Xbox Cloud Gaming is a particularly useful service for gamers who have a strong internet connection but don"t want to spend money on purchasing a dedicated console and accompanying games. It basically allows people to play titles hosted on Microsoft"s cloud platform for a fixed monthly fee. Now, it seems like Microsoft may be looking to reduce the price of this service.
As spotted by The Verge, Microsoft"s VP of Next Generation Jason Ronald recently appeared on the official Xbox podcast and hinted at some of the company"s plans for gaming. The executive noted that there is a significant number of players who utilize Xbox Game Pass subscriptions primarily for gaming on the cloud. As such, this is an opportunity for Microsoft to make Xbox Cloud Gaming more accessible to customers by lowering the (cost) barrier to entry.
It is important to note that Xbox Cloud Gaming is locked to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which costs a whopping $19.99/month. This means that if you"re just interested in cloud gaming and don"t care about any of the other benefits of Xbox, you"ll still have to pay $20 a month.
This is not the first time that we"ve heard about a cheaper Xbox Cloud Gaming subscription. Rumors about such a plan also emerged in July 2024. While a cloud gaming-only subscription tier is yet to materialize, Microsoft did launch the now-defunct Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Friends and Family preview subscription a couple of years ago to test new waters.
It will be interesting to see what price tag Microsoft will be able to attach to a cloud-gaming-only tier, as it will have to justify being somewhere in the middle of standard Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. While Ronald did not confirm the imminent launch of such a tier, it"s clear that Microsoft is certainly considering it internally.