As Game Pass prices get laughably high, Microsoft is reportedly spinning up a free version of Xbox Cloud Gaming—but of course you'll have to sit through ads

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle trailer still - Indy about to sock a Nazi — (Image credit: MachineGames)

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced an up to 50% price increase for Xbox Game Pass, offering the compelling value proposition of "What if one month's access to a new Xbox-published game cost almost a quarter of the price of just buying the damn thing and owning it forever?"

Microsoft's explanation for the price hike was that it was seeking to offer "more flexibility, choice, and value," and it's apparently got similarly flexible plans for game streaming—assuming you don't mind sitting through ads to enjoy it. According to reporting at The Verge, sources at Microsoft say that the company has been running internal tests of a free, ad-supported version of Xbox Cloud Gaming, with a public beta test and full launch planned in the coming months.

Microsoft CFO Tim Stuart publicly alluded to a potential ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier in 2023. But considering the longer wait times and lower resolution cloud streaming being offered to Essential and Premium-tier Game Pass subscribers as part of the new pricing scheme, it's probably safe to assume that users of the free version will be enjoying a less-than-optimal experience during their hypothetical five hours a month.

What's unclear, however, is whether subscribers to the PC-only Game Pass plan—which is the only Game Pass tier that makes no mention of Cloud Gaming—will only have access to the ad-supported Cloud Gaming option. Pricing aside, that exact confusion over the specifics of what, exactly, you're meant to be paying for is a massive part of what makes Game Pass so maddening.

Personally, if you're only looking to stream games you already own on your local network, I'd recommend the free, open-source solution of self-hosting Sunshine on your gaming PC and streaming to your other devices via Moonlight. You'll still be installing and running games on your hardware, but it's given me the best results when I'm looking to escape from the confines of my desk while enjoying good picture quality and low latency.

Lincoln has been writing about games for 12 years—unless you include the essays about procedural storytelling in Dwarf Fortress he convinced his college professors to accept. Leveraging the brainworms from a youth spent in World of Warcraft to write for sites like Waypoint, Polygon, and Fanbyte, Lincoln spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining on as a full-time News Writer in 2024, bringing an expertise in Caves of Qud bird diplomacy, getting sons killed in Crusader Kings, and hitting dinosaurs with hammers in Monster Hunter.

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