The short version
What Xbox has announced so far.
Xbox Cloud Gaming streams Xbox games from Microsoft's servers to a phone, a TV or a laptop, so you don't need a console.
Until now, Game Pass members could stream with no monthly limit. From November, Game Pass Ultimate includes 15 hours a month, Premium 10 and Essential 5.
On October 21, Xbox started selling hour packs to Xbox Insiders, its free testing program. They work on Xbox games you own and on some free-to-play games, and you don't need Game Pass to buy them.
Everyone else gets the hour packs in November, when the limits start. Microsoft expects the limits to affect 4% of Game Pass subscribers.
Read Xbox's announcementWhat the hour packs cost
Prices from Xbox's announcement. The per-hour price is the pack price divided by its hours.
About 40 cents an hour.
About 32 cents an hour.
About 24 cents an hour, the cheapest per hour.
Hours you buy stay on your account until you use them. They don't run out at the end of the month.
Cloud-playable Xbox games you've bought, plus some free-to-play games. Hour packs don't unlock the Game Pass library.
How it got here
From Xbox's own posts.
- Jul 23TestFree streaming with adsXbox starts testing free cloud streaming for Xbox Insiders, in one-hour sessions with ads before you play.
- Sep 3NewsMonthly limits announcedXbox says Game Pass cloud gaming moves to monthly hours in November, 15 for Ultimate, 10 for Premium and 5 for Essential, with extra hours for sale.
- Oct 21TestHour packs for InsidersXbox Insiders can buy 10, 25 or 50 hours to stream games they own, no Game Pass needed.
- NovNextLimits start for everyoneThe monthly limits begin and the hour packs open to everyone.
Who pays more
My read on the numbers.
If you stream now and then, this is a good deal. A few hours a month on games you already own costs $3.99, with no subscription.
If you stream every night, it isn't. An hour a night is around 30 hours a month, twice what Ultimate includes, so you'd be buying hours on top of your subscription.
Xbox says running the service costs more as people play more and for longer, and that monthly limits let it keep offering cloud gaming.
Posts and coverage
What we read for this page, newest first.
Xbox Wire on Cloud Playtime
The hour pack prices, which games they cover and when everyone gets them.
news.xbox.comXbox Wire on the monthly limits
The hours each Game Pass plan includes from November, and the 4% figure.
news.xbox.comPure Xbox on the limits
Coverage of the announcement, including Xbox's reason for the change.
purexbox.comPure Xbox on free streaming with ads
The test of free, ad-supported cloud streaming for Insiders.
purexbox.com
