From time to time, we see some of the most prolific cloud gamers wishing there was a cloud gaming only subscription option for Game Pass and PS Plus. We get the thought… If you are primarily a cloud gamer, you don’t need the “extra” ability to download and play games (from the subscription or “stream your own” game library) on a PC or console. So, giving up that capability, should save you a few $ a month right? Right?
We, at Cloud Dosage, are obviously huge fans of cloud gaming – and, in principle, we like the simplicity of a cloud-gaming only subscription model. But, unfortunately, I’m here to tell you that it probably wouldn’t be any cheaper – unless Microsoft or Sony priced it at a loss strictly for promotional purposes – or filled the service with ads to watch. They might indeed choose to cut prices for a few years in order to grow the program, but it wouldn’t be sustainable in the long term.
We have a sad truth to tell: Cloud Gamers cost these gaming subscription programs more than console and PC Gamers – not less!
Why Does Cloud Gaming Cost More
It’s simple, really. When gaming locally, the gamer, themselves, has paid the acquisition cost of the console or PC. And, the gamer is paying for the power required to run the game.
When gaming in the Cloud, there is a server running your game in the datacenter. That server cost money to acquire and to deploy, and it uses power to run. The cloud gaming service pays these costs. Meaning, Cloud Gamers cost them more.
Even if a console-manufacturer sells a console to end-consumers at a slight loss, the loss is way more significant if the consumer hasn’t put any money at all down for the console.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch
While cloud gaming can be a great deal, it isn’t free. You can save a lot of money up front by not purchasing a console or PC. And, to some extent, when you share time on a virtual “PC or console” in the Cloud, you can rightfully expect to save on the full cost of a device over time. But, fair is fair, and you should expect to pay for at least the time you do use the hardware, even if isn’t in your house.
What is the “fair” cost of accessing a cloud gaming service? There are a few ways to determine the market rate…
One method would be to look at the hourly cost of a CPU/GPU cloud instance at a cloud service provider like AWS. You’ll find the cost for a cloud computing instance in EC2 similar to that which Amazon Luna uses to be on the order of $1 an hour.
When you subscribe for a month of usage in bulk, though, it’s reasonable to expect to get a cheaper rate. Cloud PC like subscriptions typically cost from $10 a month (GeForce NOW Premium w/ 100 hour cap) all the way up to Shadow PC’s “Power Rig” cost of $50 a month.
If you are enjoying Game Pass Ultimate or PS Plus Premium with cloud gaming included, you are essentially getting this $10+ value a month built into your subscription. Since not everyone paying actually uses the cloud gaming feature, Xcloud and PS Plus are able to keep the rate reasonable. Folks not using the feature are essentially currently amortizing the cost for folks (like us!) that do use it.
However, if Xbox were to sell a subscription that was “cloud-only” – i.e. a service where every subscriber accessed their games only via the cloud, they’d likely have to pass on the full cost of operating the cloud-gaming service itself to each user. Meaning, you could very well end up paying more not less!
