The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription has a new feature. From now on, it allows you to play your own games in cloud gaming, and not just those in the catalog.
It’s a small revolution for Xbox players and cloud gaming! Indeed, Microsoft is adding a new function to its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, and not just any function! Until now, the plan at 17.99 euros per month made it possible to play a huge catalog of games on a large number of platforms, including streaming from the cloud: this is the famous Cloud Gaming, a mode which works at the way of Netflix, by simply displaying images generated by a remote machine.
However, until now, Cloud Gaming mode was limited to the catalog of games included in Xbox Game Pass. But this restriction disappears. In a press release published on November 20, 2024, the Redmond firm has just announced that the subscription now allows players to stream their personal games, that is to say those that they have purchased and that they own in their Xbox library. This opens up new perspectives!
Xbox Cloud Gaming: 50 compatible games from your personal library
As a reminder, with cloud gaming, the device on which you play calculates nothing or almost nothing: it practically only serves to display the game images which are calculated remotely, by specialized servers, and sent in real time. Clearly, the device only serves as a screen and control device. All heavy processing, which requires powerful processors, particularly for graphics, is carried out remotely on the servers. To take advantage of Cloud Gaming, all you need is a fast Internet connection and a screen with controls. With Microsoft, it is possible to play from your console, on PC, on mobile, on portable console – notably the Logitech G Cloud –, on certain VR headsets and directly on connected televisions and through a Fire TV Stick 4K or a Fire TV Stick 4K Max.
Until now, cloud gaming was only possible for games in the Xbox Game Pass catalog – and even then, not all titles are compatible. The technology is now available for games that players already have in their personal library. Currently, 50 games are compatible, including flagship titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Baldur’s Gate 3, Star Wars Outlaws et The Witcher 3. Here is the list of affected games – it should expand quickly in the coming months:
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
- Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)
- The Casting of Frank Stone
- Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
- Dying Light 2 Stay Human
- Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions
- Hitman World of Assassination
- Lego Harry Potter Collection
- Life is Strange: Double Exposure
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
For now, the feature is available on select Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, and Meta Quest headsets through the Xbox app, as well as web browser for smartphones, PCs, and tablets (at the address https://xbox.com/play). It will arrive on Xbox consoles as well as the Xbox application for Windows in early 2025.
With this new feature, Microsoft is getting closer to what Nvidia GeForce Now offers, which for several years has allowed players to stream their games from platforms like Steam or Epic Games Store, through a subscription. Coupled with the catalog offered and compatible with a wider number of devices, Xbox Cloud Gaming becomes one of the most interesting cloud video game services!
