Microsoft already displays advertisements whenever you log into your Xbox Series X, and it appears the company is exploring an ad-supported model that essentially amounts to “renting” games on the console.
Microsoft has filed a patent titled “Context-Aware Management of Access to Interactive Software Applications.” It describes a mechanism where the system can pause a game at the OS level to show the player “audiovisual promotional content”—in other words, ads—after which the player receives a usage credit.
According to the patent, this credit would grant players continued access to the game for a limited period, ranging from 15 minutes to an hour. It is important to note that there is no guarantee this technology will actually be implemented. However, given the recent issues facing Xbox Game Pass, the idea of Microsoft introducing an ad-supported tier isn’t entirely far-fetched—players might have to watch an ad every 15 minutes to keep playing.
Also, keep in mind that Microsoft recently capped Xbox Cloud Gaming playtime within Game Pass Ultimate at 15 hours per month. That isn’t much. Especially with the sharp rise in RAM costs, players relying on cloud streaming might eventually have to watch ads to earn extra playtime if they want to play for more than 30 minutes a day.