I bet this is insanely expensive. Their page announcing pricing changes shows what looks like a 5 hour block of non-expiring playtime [1]. They aren't doing $1 or $2 transactions, so my guess is somewhere in the $1 per hour range.
People were worried about GTA6 costing $100 on launch. How about $100 per month if you want to play a couple hours a night and half a day on weekends? That's a lot, but I bet it's not uncommon.
It's the perfect testing scenario for those who want to take away ownership and replace it with forever rentals. They have a super popular game that people are desperate to play, the studio isn't launching it on PC for day 1, and the AI industry has given them an excuse to push console pricing over the moon.
Cynical people would see it as being very, very convenient.
The big tech companies are loving their invented supply crisis because it's price anchoring everyone into thinking that owning a PC or console or doing any type of gaming should cost half your paycheck.
Good for Microsoft though. A lot of people were probably considering a console purchase just for GTA6 and spending a few hundred dollars for a streaming service while waiting for the PC port is going to seem like a "good deal".
They started limiting the hours of Xbox game streaming from 5-15 per month depending on tier. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs $22.99 per month and the limit is 15 hours. That will not work for GTA6 which has an estimated 80-300 hours of gameplay.
Does that mean I can play the game without owning an xbox? That would be nice as the pc version will take forever. I could just subscribe for a month or so.
Taking a step back, it's a little sad that exclusion is considered something the industry celebrates now.
Back in the day Doom was literally the number one PC software and everyone copied it. At no detriment to anyone, considering gaming is now the number one entertainment in the world by revenue.
But modern console games are little morcels chopped up and force fed to customers that have no ownership or choice. MSFT is proudly boasting how little of the game the plebs are "exclusively" allowed to stream.
I bet this is insanely expensive. Their page announcing pricing changes shows what looks like a 5 hour block of non-expiring playtime [1]. They aren't doing $1 or $2 transactions, so my guess is somewhere in the $1 per hour range.
People were worried about GTA6 costing $100 on launch. How about $100 per month if you want to play a couple hours a night and half a day on weekends? That's a lot, but I bet it's not uncommon.
It's the perfect testing scenario for those who want to take away ownership and replace it with forever rentals. They have a super popular game that people are desperate to play, the studio isn't launching it on PC for day 1, and the AI industry has given them an excuse to push console pricing over the moon.
Cynical people would see it as being very, very convenient.
The big tech companies are loving their invented supply crisis because it's price anchoring everyone into thinking that owning a PC or console or doing any type of gaming should cost half your paycheck.
Good for Microsoft though. A lot of people were probably considering a console purchase just for GTA6 and spending a few hundred dollars for a streaming service while waiting for the PC port is going to seem like a "good deal".
1. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/03/xbox-cloud-gaming-cha...
They started limiting the hours of Xbox game streaming from 5-15 per month depending on tier. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs $22.99 per month and the limit is 15 hours. That will not work for GTA6 which has an estimated 80-300 hours of gameplay.
What exactly is streaming rights for Xbox?
- I don't buy the game, I pay a cloud rental fee and can play so long as my membership is active? Unlimited hours?
- I buy the game, but don't have to use up hard drive space?
- So long as I have an Xbox streaming account, I could stream on my PC? A tablet?
The article did a great job of scooping sand over the huge turd this actually is.
Microsoft is going to be charging you per hour to play GTA 6.
Does that mean I can play the game without owning an xbox? That would be nice as the pc version will take forever. I could just subscribe for a month or so.
Ps couldn't read TFA as it's paywalled
Oh that’s a nice coup for them. They need anything they can get to survive.
How much did MS pay for "exclusive streaming rights?"
Taking a step back, it's a little sad that exclusion is considered something the industry celebrates now.
Back in the day Doom was literally the number one PC software and everyone copied it. At no detriment to anyone, considering gaming is now the number one entertainment in the world by revenue.
But modern console games are little morcels chopped up and force fed to customers that have no ownership or choice. MSFT is proudly boasting how little of the game the plebs are "exclusively" allowed to stream.
Kids these days don't know how bad they have it.
Huge loss for Stadia and OnLive. I don’t know how the other big game streaming services will survive this.