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Unlimited Xbox Cloud Gaming is going away. Starting in November, the service will have monthly limits based on the Xbox Game Pass subscription tier, according to a Microsoft post on Thursday. Cloud gaming hours will be capped at:
- 15 hours for Game Pass Ultimate
- 10 hours for Premium
- 5 hours for Essential
Microsoft said it’s making these changes due to the increased cost of cloud gaming. “Moving to monthly limits allows us to keep offering the service while continuing to invest in its reliability and performance,” the company said in the post. “We understand that for some players the practical result is a higher cost.”
The limited hours will impact 4% of Xbox Game Pass subscribers, Microsoft said. If you fall into that group, you’ll have the option to purchase more cloud gaming time, and it will also be available to gamers without an Xbox Game Pass subscription.
Also see: Gaming Has Never Been Better. So Why Does It Feel Like the Worst Time to Be a Gamer?
Details about how much additional playtime will cost will be revealed in November, but Microsoft did say cloud gaming features will vary by market. However, it’s unclear whether that means it will be priced differently in certain cities or whether there will be throttling to reduce stream quality.
Microsoft also noted that the service change gives Xbox One owners an opportunity to play Xbox Series X and S games without buying a new console, which has gone up in price due to the sharp rise in hardware costs driven by ongoing component shortages. The Xbox division has been hit with setback after setback, starting in May 2025 with the first price hike for the Xbox Series X and S consoles.
A second jump in price for the console came last October, along with a 50% price increase for Xbox Game Pass the following month. Microsoft did reduce the cost of Game Pass subscriptions this past April, but this move to cut cloud gaming hours shows how it’s trying to continue to reduce costs, even after laying off 1,600 employees in the Xbox division and closing four game studios the company owned in July.
Xbox Cloud Gaming was a central part of Microsoft’s This is an Xbox campaign in late 2024 that pushed the idea of gamers using their phones, tablets, laptops and smart TVs as their Xbox through the Xbox app and cloud gaming. The marketing move was to drive more people to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass while also masking disappointing hardware sales for the Xbox Series consoles.
A lack of a proper universal ecosystem across the board due to the absence of an official Xbox app on some platforms, no universal controller options to play the games and an uneven playing experience contributed to the campaign’s failure. It was cited as offending some Xbox employees after Phil Spencer stepped down as the boss of the Xbox division in February.
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