Xbox is reportedly close to announcing a new ad-supported version of its game streaming service. Apparently, Microsoft has been internally testing ad-supported cloud streaming with employees, letting them play games without a Game Pass subscription.
On October 3, The Verge reported that sources familiar with Microsoft’s future plans have confirmed with the outlet that the tech giant will soon announce a new way to stream Xbox games without a Game Pass subscription. Currently, you need a Game Pass subscription to stream Xbox games. This new free streaming option will reportedly feature pre-roll ads that will appear before playing a game.
Kotaku has contacted Xbox about this report.
The Verge further reports that sources with knowledge of the internal testing of the service say these ads are about two minutes long. There’s also a limit of one hour per session and about five hours max a month, though this might change if and when the service is rolled out to the public. It sounds like this upcoming free ad-supported version of Xbox Cloud Gaming will let folks stream some games you already own, some other select eligible games, and retro titles.
This new ad-supported free streaming option will be available on Xbox, PC, and mobile devices. Reportedly, Microsoft is planning to test out this new option via a public beta. A full rollout of the service will happen in the months that follow.
It’s been a not-so-great week for Xbox Game Pass. On Wednesday, Xbox announced a massive price increase for all tiers of Xbox Game Pass while also completely reorganizing and renaming parts of the popular subscription service. In doing so, Xbox made everything a bit worse and more expensive. The gaming giant also quietly announced that, unlike all other Xbox first-party games, future Call of Duty games would not migrate to Game Pass Standard within a year of launch. This all follows in the wake of Xbox raising the price of its consoles last month, which was the second Xbox console price hike to happen in 2025.
