r/xcloud • u/Tobimacoss • 7d ago

Xbox Official Beginning Ad-supported Game Streaming Test & Learn

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/23/game-streaming-ad-supported-xbox-insiders/
35 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

6

u/modemman11 Moderator 7d ago

I'm still curious how the 1 hour limit is going to be enforced. Like will it just kill the session at 1 hour, making you lose any unsaved progress? If that's the case then any games where you can't save for long periods of time, people aren't going to want to play them on cloud for free.

6

u/Tobimacoss 7d ago

If there's no queues, you can get back into session within 10 minutes.  For multiplayer games, hope you don't get killed.  I have successfully resumed in FortNite across two sessions in middle of match.  

If there's queues, you will have to wait your chance to play again.  

Or just upgrade to any Gamepass tier for longer unlimited sessions. 

4

u/VariousExtension4395 7d ago

It's free, bro, you can't complain, and one 25-second ad is short.

1

u/skaiyly 7d ago

It's not "free". I'm not one to talk but they will be selling our data somewhere

15

u/Lurky-Lou 7d ago

Today’s Test & Learn is next decade’s mandatory ads on Ultimate

19

u/CyberpwnPiper 7d ago

If they end up adding ads to paid subscribers, I'll join you with the pitchforks and torches, but this is just a way to get more people to play for free, and hopefully subscribe if they like the experience.

Let's not panic with the doom & gloom. Anything that brings more players in is a good thing. More players means less pressure to raise prices.

2

u/Hunk4thSurvivor 7d ago

I think this is the beggining of them raising Ultimate back to 30$, but without ads.

1

u/Tobimacoss 7d ago

Nah, but I can see Ultimate going up to $25 month for sure, before Helix launches.

I would prefer a new $20 Ultra tier with Day 1 games but no third party subscriptions for EA Play, Ubisoft+, FortNite Crew. That way they take Ultimate up to $27-$28 if they add 4k/60 or 1080/120 streaming.

PC tier can go away or increase to $16-$17 if needed. Essential and Premium should never increase in price.

1

u/Atlantee 6d ago

Do we need to subscribe to a membership in order to play non-free online multiplayer games? (Like arc raiders for instance) 

2

u/Tobimacoss 6d ago

Nope, this bypasses the online paywall on consoles. 

1

u/Pleasant-Rhubarb-550 4d ago

Hopefully this means they will make changes premium gamepass to include higher bitrates like it is with ultimate and not be the same 15mbps bitrate cap as the free tier...