Following layoffs that have beloved studios hanging by a thread, a re-focus on franchises that reliably print money, and—pretty much guaranteed to partially counteract that—a third Xbox hardware price increase, Microsoft has found another place to penny pinch until it draws blood: Game Pass, an ever-reliable victim of enshittification.
This time the company is placing limits on Cloud Gaming, which allows users to play games sans downloads. Beginning in November, those shake out as follows (on a monthly basis):
- Game Pass Ultimate: 15 hours
- Game Pass Premium: 10 hours
- Game Pass Essential: 5 hours
Many individual games last longer than 15 hours. But worry not: You can always purchase more hours if you use up your monthly allowance (Microsoft says pricing details will come in November).
“We recognize that introducing limits is a meaningful change, particularly for players who regularly spend more time gaming through the cloud,” Team Xbox wrote in a blog post, claiming that this change will impact just four percent of users. “We’re introducing this model because the cost of providing cloud gaming grows as more people use it and play for longer. Moving to monthly limits allows us to keep offering the service while continuing to invest in its reliability and performance. We understand that for some players the practical result is a higher cost.”
Rationale like this will never not ring hollow coming from Microsoft, one of several massive, highly profitable companies in a rush to transform themselves into AI firms—thus driving up the cost of hardware and services that draw on high-end components to support AI usage, like… the cloud. Microsoft is not just stepping on rakes; it runs the rake factory. Microsoft has also tested out ad-supported game streaming this year, another distracting interruption to Game Pass users’ experiences. Everything downstream of Microsoft’s AI efforts suffers.
This also comes at a moment when Sony's plan to phase out discs has players railing against the demise of physical media and, with it, their previous concept of ownership. While Xbox seems to be breaking with its console war rival where discs are concerned, this re-imagining of cloud gaming represents a worst case scenario for those who fear an all-digital future: You don't own anything, not even your time.
It is almost certainly no coincidence that Microsoft will begin enforcing time limits—and also allowing non-subscribers to buy cloud gaming time—in November, the month Grand Theft Auto VI comes out. GTA VI will not be on Game Pass when it first launches, but as IGN points out, the game will lead to an influx of new Xbox owners despite price increase(s), and some users will likely draw on cloud gaming to play older games, sample games they’re considering installing, or play games in rooms where they don’t have a console. Money is still money, Microsoft has shown us time and time again, even if it’s just a scattered handful of nickels and dimes.
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Nathan Grayson
