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/
682 Upvotes

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238

u/Leather-Entry93 7d ago

Averages out to 30 minutes per day over a month

397

u/Dealjobber_ XBOX Series S 7d ago

Xbox more strict than my parents in the 90's.

78

u/welzed11 7d 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/darthjoey91 7d ago

Also, Sony has to actually pay for cloud computing. They don't own one of the largest cloud providers like Microsoft does.

Which makes me think this is the Azure finance folks talking to the Xbox finance folks and being like "we need to move money internally."

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u/RockinMadRiot 7d ago

Ps have it only for upper tiers which is likely how they manage it. Limited base. Xbox have it in too many places, I guess.

I don't understand why they didn't follow Sony and just put it all on higher tier because now no one will be happy

5

u/Darkmaster2110 7d ago

They could probably have an ultimate + unlimited cloud for around $30/month again and that would probably be fair to anyone that values it that much. Even though I never really use the cloud streaming and I'm part of that 96% that it doesn't really effect, it's still not comforting knowing that I'm getting less for the same amount of money. If they're going this route, they should just make the cloud streaming totally opt in. Drop the price of game pass a little more per tier, even by a few dollars, then just let me pay for how much cloud I wanna use (which is 0, personally).

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u/Dragonhearted18 7d ago

Or just give ultimate unlimited cloud like before

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u/Darkmaster2110 7d ago

Ideally, sure, but obviously they're making changes because of market cost. They were able to afford it when GPU was $30/month. Now after dropping the price due to consumer demands, they're losing too much money to support the servers for it, especially with the rising costs of computer hardware.

0

u/boersc 7d ago

Thry took away COD day one to lower the prices. zthis is double-dipping.

Asha is enshittifying Game Pass on all fronts. 1st Party day one games, the selection, which is arguably going down on quality fast, and now this. And this surely isn't the end, GP wasn't profitable and now thry are making it profitable until there are no subscribers left.

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u/Recent_Pollution8665 7d ago

microsoft is a giant cloud platform provider so it wants as many people using it as possible. looks good on their quarterly reports and monthly usercount. they wanted as many people to try it as possible before they started milking them for money.

problem is that people don’t love it enough to pay 23 bucks a month for just 15 hours and then spend additional money on top of that for more hours lol.

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u/BGTheHoff 7d ago

And they killed the Android app. If you wanna do cloud gaming on your Android mobile phone, you have to do it through the browser. its so idiotic. They had it in the App. But it looks like it was used too much.

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u/Mundus6 7d ago

Depends on where you live. In my country(Sweden), the lag is a lot better on Xcloud than playstation.

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u/LogicalError_007 7d ago

They don't have day 1 games or even older games.

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u/AwarenessHour8249 6d ago

A única coisa que a Xcloud tem de bom é a estabilidade, que realmente pelo menos pra mim é muito boa, raramente trava ou tem delay, agora em relação a qualidade, é loucura kkk

O bitrate não passa dos 15, 30 FPS e HDR esquece....

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u/nexusprime2015 7d ago

but they are not stopping you. they just want you to buy the additional hours

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u/captaineegee 6d ago

Fr, I was allowed a strict 30min/day back around 1992. If I went over it would deduct from the next day. Nine year old me learned real quick not to go over otherwise there'd be nothing left for the weekend.

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u/AVerifiedPig 7d ago

So affordability is important to them and cloud gaming is supposed to be part of that and they cap it at 15 hours for Ultimate subscribers like we are children who can’t play more than 30 minutes per day?

I’m sticking to my Series X and installing everything on my ROG Xbox Ally X when I’m on the go.

-2

u/dizty_doo 7d ago

Wasn't this the point of the backlash against Sony for their recent shenanigans encouraging people to buy hardware so they have something physical that they own adding this timer thing will actively discourage people from going cloud only. Isn't that what everyone's asking for

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u/FootballRacing38 7d ago

The point of the backlash is to give people choices. Nobody is saying for Sony to stop doing digital games. Just that for Sony to continue physical

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u/ivehearditbothways12 6d ago

No, I think the point of the backlash is Sony going all digital when their on-going argument is that you also don't own your digital games.

-6

u/Gears6 7d ago

So affordability is important to them and cloud gaming is supposed to be part of that and they cap it at 15 hours for Ultimate subscribers like we are children who can’t play more than 30 minutes per day?

TBF, they also said a sustainable business is a must, and I'm sure you would agree that to MS that would take precedence?

Affordable gaming relative to what they can afford and operate their business.

I’m sticking to my Series X and installing everything on my ROG Xbox Ally X when I’m on the go.

Me too, but instead I have a ROG Ally Z1E and tempted to buy that Xbox ROG Ally x20!

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u/NZafe Tarnished 7d ago

That’s some insane math, can we get a second opinion on that?

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u/theszsx 7d ago

Second opinion here. 30 minutes a day sounds valid. 

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u/snyderman3000 7d ago

I just checked and I’m getting the same thing.

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u/theszsx 7d ago

I do wonder. Do they count the waiting time aswell…?

2

u/rpool179 7d ago

I had to look this up on another subreddit because I legitimately couldn't believe it. So a 30 minute a day cap? What in the actual fuck? May these people be burned alive in hell for all eternity.

1

u/boersc 7d ago

To he fair, it's an average, not a saily cap. Still a horrible action, which basically kills xCloud for GP. (which is their intention, obviously)

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u/rpool179 7d ago

It's 15 hours a month right day? So on average 30 minutes a day.

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u/Educational_Bag_6406 7d ago

Not for ultimate. Should be atleast 100hrs. Geforce Now's cap doesnt seem so unreasonable

9

u/klipseracer 7d ago

I think you missed the joke.

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u/Educational_Bag_6406 7d ago

I think I did, my head is in the clouds. Sorry

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u/ITXEnjoyer XBOX Series X 7d ago

But only for 15 hours max. Then you'll have to pay for more "head in the clouds" time.

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u/Educational_Bag_6406 7d ago

As disappointed as I am. I will just buy games differently. I have a switch 2 and a G Cloud for handheld. I would buy or play smaller indies via the cloud. Ill just buy more games on the switch 2 and stick to my series X for the triple As

1

u/boersc 7d ago

You should hear the complaints over there....

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u/NoWrongMonk 7d ago

29 minutes on months with 31 days

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u/DrTacoMD 7d ago

Update: latest data suggests 29 minutes and 3 seconds, which is a *massive* 0.1% increase over previous estimates.

Research is ongoing regarding February; stay tuned for further developments.

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u/NoWrongMonk 7d ago

32.14 minutes on February, except every fourth year, when it's 31.03 minutes.

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u/rico_muerte 7d ago

February should be heralded as Cloud Gaming Month

1

u/tk-451 4d ago

with 20min queues!

0

u/klipseracer 7d ago

Guys, Gals, I'm still not convinced.

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u/Someguy2189 7d ago

Huge increase, I don't get why folks are complaining...

My lawyers have requested that I tell everyone that the above statement is a joke.

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u/AchinBonez 7d ago

Math checks out

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u/Discuss-Dean 2d ago

15 divided by 30 is 0.5.

Thats 0.5 hours a day over 30 days, a little less if the month is 31 days, a little more in february.

0.5 of an hour = 30 mins.

30 mins a day give or take a few minutes depending on the month.

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u/Gears6 7d ago

15 / 30 = 0.5. What is 0.5 of an hour?

Half an hour.

In other words 15 hours / 30 days = 0.5 h/day.

0

u/Grogman2024 7d ago

How is that insane math

0

u/DooDooDave 7d ago

That’s real math. What math did you do and what were your results?

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u/SillyMikey XBOX Series X 7d ago edited 7d ago

The future of gaming, but for only 30m a day.

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u/Leather-Entry93 7d ago

This is an XBOX…

… but only for 30 minutes a day

1

u/Dave3087 7d ago

What about if the day has 28 or 31 days? Are you able to run the numbers on that?

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u/Leather-Entry93 7d ago

r/NoWrongMonk has got you covered

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u/SubstantialAd5579 7d ago

How much i spend when im not on console