We’re obviously big fans of Xbox Cloud Gaming here at Pure Xbox, but the majority of the library requires you to be an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate member in order to access it – with the notable exception being the free-to-play title Fortnite.
Fortnite has actually implemented occasional limits in the past when xCloud has struggled with the demand, but now it seems like a permanent 60-minute time limit has been added for anyone who isn’t a Game Pass Ultimate member.
This was initially hinted at by the team behind ‘Better xCloud‘ just a few days ago, and now we’re seeing reports from plenty of Fortnite players who have come across it. The reaction has been mixed – many understand the reasons behind a limit, while others have shared concerns, such as that they’ll be kicked out in the middle of a game.
It’s never ideal to see features like this being implemented for any title, but to be honest we can understand it in this situation – it’s a free version of the service, so giving Game Pass Ultimate members priority makes sense to us.
What we don’t really like is that players could just be thrown out of their Fortnite game in the middle of a session, so hopefully there’s a workaround where Microsoft can ensure a match is complete before restricting access. It’s also worth noting that when the 60 minutes are up, players can just re-queue to join another free session.
It’s an interesting development, anyway – what do you think about it? Tell us down in the comments section below.
