Xbox Cloud Gaming Proves Unprofitable: Critical Threshold Named

Xbox Cloud Gaming starts to incur losses for Microsoft if a user spends more than approximately 15 hours a month in the cloud.

Cloud gaming was supposed to be one of the key development directions for Xbox, allowing demanding games to be launched without a console or a powerful PC. However, maintaining data centers is becoming increasingly expensive.

Windows Central journalist Jez Corden revealed, citing Microsoft representatives, that the Xbox Cloud Gaming service becomes unprofitable after approximately 15 hours of streaming per month. This is attributed to the growing demand for computing power for artificial intelligence systems, which use the same expensive resources. Microsoft has not published precise calculations confirming this threshold.

This does not mean abandoning the service, but the company may reconsider its development. The longer a user plays, the more server time they occupy for the same subscription cost. Microsoft will reduce technological costs by attracting more users or changing the payment model. For players, the main question is whether this will lead to price increases or the introduction of stricter limits.