Limited to 5 hours per month! Rumors Xbox cloud games will support watching ads for free

　　According to social media, Xbox Cloud Games may soon launch testing of ad-supported free version. While retaining the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, the free version will limit the 5-hour game duration per month and insert ads at the beginning of the session.

As one of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership privileges, Xbox Cloud Games allows users to stream designated games through dedicated servers, and can also play game content bound to Microsoft accounts on compatible devices (it is recommended to use fiber-optic wired network). The service has now ended its testing phase and is fully open.

As the game library continues to expand, Microsoft is expanding user coverage with limited capacity. According to The Verge, the free beta version will be operated through advertising revenue, and users can experience selected games, account-bound content and limited-free games without an Xbox Game Pass subscription. Ads will be played for about two minutes before each game streaming, with a limited time of 1 hour for a single session and a cumulative monthly duration of 5 hours (the specific limit may be adjusted before it is officially launched).

This free service will cover Windows PC, Xbox host, mobile devices and various browser platforms. But the timing of the test caused controversy - on October 1, Xbox Game Pass just announced a full price increase, with the monthly fee of the Ultimate version, which includes cloud gaming rights, rising from $19.99 to $29.99, and the original Core and Standard versions were renamed Essential and Premium respectively.

This price increase has caused a large number of users to unsubscribe in protest. Whether the advertising-supported free version can effectively retain users remains to be tested by the market.