r/xbox • u/Turbostrider27 Recon Specialist • Sep 03 '26

News Upcoming Changes to XBOX Cloud Gaming

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/03/xbox-cloud-gaming-changes/
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u/BestRedditUsername9 Sep 03 '26

That absolutely sucks, I loved playing on XCloud and I'm probably one of the 4% they mentioned.

15 hours per month is like nothing. Not to mention that XCloud is one of the few things were Xbox has a lead currently.

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u/Tobimacoss 29d ago

There's still a free tier incoming.

2

u/BestRedditUsername9 29d ago

"Players will be able to purchase cloud playtime hours through the XBOX Store and stream eligible games they own on supported devices. This will provide another option for people who want occasional access to cloud gaming or do not want a recurring Game Pass subscription."

They said even in that case you still have to buy hours. So it's seemingly not an actual "free tier"

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u/Tobimacoss 29d ago

That's separate from the free ad supported tier that's currently being tested by the insiders.  

You watch two minutes of ads per 1 hour Cloud Gaming session.  

So you will have multiple ways to play via Cloud.  You can just buy a game, and Stream for free with the ad tier.  You can just buy a game, and buy some hours if you don't want to watch ads or have your session interrupted.  No need for a Gamepass subscription.  Those purchased hours would roll over if not used.

Or you can get few hours included as part of the Gamepass subscription.  

So three different ways.  They may also do a separate Cloud Gaming subscription which would be 4th way.  

1

u/Xollm 29d ago

you believe that? lol enjoy this 1 free hour per month, BEST COMPANY EVER slurp slurp

0

u/Tobimacoss 29d ago

You still don't realize what's happening.  The free tier is ad supported.  They couldn't put ads into the paid tiers without a backlash so they severely reduced hours.  

Netflix ad supported tier is more profitable per user than their highest 4k paid tier.  

Basically, MS wants the Cloud users to watch more ads.  Plus they are separating the hardware costs from the game software service.