Xbox cloud gaming is arguably one of the coolest ways to play games. No consoles, no discs or even downloads. Just beam the game to your screen via the internet, and play like you normally would. There are some issues, of course, the least of which is the $20 a month subscription fee. Thankfully, things might not stay that expensive for long.
Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s VP of Next Generation, has been talking about accessibility to cloud gaming over on the official Xbox podcast. Specifically talking about people who use the $20 Ultimate subscription to access cloud gaming.
"I think for us, it really opens up the opportunity to make it much more affordable, and make it more accessible to players," Ronald said. "Whether that’s going into new regions, or new ways to actually access the [Xbox] cloud.”
Now, it's important to note this is not confirmation that a cheaper cloud gaming plan is coming, but it suggests Microsoft is leaning in that direction.
We first heard rumors of something like this a couple of years back, with speculation Microsoft may release a free version of cloud gaming — complete with advertising.
Free seems to be a little too good to be true, and I can't imagine Microsoft would go quite that far down the "affordability" scale. However, it would be nice to see the company offer a version of Game Pass that only offers cloud gaming and cuts off all the other Game Pass perks in the process.
Of course, such a service also runs the risk of being stuck at lower frame rates and resolutions. Plus, like Game Pass Standard, we may end up with a smaller library of games to choose from.
More upgrades are coming
Ronald also teased the next generation of Xbox gaming during the podcast. "Together with AMD, we’re designing dedicated silicon and hardware to enable the next generation of gaming experiences,” says Ronald.
“We’re investing deeply in the next generation of rendering technologies, such as neural rendering, which will bring a new level of quality to the games that you’re having.”
Presumably this will be a mix of both Xbox hardware and cloud gaming software — the latter of which is clearly needed. Considering Nvidia just announced major upgrades to GeForce Now, which will see RTX 5080-powered cloud gaming and 5K resolution at 120fps, Game Pass certainly needs a big technical upgrade.
Ronald also teased the inclusion of AI, but he didn't offer any specific details about them — nor did he suggest if and when a cheaper Game Pass tier could launch.
