We help guide you through the complex world of game streaming services
Free games? In THIS economy? Well, in exchange for your eyeballs at least. (Figuratively, not literally... although don't give them ideas.)
What you need to know
• Microsoft Gaming CFO Tim Stuart recently described how in the future, you may be able to view ads to gain access to Xbox Game Pass.
•Recent Xbox Series X|S code strings we've seen seem to corroborate this, with the ability to earn 15 minute blocks of Xbox Game Pass access in exchange for watching ads.
•Game Pass across PC, Xbox, and Cloud features hundreds of games in exchange for a low monthly fee.
Hmm..... I used to earn GP by way of searching with Bing but I hear the rewards program is being revamped. I still earn points but it seems they did change the amount you get per search. I dont know how i feel about this. It sounds like they are going the Youtube route where right in the middle of something you are enjoying, an ad pops up and you have to sit through it (if it does not have a skip option after 5 seconds).
I pay for my GP access, so this wouldnt really bother me but I can see it affecting plenty of others. It reminds me of the rumor about how some game companies (EA, Ubisoft) were toying with the idea of running ads before you ever get into the game. Like the old days of renting movies from Blockbuster and not being able to skip the previews (yes, some DVD had a non skip option for previews). I pay for stuff so i wouldnt have to deal with ads, but even now they are encroaching the very things i pay a premium for.
This whole thing is just..... a bad idea.
@babadivad
Yup. You'd have to pop in the DVD before going to the bathroom, grabbing a snack, etc
Such a shame cause even if you don't think this is a big deal what's next they put ads on ultimate gamepass and the free one gets more. This is disgusting. Yes even if Sony goes this route I'll feel the same. We got enough ads in this world ffs
“even if Sony goes this route I'll feel the same”
This isn’t a “both sides” issue. Sony has never had ads on the PlayStation Home Screen but Microsoft has laden Xbox’s Home Screen with ads since the Xbox 360. Microsoft has put ads on Windows 11 OS! Microsoft is basically the bad guy from “Ready Player One”.
I know that hence the key word If. Sonys never given an indication of this where as ms definitely has.
I mean, it's not never, but it's not like Xbox. Sony has promoted things with icons on the XMB, it's just really rare.
They could do GP free with ads, GP £20 per month without ads, which one would the casual/hardcore choose ?
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We're just having our eyelids forced open more and more every day it feels like.
You don't say?/S
You mean the company that puts ads on the dashboard, tried to force a camera on Xbox One to push ads is experimenting with ads for game pass access? No. You must be joshing. Lol
Wouldn't put it past them.
Getting people locked into subs and advertising to them is what passes as innovation at Microsoft.
At least they're keeping Sony on their toes with the threat of competition
As Google bids farewell to Stadia, recent events surrounding gaming industry hints that the tech giant might have closed shopped prematurely.
"So, it wouldn't be far off to imagine a scenario where Microsoft would have signed a 10-year"
Like that would have saved Stadia. Ridiculously naive premise
No, it shot itself in the foot by not delivering on anything they promised. Besides the browser and multi device launching being easy, they failed to deliver on any other of their highly touted selling points. No game ran at 4k, or 60fps, or even at high settings let alone all 3 together. And honestly had some of the worst latency of any streaming service.
No reason to give Microsoft a reason to tout another stupid "10 year deal" with cloud services that no one has ever heard of or uses.
Microsoft announces 10 year deal to bring Gamepass to LG refrigerators!!
lets not pretend that streaming games is great. and ms cant change that with their deals.
Microsoft has launched a new Bing feature that lets you experience Xbox Cloud Gaming supported games just by searching for it.
It's not a bad way to earn points. Esp if you do a lot of searching for stuff. I haven't had to pay for Gamepass in over a year because i am constantly earning enough points to pay for it. I've had upwards of 161k lifetime points and currently only 2k away from another free month of GPU.
Let the battle of the streaming begin
Any opinion piece on which streaming service is best before all of them hit the market officially (xcloud hasn't) and with no performance numbers (video quality/rez, fps, latency and data consumption) is worthless.
Gamesradar is supposed to be a serious gaming site...
Ps now is a clear winner been out yrs and has more games
I'd hold my horses on comparing which ones better when numbers come in from each and I'm not talking about install base. Best just to set back and wait until we see how the infrastructure handles the load. So far DF showed the Stadia didn't deliver as promised.
Spoiler alert, not stadia...