Microsoft has found another way to make money from Xbox, and this time,
you’ll be paying with your time rather than your wallet. The company has
detailed its ad-supported cloud gaming service, which offers 30 minutes
of gameplay in exchange for watching three minutes of commercials.
The service is being marketed to advertisers as
Xbox Video for Brands. For gamers, it’s an alternative
to the subscription-based Xbox Cloud Gaming service, allowing eligible
users to stream games without an active Game Pass subscription.
Free access to cloud gaming certainly sounds appealing, but half an hour
isn’t much time, especially when you have to sit through three minutes
of ads before you can even start playing.
Xbox’s New Cloud Gaming Service Comes With Three Minutes of
Non-Skippable Ads
In a
November 12 announcement, Microsoft confirmed that its ad-supported cloud gaming service will
feature a three-minute pre-roll advertising block before each 30-minute
gaming session.
These advertisements will be full-screen and non-skippable, although
they won’t interrupt active gameplay. Instead, they’ll appear before the
session begins, during the cloud-loading process.
Microsoft describes this as an opportunity for advertisers to reach
gamers just as they’re preparing to play. The company believes that this
makes Xbox an attractive advertising platform, since the audience is
already engaged and ready to start gaming.
But from a gamer’s perspective, three minutes of advertisements for just
half an hour of gameplay doesn’t sound particularly generous. The ads
won’t interrupt your gameplay, but the 30-minute session limit certainly
will.
Consider how much time you might spend doing something relatively
mundane in an RPG or an open-world game, whether that’s exploring a new
area, completing a quest, or simply getting sidetracked. You could
easily spend most of your allotted time without making much progress.
The ads won’t interrupt your gameplay, but the 30-minute session limit certainly will.
To be clear, Microsoft isn’t adding commercial breaks to games you’ve
already purchased. The advertisements are limited to this optional cloud
gaming tier, and they’ll play before you start gaming rather than
interrupting an ongoing session.
The announcement also leaves some details unclear, including whether
every region and session will have precisely the same advertising
requirements.
Xbox Previously Offered Longer Sessions With Fewer Ads
What’s rather disappointing about the newly announced arrangement is
that Microsoft’s earlier ad-supported cloud gaming tests were
considerably more generous.
When the company
began testing the service with Xbox Insiders in July, users could access one-hour gaming sessions after watching
advertisements. Earlier reporting indicated that these introductory ads
lasted approximately two minutes. That’s twice the gameplay time, with fewer advertisements to sit
through.
The new arrangement looks considerably less appealing by comparison,
although free access still has its uses. If you occasionally want to try
a game without committing to a Game Pass subscription, even 30 minutes
might be enough. For anything more substantial, however, the time limit could become
frustrating rather quickly.
There’s also the question of what happens when those 30 minutes run out.
Can you immediately start another session after watching more ads, or
will you have to wait in another queue? And how smoothly will the
service handle resuming a game after the previous session expires?
Microsoft hasn’t explained these details in its latest announcement, so
we’ll have to see how the system works in practice.
Microsoft Is Changing How Xbox Cloud Gaming Works
The introduction of advertisements is part of a much larger
restructuring of Xbox Cloud Gaming. As DualShockers previously reported, Microsoft has also introduced pay-as-you-go cloud gaming packages,
allowing you to purchase streaming time without subscribing to Game
Pass.
The introductory prices include $3.99 for 10 hours, $7.99 for 25 hours,
and $11.99 for 50 hours of gameplay. These packages offer ad-free
streaming, and the purchased hours remain available until they’re used.
Meanwhile, Game Pass subscriptions now have monthly cloud gaming
allowances, with Ultimate receiving 15 hours, Premium receiving 10
hours, and Essential receiving five hours. If you exhaust your included
hours, you can purchase additional time or use the ad-supported service
where available.
Microsoft has justified these changes by pointing to the growing costs
of cloud gaming as more people use the service. Streaming certainly has its advantages, particularly if you don’t own
a powerful gaming PC or a modern console. And with the next Xbox reportedly carrying an eye-watering price tag, being able to play without buying new hardware might sound even
more appealing.
But Microsoft’s approach to the service is changing. Instead of simply
treating cloud gaming as another benefit of the Xbox ecosystem, the
company is increasingly dividing it into subscriptions, purchased hours,
and advertising-supported sessions.
And while the latter doesn’t cost anything, you’re still paying with
your time. Watching a few advertisements to try a game might be
reasonable enough, but sitting through three minutes of commercials
every time you want another half hour of gameplay sounds considerably
less appealing.
