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A new report claims that Microsoft is working on a free, ad-supported tier for Xbox Cloud Gaming, launching this year. Teaser images and reporting have surfaced in the past few months suggesting that players will be able to access cloud streaming for free in exchange for watching advertisements, with some limit on session length.
Microsoft has been rumoured to be working on an ad-supported tier of Xbox Cloud Gaming since last year. The company was said to be looking into methods to offer Xbox Cloud Gaming access to players without a Game Pass subscription.
Recently surfaced images appear to confirm those reports, showing up “1 hour of ad-supported playtime per session” on-screen. These images were reportedly shown accidentally and are not meant to signal an official announcement.
Microsoft’s Ad-Supported Xbox Cloud Gaming Tier
A new report from Windows Central indicates that the ads-supported service will act as its own separate product. Xbox Cloud Gaming players who subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate, or any other paid service, will not see ads when playing their games.Instead, the ad-supported service will let players stream their digitally owned Xbox games.
Included Game Pass titles will not be available on this free service. Players would need to buy their games individually if they want to play them through Xbox Cloud Gaming. The change would mean players are no longer required to subscribe to a Game Pass service to play on Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Microsoft has not confirmed any of the details above, but Windows Central’ssources told Jez Corden that Xbox’s ad-supported cloud tier is expected to launch in 2026.
Playtime Limits and Ads Still Unclear
Limits on play session length and number of ads have not been reported on. Microsoft was reportedly testing one-hour sessions, with users able to play about five hours a month for free.
Players may need to watch an ad before their session starts and/or while waiting for downloads to complete, but that has not been reported. All of the above information is unconfirmed and could change before an actual release.
If it launches how we expect, an ad-supported tier for Xbox Cloud Gaming will make streaming games to devices much more accessible. Players who own digital games on Xbox but do not wish to pay for Game Pass would be able to stream their library without needing a separate subscription.
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