According to The Verge, Microsoft is planning to introduce an advertising-based free cloud game service for Xbox. According to sources, the service is being developed for various platforms, such as PC, Xbox mainframe, mobile end and web browsers, and Microsoft is currently testing its advertising level, and its internal staff has begun to experience the model and is expected to be available to all users in the coming months.
It was noted that this free advertising service would allow players to play “part”-owned games upstream of the stream media, while also experiencing the best-chosen games in the Free Play Day event, which allowed players to experience specific games free of charge on weekends. In addition, Xbox retroclassic games may include them. According to the report, the service did not need to be subscribed to by Game Pass, and the current version requires users to watch about two minutes of advertising before streaming media begin. The service may set a free media broadcasting limit, including a maximum of one hour for a single game and a maximum of five hours for a free total of five hours per month. However, specific rules may still be adjusted before advertising patterns are formally online. In retrospect, SE launched the “Coreonline” advertising mode media-flow service in 2012, but Coreonline was forced to shut down after 15 months due to low user acceptance.
In fact, the introduction of the Xbox advertising cloud game services is long overdue. In August this year, another Xbox director, Jason Ronald, also revealed in the podcasts that Microsoft was looking for ways to make services “more economical” and “more accessible” and that it was in line with that goal to reduce prices to zero. Earlier this week, the Xbox cloud game had just completed its testing phase and brought many improvements. At the same time, Microsoft announced that it had set the flow of top-quality (1440p) media to the exclusive rights of Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, and that the price of the service had just been raised to $30 per month, which had caused displeasure among the players. In response to the debate over the price increase, Microsoft raised the number of annual start-up games to 75 and included for the first time the Fort Night membership package and the Ubisoft+ classic game set. The Xbox cloud game, which has been tested, has also been upgraded in the image of streaming media. However, Microsoft appears to have implicitly removed the Game Pass game DLC discount for Ultimate members and pushed its new incentive scheme instead.
Well-known analyst Daniel Ahmad believes that even if prices increase, the player remains loyal to XGP.
Microsoft states that the new pricing reflects “the expansion of the game library, new subscriptions and the upgrading of the cloud game experience”. The new prices became effective for new users on 1 October, and the implementation of existing users will begin on 4 November. To this end, Microsoft added more than 45 games to Game Pass, including Hogwarts.
Xbox Free Cloud Game Service news is being released at a time when Game Pass is very concerned about the value of Microsoft Game Business and the wider game ecology. Last month, after former BS executive Pete Hines questioned Xbox Gomes Pass’s business strategy, a former Microsoft executive supported his view, insisting that the subscription services created “unuspicious internal tensions”. In July of this year, Microsoft’s massive downsizing hit Xbox hard, and the founder of Arkane Studios’ studio under the banner of Shame, Raphael Colantonio, attacked Game Pass as “unsustainable” in his subscription model. He said in the social media: “Game Pass is like an elephant in a room, and everyone is avoiding.”
Raphael Colantonio says, “I think Game Pass is an unsustainable business model, with a decade of cost-neutral payments by Microsoft, which constantly erodes the whole industry. But when Microsoft stops, reality will hit it hard. I don’t think Game Pass can coexist with other models, either eat other opponents or be given up.”
Microsoft continued to insist on the high level of “developmenter participation” and “player interaction” of Game Pass, but did not publish the latest number of subscribers. According to Microsoft, with the publication of ” Axis 4: Unreproduced ” , ” The Destroyer: Dark Ages ” , and ” The Treasure of the Treasures: The Circle of the Old ” , for the first time, the annual revenue of XGP subscriptions exceeded the $5 billion record. Recently, it became a hot spot, as well as the cost of consumption for Xbox fans. Following the announcement of an increase in the value of the holiday season game to $80, Microsoft changed the price of works such as Outer World II to $70. Last month Microsoft also raised the price of the Xbox mainframe on the United States market on the grounds of “mono-economic changes”.