The rumored ad-supported tier for Xbox Cloud Gaming is now official, with public testing likely to commence soon.

While the masses focus on the Xbox Ally and next-gen Xbox console strategy, one pillar of Microsoft's gaming empire has remained somewhat hidden in the shadows. Xbox Cloud Gaming is the most future-facing aspect of Microsoft's gaming ecosystem in my view.

All three paid Game Pass tiers include unlimited cloud gaming, but wait times get longer the further down you go. It’s fair to assume that any free cloud service not tied to Game Pass will be hit with longer wait times, though perhaps the enforced ads would hide those pretty well anyway.

A report from The Verge reveals that Microsoft is testing this ad-supported tier internally, with which employees at the company are able to stream select titles without the need for an Xbox Game Pass subscription. The catch being that players must watch a handful of ads before playing.

Microsoft (($MSFT)) has held its Q1 earnings call. Read on for the main highlights of the call. Microsoft’s recent earnings call painted a picture

With the news that Microsoft's popular franchise Halo will make the jump to the PlayStation platform for the first time with next year's Halo: Campaign Evolved, the company confirmed it is testing a free ad-supported version of its Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is included in the Game Pass service .

In the coming months, Microsoft will reportedly launch a free version of Xbox cloud game streaming that will likely play a pre-roll ad lasting two minutes and sessions lasting up to one hour.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is a key offering from Microsoft and allows gamers to stream with certain Game Pass subscriptions. The company recently instituted a price hike — like everything else these days, it seems — pushing Xbox GamePass Ultimate up 50 percent to $29.99 per month.

Microsoft plans to launch an ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming service. This will allow users to stream certain games without a Game Pass subscription. I

Microsoft reported its latest quarterly earnings results Wednesday, revealing that gaming revenue decreased $113 million (2%). The tech company attributed the decline to a nearly 30% drop in Xbox hardware sales “offset in part by growth in Xbox content and services.