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I'm not much of a cloud gamer; my usage is mostly limited to when I'm at a friend's house, and I want to quickly dive into a game. But if it is one of your primary ways of gaming, well, Xbox Game Pass just got a little worse for you.

As of November, Xbox has confirmed they will be limiting the number of hours per month you will be able to use cloud gaming services, but don't worry, they'll still allow you to pay in order to extend those hours.

Xbox Game Pass Cloud Gaming limits
Image: Xbox

That's right, starting in November, Xbox Game Pass Essential members will get just 5 hours per month of cloud gaming. Xbox Game Pass Premium members will get 10 hours per month, while Ultimate members will be able to play for 15 hours on the cloud. And since we need the cloud to play Game Pass games on the Steam Deck, this will affect us playing on the go.

The figures are pretty woeful, especially considering that the top-tier subscription nets you just 30 minutes of playing time a day in reality. Xbox notes that they only expect 4% of Game Pass users to be affected, but that's likely because the majority of Game Pass members don't even use cloud gaming. Likely, anyone who does will be significantly affected by this change.

The one "positive" change to come out of this is the fact that you can extend your cloud gaming hours by paying a fee, and this applies even to non-Game Pass members, who can essentially rent out an Xbox over the cloud by purchasing cloud gaming hours.

There's no word on pricing yet. So we don't know if Game Pass subscription prices will change, or what Xbox will be charging per hour of cloud usage you buy.

What do you think? Will this change affect you? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Xbox

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Oliver Stogden
Oliver began playing video games at an early age, starting with the SNES console and Commodore Amiga computer. Nowadays, his interest is in the future of portable technology, such as handheld gaming systems, portable power stations/banks, and portable monitors. And seeing just how far we can push these devices.
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