Xbox confirms testing of its new free Cloud Gaming service with ads

The service will offer limited cloud access without subscription, with integrated advertising and multi-platform support.

More stories in the category Xbox Live

• Microsoft adds 57 new Xbox Play Anywhere games
• All these free Xbox games for the weekend
• These are the free Xbox games of the weekend, download and play

The future of Xbox is in the cloud, and Microsoft is continuing to expand its strategy. After recently extending access to Xbox Cloud Gaming to all versions of Game Pass, the company has confirmed to the New York Times that it is already conducting internal tests for a free model with ads, in a program separate from the current subscription service.

This new modality would allow playing from the cloud without paying a monthly fee, offering a way for new users to enter and consolidating Xbox’s role as an open, accessible, and present platform on all types of devices.

How the free Xbox Cloud Gaming with ads will work

According to the information advanced by The Verge and now officially supported by Microsoft, the free plan would include a selection of games available on a rotating basis. Among them are titles from “Broadcast your own game”, deliveries from the Free Play Days and classics from the Xbox Retro Classics collection.

The sessions will have a time limit and will be accompanied by a brief commercial insertion before the start of each game. The base scheme would be as follows:

This freemium model is currently in the internal testing phase with Microsoft employees, although everything indicates that a public beta will soon be opened to evaluate the response of players.

With this initiative, Xbox reinforces its vision of “being where the players are“, as recently stated by Matt Booty, president of Xbox Game Content & Studios. The new free system with ads would mark a decisive step towards the expansion of the Xbox ecosystem beyond consoles, allowing anyone to access cloud gaming without cost and without entry barriers.