Microsoft has begun selling Xbox cloud gaming time to those who aren’t interested in signing up for a Game Pass package, meaning you can play games through practically any device with a browser, including Xbox consoles. Today, Xbox Insiders who do not have an active Game Pass subscription can try this alternative tier, which offers prepaid time starting at $3.99 for 10 hours.
During this preview, Insiders will be able to test and have an early look at this new option before its broader rollout in November. To begin, Microsoft will be offering three tiers at the following introductory prices:
- $3.99 for 10 hours
- $7.99 for 25 hours
- $11.99 for 50 hours
Unsurprisingly, when converted into hourly cost, the cheapest option becomes the top 50-hour pack, which comes in at $0.24 per hour. Or, as a certain leather jacketed man once said, “The more you buy, the more you save.”
In all seriousness, this alternative will be better for those exclusively playing through cloud streaming, saving them from paying for Game Pass features they don’t need. In case this wasn’t clear, these prices are only for cloud game streaming, so there’s no access to Game Pass games or Xbox console online features – you can only play games you already own through Microsoft’s store, digital Xbox console games you bought separately on the Xbox Store, and free-to-play titles.
Furthermore, with upcoming Game Pass cloud play time limits looming on the horizon, cloud gaming will be limited to 15 hours on the $22.99 Game Pass Ultimate tier, 10 hours with a $14.99 Game Pass Premium sub, and just five hours on the $9.99 Game Pass Essential scheme. In other words, for the value of five hours plus Essential perks, you can now get about 40 hours of cloud playtime.
That said, keep in mind that these prices are introductory, meaning they may change in future. Also note that this scheme doesn’t affect the free ad-supported cloud game streaming tier, which lets you play your owned and F2P titles in one-hour sessions at a time.
Microsoft also claims that the new Xbox cloud playtime tier will include shorter wait times, high-quality streaming, and non-expiring playtime. The latter is the most important part of all this, as it means your unused cloud time won’t disappear each month, unlike the cloud gaming time bundled with Game Pass.
If all of this sounds enticing, you can already access this new tier via the Xbox Insider Hub for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PCs.
