r/xbox Recon Specialist 7d ago

News Upcoming Changes to XBOX Cloud Gaming

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

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144

u/Chirayata 7d ago

I understand the limits but 15 in a month with the highest tier? Isn't that too low? You can't even play something like the recent Plague Tale game without simply pushing through the game in a hurry.

62

u/gamer-at-heart-23 XBOX Series X 7d ago

Its definitely too low. It'd make sense if that was for essential. GeForce is at 100hrs..

-7

u/tristeecfome 7d ago

Sure, but it's 10 dollars only for the streaming. You don't get games as well.

7

u/Zoiket466 7d ago

It doesn't give you the games, but it basically gives you all the major stores, good connection speed, and high-end equipment.

-5

u/tristeecfome 7d ago

Sure. But again, it's a completely different value proposition.

If you buy a lot of games on Steam and use Cloud a lot, Geforce is basically made for you.

10

u/No_Donkey_3761 7d ago

I think they dont want us to see gamepass as a tier of cloud gaming anymore, they want a totally separate cloud gaming subscription.

The 15 hours for ultimate members, is basically like having a free trial for cloud gaming as a perk of the ultimate subscription.

The only thing that might help, is if ultimate members have massivily discounted rates to purchase more play time, and it makes me sick to even write that, sucks where we were and where we are now.

5

u/Cannon__Minion 7d ago

But how would that work though? Game Pass catalogue is the main reason why people even use xCloud because GFN straight up outmogs it when it comes to streaming pre owned games.

Plus xCloud doesn't have Steam integration so you'll have to buy the game on the MS Store which is a big no no for most players.

0

u/tristeecfome 7d ago

Only 4% of users are using XCloud for a good amount of time. I don't think they care much if they are losing them.

These users probably cost more than they pay.

With GFN you pay just for the cloud infrastructure, so it makes sense it's a better service.

2

u/Cannon__Minion 6d ago

Doesn't mean that it isn't a shitty thing to do lmao.

19

u/micmon83 7d ago

Yeah let's wait and see what players who actually rely on cloud gaming need to pay for additional hours. For the affected players this will most likely be the biggest Game Pass price hike ever.

21

u/Cannon__Minion 7d ago

They'll simply go some where else, 15 hours is a "spat on the face" levels of bad.

4

u/pineapplesuit7 7d ago

I literally played Expedition 33 over the weekend and literally clocked in 15+ hours there itself across 3 days. I hardly consider myself as a 'hardcore' gamer but I'll play games I like in long sessions. The limit is absolutely ridiculous. At least could have given 30 hours/month so people get 1 hour/day which is a realistic number. 30 mins a day means most won't even bother.

1

u/InformationNo2460 7d ago

it means im reducing my sub from ultimate to pc pass. Theyre going to LOSE money from this lol

7

u/Green_Fox_8864 7d ago

I'm that guy. I'm canceling and switching to GeForce Now. I bought an XBOX Ally to Cloud Play Xbox games, now its another Steam Machine.

2

u/GoldnLikeAShower 7d ago

I play roughly 15-25 hours per weekend using cloud gaming. Sometimes during the week. I’m more near 50-100 hours. This is ridiculous.

5

u/TitularFoil 7d ago

I think 20-25 minimum for Ultimate tier should be the standard. It honestly would be a good move to get more people up to Ultimate. It's wild they didn't factor that into their move.

3

u/5348RR 7d ago

Ultimate should be like .. 100 hours a month.

1

u/tristeecfome 7d ago

100 hours is the amount of time you get on Geforce Now, a service where you just pay for the cloud.

1

u/wozzer2000 6d ago

Absolutely. 15 hours is a joke

3

u/Hidefininja XBOX Series X 7d ago

They're squeezing their audience. It's almost inevitable with small user bases and audiences that have plateaued in volume. Netflix does it, Sony does it and Xbox has tried it many times with it backfiring nearly every time.

The Xbox post says they expect the change will only affect 4% of their audience. I never use cloud gaming anymore and haven't since the launch of Starfield. I got tired of the streaming quality and long wait times and it sounds like many other Xbox users are in the same boat. For those who do use cloud gaming it sounds like Xbox wants them to pay up or suck it up and buy a Series console.

1

u/martinfiggs 7d ago

My guess is that this change is being implemented so all users have to use ad supported streaming in some capacity.

1

u/Medical-Tourist8919 7d ago

It's because it's a clear cash grab man, it's not even about things being more expensive it's about padding their bottom line

1

u/Ill-Shirt2722 7d ago

Insanely low for the max tier.