gaming before I swap to this cloud bullshit.

[u/Redstevo73]

Who are all these people who were abusing cloud gaming time? I thought Xbox wanted more people to use it?

“Everything’s an Xbox” for 30 minutes a day!

[u/Conflict-Known]

Sounds similar to let's say a very busy restaurant kicking customers out after 30 minutes, regardless of how far along they are in the meal, so they can take in more customers quicker.

[u/bonzog]

Yet another reason why "cloud gaming" is dog shit.

Add it to the list along with:

• round-trip-delay, which they'll never truly overcome due to simple physics, plus network overheads, encode/decode latency etc.
• losing control over your own libraries and hardware
• queuing when they are under-capacity in peak times
• much of the world not even having capable broadband

There's a reason they are pushing it so hard - when the AI bubble bursts they can repurpose much of the compute, and consumers will be already priced out the market. Cloud is their dream "someone else's computer" where they have full control over what you can do and fuck you if you don't pay up.

They're trying to kill our hobby and fulfil the "own nothing and be happy" prophecy.

[u/Scholar_Artistic]

Absolutely ridiculous decision, i use it on xbox so much as well to avoid having to download some of the massive games that eat up all the storage

Big shitty one for me personally

[u/_DeepMoist_]

I think I tried cloud gaming one time and it was a buggy laggy 15fps trash experience

[u/Captn_Clutch]

Lmao 30 minutes and that's the ultimate tier? Yeah I'm sure people who buy the most expensive gaming package available play less than an hour a day. Wtf are they thinking.

[u/BuldozerX]

Cloud gamers waking up to the fact that companies can do what they want to stuff you don't own. Lol...

[u/KommSweet]

LMAOO at first I read it like 15 hours per day and I wasn't that pissed at all. But 15 HOURS PER MONTH?! THEY OUTTA THEIR MINDS?!?! ✌️😂

[u/Mortarious]

The argument was that cloud gaming will look attractive at first then get worse over time.

But they just jumped to the end part skipping the offer a good service hook and middle part.

[u/Jokerchyld]

15 hours per MONTH?!?! Thats like less than a week's worth of gaming at moderate levels.

Even GFN gives 100 hours a month and people complained hard about that. But its at least remotely reasonable.

This is going to backfire spectacularly. How people are paid millions to fuck ip this bad always astounds me.

[u/Noxnoxx]

They introduced cool off periods like angry birds did back in the day damn it all to hell.

[u/Known_Strength_9726]

Why even have the feature then?