unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,116|7632|PNW

Xbox is watering down Game Pass and putting a time limit on cloud gaming
https://www.polygon.com/xbox-game-pass- … ime-limit/

Game Pass Ultimate subscribers only get 15 hours of 'free' cloud playtime a month

Starting in November, Xbox is implementing monthly time limits on cloud gaming across all Game Pass tiers. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will get up to 15 hours of cloud gaming, Premium subscribers will receive 10 hours, and Essential subscribers will get a mere five hours. According to Xbox, these changes supposedly stem from the costs of rising cloud playtime and a larger cloud gaming player base. But oddly enough, Xbox reassures players that this change will only affect 4% of subscribers.
the very best version of the service gives a modest gamer you a little less than a week's of cloud gaming, per month?

full disclosure, i'm not an xbox person (and the ms store, as i've stated before, is asinine). you can't tell me though that microsoft is struggling to support the habits of customers who represent only 4% of their total subscribers. trimming the fat from a literal anorexic. file under unnecessary corporate surgeries.

i think back to techbros in the 2000s lauding the future, digital-only life. now we've got sub-VHS quality netflix, a billion streaming options, and we're back to the endless, intrusive commercials people went online to escape from. meanwhile i can pop in a second-hand cartridge from 1992. or a dvd i bought during the W administration. 4k discs give me 4k quality on a 4k tv. they'll only stop working when they wear out. not when the company pulls the plug, or alters the terms of the agreement (amazon!).



i've spoken out against 'stuff clutter' before, but maybe having some stuff is better than a bunch crappy stuff that you don't even own.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2026-09-04 17:47:43)

RTHKI
mmmf mmmf mmmf
+1,758|7598|Cinncinatti
I never understood cloud gaming.

As far as digital ownership, I haven't bought a physical game in over 10 years but if steam turns to the dark side I'll just pirate old games

I've rented digital movies but never bought, never would unless I could download the file drm free like my music.
I have a bunch of acquired tv/movies but rarely watch em cause I have Amazon/apple/YouTube/etc I can watch stuff on. I do not mind ads outside of political nonsense talking about illegals and transgender kids which I've had to block several times, thanks YouTube.
Heck when I watch stuff it's mostly as background noise while I edit photos.
https://i.imgur.com/tMvdWFG.png

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