- Leak suggests time limits for free Fortnite xCloud players
- Non-Game Pass users may face session limits and waiting times
- Microsoft aims to ease server load and boost Game Pass sales
The recent Fortnite leak might not sound great to players, suggesting that Microsoft is planning to apply a limit on playtime for people who play Fortnite on xCloud for free.
Free-to-Play… But Not for Long?
This means that players who don’t own Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will be given a limited time and after this they will be kicked out and will have to wait before playing again.
The leak was shared on X post with an image displaying the codes, the Upsell Headers including: ” Less waiting, more playing” and “Join Game Pass Ultimate.” However, two sections of codes are shown highlighted, mentioned: “minutes of playtime per session” and “Priority queue access, longer session length,.”
This suggests that Fortnite players will have to face the restrictions and longer waiting time. At the same time, this leak hasn’t been confirmed yet, as per recent findings, free-tier users may soon get hit with this change.
Now players are wondering that why Microsoft is doing this? The potential reason behind this is suggested to be slowing down of servers. As Fortnite has currently over 110 million active players, and many of them are using xCloud without paying for a Game Pass Ultimate subscription.
What’s Behind This Decision?
This is possibly overburdening the Microsoft’s servers and taking away a smoother gaming experience even for those who are paying for the subscription. If Microsoft is actually going to make this move it can lead to number of benefits including, reducing heavy traffic of players on xCloud servers, Players with Game Pass Ultimate will get prioritized which seems like a fair deal to many.
After all they are paying for it so there should be some distinct advantages from those who aren’t the members. Furthermore, they will have access to hundreds of games, including top titles from Xbox, Bethesda, EA, and Activision Blizzard, and this alteration will eventually push more players to get the Game Pass Ultimate membership.
While Pass members are quite satisfied with such alterations, free-tier players will be given a time limit per gaming session, the exact duration isn’t revealed yet. Moreover, there are chances that they will have to wait longer in qeues before they can jump in again for another free session.
After the free time limit of each session these players will be kicked out automatically. This means that after a certain amount of time, free users may get kicked out and have to wait before they can start playing again. Now, the other concern is whether free games could also be affected by this.
Right now, this rule has been leaked for Fortnite, but there is no clarity of Microsoft’s future plan if it is going to apply this to all free-to-play titles
