Microsoft has introduced hard monthly time limits for Xbox Cloud Gaming, ending years of unlimited streaming for Game Pass subscribers. Essential tier users will receive five hours, Premium users ten hours, and Ultimate users fifteen hours. Once a subscriber exhausts their monthly allowance, they can purchase additional hours through the Xbox Store. The company claims the change will only impact around 4% of users, a figure that may not account for the cumulative effect of multiple family members sharing a single account. Microsoft has not yet announced pricing for these extra hours, though it has admitted that the policy will result in higher costs for some players.

The new limits are notably tighter than those offered by rival NVIDIA GeForce Now, which allows top-tier subscribers up to 100 hours of streaming per month. Microsoft attributes the change to rising costs in cloud infrastructure, though analysts suggest it also reflects a broader push for profitability following recent layoffs. The policy applies to cloud streaming only, meaning physical disc play and downloads remain unaffected.