Microsoft may soon let you stream Xbox games for free with ads: Details

Microsoft may be planning a free, ad-supported tier for Xbox cloud gaming, aligning with earlier hints that players could stream titles by watching short ads

Microsoft has hinted that it might be exploring ways for gamers to get access to Xbox cloud gaming in a more affordable manner. Jason Ronald, vice president of Xbox Gaming Devices and Ecosystem at Microsoft, in a recent podcast, said that a number of players use Game Pass Ultimate to access the cloud, which opens up the opportunity for the company to make it more affordable and accessible to players.

 

Ronald at the company's official Xbox podcast said: “One of the things we see is there’s a lot of players who use Game Pass Ultimate to access the cloud, whether that’s the primary way they play, or an additional way to play on the go. I think for us, it really opens up the opportunity to make it much more affordable, and make it more accessible to players. Whether that’s going into new regions, or new ways to actually access the [Xbox] cloud.”

Xbox cloud gaming at no cost in exchange for ads

There had been rumours in the past regarding Microsoft working on a separate “dedicated” version of Xbox cloud gaming. According to The Verge, Microsoft Gaming Chief Financial Officer Tim Stuart has also earlier hinted that there might be a free version of Xbox cloud gaming in the works which would let gamers stream a game for some time in exchange for viewing ads.

 

The Verge quoted Stuart as saying: “The vision I like to talk about is we have xCloud game streaming, so you can subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate and you can stream hundreds of games to really any endpoint that has a browser experience. For models like Africa, or India, Southeast Asia, maybe places that aren’t console-first, you can say, ‘hey, do you want to watch 30 seconds of an ad and then get two hours of game streaming?’”

 

At present, Indian consumers have to pay Rs 829 per month to have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate which offers access to cloud gaming. If this new model comes to light then the price might drop to zero, with the only compromise being of watching a few ads every now and then.

In other related news, Nvidia has rolled out an update for its GeForce Now cloud gaming platform, set to take effect in September. The service will transition to the Blackwell architecture, introducing RTX 5080-level GPUs, support for DLSS 4, and access to a larger catalogue of up to 4,500 games. The update also adds device-specific improvements, such as 5K resolution support on LG OLED monitors and 90fps streaming on the Steam Deck.