Key Takeaways
- Microsoft will limit Xbox Cloud Gaming to 15 hours per month for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers starting in November.
- The change comes as the company expands Xbox Cloud Gaming to more televisions, including TCL Smart TVs.
- NVIDIA's GeForce NOW offers more playtime with its paid plans, but still introduces some restrictions.
Microsoft is set to introduce strict monthly limits for Xbox Cloud Gaming, with even Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers restricted to 15 hours of cloud play per month starting in November. This change is part of a broader effort by the company to improve profitability.
The new limits will apply differently based on the Game Pass tier: Xbox Game Pass Essential users will have 5 hours, while Premium users will get 10 hours. The change is significant as it marks a shift from the previous model, which had no monthly playtime cap.
To accommodate the expansion of Xbox Cloud Gaming to more televisions, Microsoft has announced that the Xbox app will be available on TCL Smart TVs in the coming months. This follows earlier launches on selected Samsung and LG televisions, indicating a strategic move to increase the reach of the service.
Despite the new limits, Microsoft claims that only around 4% of Xbox Cloud Gaming users will be affected. However, even on the Ultimate tier, 15 hours may not be sufficient to complete some medium-length single-player games within a month if a player relies entirely on cloud streaming.
NVIDIA's GeForce NOW, a competitor to Xbox Cloud Gaming, offers more playtime with its paid plans. Both the Performance and Ultimate tiers include 100 hours per month, with subscribers able to roll over up to 15 unused hours. Performance users can purchase additional hours for $2.99, while Ultimate subscribers pay $5.99 for another 15 hours.
The free tier of GeForce NOW does not have a monthly cap, but individual sessions are limited to around one hour, and users may have to wait in queues. NVIDIA has also recently added support for DLSS 4.5 and DLSS 5 to its service, enhancing the gaming experience.
According to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, Microsoft would start losing money when a user exceeds roughly 15 hours of Xbox Cloud Gaming each month. This report suggests that growing demand for computing capacity from AI workloads gives Microsoft another reason to avoid dedicating servers to cloud gaming sessions that are not profitable.
The restrictions come as part of Xbox division CEO Asha Sharma’s broader effort to improve profitability after disappointing margins, which she attributed to Xbox having ‘overextended’ itself. Most Xbox players do not rely primarily on cloud gaming, so the restrictions may affect only a smaller section of the community.
Despite the new limits, cloud gaming could still grow, especially as rising hardware prices caused by the component crisis are making cloud gaming more attractive. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick recently said he expects low-latency cloud gaming to take off within the next three years and potentially increase.
