Streaming games from your own Xbox is free. This service is for people who don't have that "expensive piece of hardware".

> This service is for people who don't have that "expensive piece of hardware".

Right, but those people also don't own Xbox games. So this goes from "add-on fee to play the games your already own conveniently", to "buy a $60 game and then pay $/hour to actually play it"

Are you saving money in the second scenario vs buying a console? Almost certainly. But it doesn't feel that way to the person paying a big whack upfront and then also stacks of game time.