Xbox Cloud Gaming Is Getting An Ad-Supported Tier For Timed Play Sessions

The current hardware landscape is a tough one for gamers, as even more price increases are likely to come this year. This challenging environment has meant that cloud gaming services have become a more enticing option, and it looks as if Microsoft is going to attempt to tap into this market by opening up its Xbox Cloud Gaming service to more users.

According to Windows Central, several users noticed a message that popped up when launching a new Xbox Cloud Gaming session, which says, "1 hour of ad supported play time per session." The company doesn’t offer an ad supported tier at the moment, so this likely indicates that that an ad-supported tier is going to be unveiled soon.


The company has slowly been expanding Xbox Cloud Gaming over the years, with it initially only being available to users who subscribed to Game Pass Ultimate, the most expensive tier. This changed last year when the service became available to users in the less expensive tiers, so it makes sense that the next evolution includes a limited ad-supported tier that’s open to everyone.

This move means that NVIDIA’s GeForce Now service, which already has an ad-supported tier of its own, will have some competition. This kind of competition is important, and will hopefully mean that these services become better as they jockey to win over more gamers that have been left out in the cold by the price of hardware.

It’s unknown as to when this ad-supported tier will become available, but Microsoft does have the upcoming Xbox Developer Direct event slated for later this week where it could make an official announcement.