After rumors for what feels like years, Xbox has finally begun testing its new service publicly: ad-supported free game streaming.
The new system was made available through the Xbox Insider program, and the basic idea is straightforward. Players can watch a selection of ads before streaming supported Xbox games they already own, with each playtime limited to one hour.
Xbox promises that once the ads are finished, the next hour of gameplay will be uninterrupted. However, the company has not specified how many players will be watching or how long the opening break will last. A previous report suggested about two minutes of ads, but Xbox’s official announcement doesn’t make that commitment.
What happened after that hour is also unclear. Are you just watching another set of ads to unlock another hour? Are you logged out and forced to wait before starting another session? Is there a daily or monthly limit?
The official Xbox Wire post simply describes them as “one-hour session limits,” leaving all those questions unanswered. Previous reports said that Microsoft was testing a limit of five free hours per month, but that limit was not mentioned in the recently announced public test. We will have to wait for more clarification or talk to people who have tried the program.
While ad-supported Xbox streaming has long been rumored, Microsoft launched the service as one way to combat the rapidly rising cost of gaming hardware.
“For many gamers, the device they already own now allows them to stream games through Xbox. The cloud can also help Xbox One owners play new games developed for the Xbox Series X|S without needing to buy new hardware immediately. That would be especially meaningful in areas where consoles are hard to find or inexpensive, giving many gamers another way to access great games on the devices they already own.”
Considering Microsoft just announced its third Xbox price increase in over a year, this makes some sense. Console games are getting more and more expensive, and a way to play games for free is better than nothing, even if it means sitting through fewer ads.
It can also prove to be really useful for people who already own Xbox games but don’t have access to the right hardware. Xbox One owners can stream new Series X/S releases, while anyone with a supported PC, television, phone or tablet will likely have another way to access their existing library without buying a new console or paying for cloud games with Game Pass.
Xbox says it will hold ads to the same quality bar as its other content, clearly identifying the ad and making sure the ads shown match what players expect in each location. Most importantly, Microsoft says it won’t disrupt gameplay.
Understandably, however, introducing more advertising into video games always makes people wary. Microsoft is not known for leaving potential money untouched out of pure kindness.
How many ads will players eventually be asked to watch? How long before one uninterrupted hour becomes 30 minutes, or 15? More worryingly, could a successful test eventually encourage Microsoft to introduce advertising into the paid sections of Game Pass?
None of that is happening right now, and this is still an optional, limited trial that gives people a free alternative to existing paid Xbox cloud streaming options. However, Xbox is in dire straits and desperately needs to bring in more cash while its latest restructuring continues. So people are right to ask if this is just a useful free service or the first step towards advertising becoming a bigger part of the wider Xbox ecosystem.
For now, though, the proposition is simple enough: watch some ads, stream one of your supported games for an hour and keep your wallet closed. What happens after those 60 minutes is the part that Xbox still needs to explain.
