Free Game Pass with ads and free online: The idea that’s starting to gain strength for the next Xbox

A subscription with ads could be important to release the game online on Xbox.

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In recent days, a debate that has been lingering in the community has gained momentum: what if the next generation of Xbox makes online gaming free thanks to a Game Pass with ads? The idea doesn’t come out of nowhere and fits with several recent moves by Microsoft that point to a deeper change in the business model.

The conversation has been revived due to new rumors about a Game Pass with advertising, intended as an entry-level option, and the insistence that the next Xbox will have a much closer integration with PC and Steam. In this scenario, charging for online play would start to make less sense.

Xbox, Game Pass with ads, and the future of free online gaming

On PC, online multiplayer has no additional cost for decades. If the next Xbox consolidates as a hybrid between a console and a living room PC, maintaining a paywall for online play would be hard to justify, especially in the face of Steam and other open ecosystems.

This is where the ad-supported Game Pass option comes into play. The idea is simple:

• Cloud gaming and/or access to games with controlled ad breaks

• In exchange, free online play and basic access to the catalog

• Premium options without ads for those who prefer to pay

Many users see this formula as a way to broaden the audience, attract players who don’t currently pay for subscriptions, and compete better on PC. Others, however, express concern about a possible drift towards the style of some streaming platforms, where ads end up spreading even to paid plans.

The most repeated consensus in the debate is clear: if online play becomes free, advertising should only make sense as a voluntary option, never as an imposition that disrupts the gaming experience. Microsoft has already experimented with closed PC models and mandatory subscriptions before, and the result wasn’t good. Today, the context is very different: Steam dominates the market, PC gamers won’t accept paying to play online, and Xbox needs to reduce friction if it wants to grow beyond the traditional console model.

For now, there’s no official confirmation, but the idea is starting to sound less and less far-fetched. And if it happens, we could be facing the biggest structural change in Xbox’s modern history.