CNBCYesterday·3 min read·medium

Xbox Game Pass subscribers face monthly cloud gaming time limits

Jordan Novet

✦AI Summary

Microsoft is introducing monthly time limits for cloud gaming on Xbox Game Pass to manage rising infrastructure costs. Subscribers will now have capped hours based on their specific plan tier, with options to purchase additional time.

Why it matters

This shift signals a broader industry trend toward usage-based pricing models for cloud-based services as companies prioritize profitability over unlimited access.

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Microsoft's Xbox unit said Thursday that it will impose monthly cloud gaming time limits for Game Pass subscribers after years of unlimited access, as the company seeks to find a better balance between usage and costs.

Players will be able to pay for additional hours beyond the caps, which go into effect in November.

Across product organizations, Microsoft executives have been devising ways to charge customers based on usage to better reflect rising costs. Demand is climbing for the software company's finite amount of computing power — not unlike its technology peers — and clients of artificial intelligence products such as GitHub Copilot and the Microsoft 365 Copilot increasingly pay based on how much they use.

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