Overview
- Xbox announced on Thursday that, beginning in November, Game Pass will include set monthly cloud hours: Ultimate 15 hours, Premium 10 hours, and Essential 5 hours.
- After users exhaust their allotted hours they can buy additional cloud playtime through the Xbox Store, and non-subscribers will be able to purchase streaming hours to play eligible games they own.
- Microsoft says the change will affect about 4% of Game Pass subscribers and framed the move as necessary because cloud streaming costs rise as people play longer.
- The company has not disclosed pricing, which games are eligible, how playtime will be tracked, or which markets will get the offers, and it says it will publish those details before the November rollout.
- The limits reverse last year’s expansion of unlimited streaming to lower Game Pass tiers and fit broader Xbox efforts to reduce subsidy of heavy cloud users while testing pay-per-hour sales and an ad-supported streaming option.