In September, when Microsoft severely limited the game-streaming buffet available to Game Pass subscribers , the company said non-subscribers would soon be able to “purchase cloud playtime hours through the Xbox Store and stream eligible games they own on supported devices.” Today, Microsoft rolled out those a la carte Cloud Playtime purchases to Xbox Insiders, with prices that might be a bit galling for players who have already purchased these streamable games.

The “introductory launch pricing” for Xbox’s Cloud Playtime purchases is as follows:

10 hours for $4 (~$0.40/hour)

25 hours for $8 (~$0.32/hour)

50 hours for $12 (~$0.24/hour)

Purchased playtime “remains available until it’s used,” Microsoft writes, so you don’t have to worry about your 50-hour purchase expiring before you can use it fully.

Paying for playtime directly like this evokes images of old arcades, where players would invest a quarter or two (in 20th century dollars) often for just a few minutes of gameplay.…