Xbox Cloud Gaming will have a limit on hours in November

Introducing time barriers into a model that was created to democratize access to games and requiring extra payments for continuous use is a regrettable decision that hinders the sector’s progress, directly affecting users who rely on the cloud for gaming. In a post on the official Xbox brand blog, Microsoft announced that the Xbox Cloud Gaming service would have a monthly usage cap starting in November, with quotas connected to the Xbox Game Pass subscription level.

The new policy specifies certain limits for each category of the catalog:

Game Pass Ultimate: 15 hours/month

Game Pass Premium: 10 hours/month

Game Pass Essential: 5 hours/month

The revamp heavily affects those who access the catalog via mobile devices or connected TVs, forcing subscribers to manage an extremely limited amount of time.

Using up the total 15 hours of the Ultimate plan in just a few days of gaming is very likely, and the company’s solution is to sell extra hour packages on the digital store, which will also be available to non-subscribers.

On the other hand, users registered under the PC Game Pass plan are completely excluded from the feature, having no cloud game access option.

To justify the hour limit, the brand cites the high costs of cloud server infrastructure and maintenance with the increasing user base.

According to Microsoft data, the restriction will directly impact 4% of the total platform subscribers, identified as frequent service users.

The shift towards a prepaid structure within the Xbox ecosystem brings back memories of the company’s past failed initiatives.

Expanding cloud server infrastructure is a vital step to maintain network stability. Nevertheless, penalizing those who use the platform with a drastic 15-hour limit on the costliest Xbox Game Pass plan shows a significant lack of consideration for loyal customers, creating a greedy and bureaucratic system that turns cloud access into a rationed privilege.