Microsoft has announced big changes to Xbox cloud gaming, including a switch to monthly hour limits.
From November, Game Pass plans will include a set number of cloud gaming hours each month:
Also in November, Microsoft said players will be able to buy cloud playtime hours through the Xbox Store and ‘stream eligible games they own on supported devices’ without subscribing to Game Pass.
In a blog post, Microsoft said it was making the changes because the cost of providing cloud gaming has grown as more people use it and play for longer. The monthly limits, Microsoft continued, will mean it can invest in reliability and performance. But it said it understood that for some players the practical result is a higher cost.
Expect more information on pricing, purchasing additional hours, eligible games, market availability, and how players can check their remaining time in November. Microsoft also said it’ll keep a close eye on feedback and may tweak the offering before the changes come in.
Cloud gaming has become an increasingly important part of the video game offering as the RAMpocalypse makes console gaming increasingly expensive. Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, recently predicted the video game industry will be in “commercial streaming mode” within three years — but for video game streaming to matter, it would have to run GTA 6 just as well as consoles do.
During an investor focused Q&A following the release of Take-Two’s latest financial report, Zelnick was asked for his thoughts on the video game industry as it buckles under the pressure of skyrocketing chip costs, which have forced Sony and Microsoft to raise the price of their consoles and potentially delay the launches of the PlayStation 6 and the next-gen Xbox, codenamed Project Helix.
Zelnick admitted the rising cost of hardware “is not a good thing,” because cheaper hardware means more hardware in people’s hands, which is what software companies desire. But he suggested the advent of video game streaming would go a long way to tackling this problem.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-announces-big-changes-to-xbox-cloud-gaming-switches-to-monthly-hour-limits
