Xbox wants you to pay 24 to 40 cents per hour to stream games you already bought
Time-based a la carte charges come on top of the purchase price for the games themselves.
In September, when Microsoft severely limited the game-streaming buffet available to Game Pass subscribers, the company said non-subscribers would soon be able to "purchase cloud playtime hours through the Xbox Store and stream eligible games they own on supported devices." Today, Microsoft rolled out those a la carte Cloud Playtime purchases to Xbox Insiders, with prices that might be a bit galling for players who have already purchased these streamable games.
The "introductory launch pricing" for Xbox's Cloud Playtime purchases is as follows:
- 10 hours for $4 (~$0.40/hour)
- 25 hours for $8 (~$0.32/hour)
- 50 hours for $12 (~$0.24/hour)
Purchased playtime "remains available until it’s used," Microsoft writes, so you don't have to worry about your 50-hour purchase expiring before you can use it fully.