What you need to know
- Right now, Xbox Cloud Gaming only supports games in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but that’s changing from November 2024.
- Xbox Cloud Gaming is finally getting the ability to purchase games to own outside of Game Pass, confirmed in a thread by Xbox President Sarah Bond.
- However, it won’t instantly give you access to your entire digital Xbox console game library, with the rollout set to be gradual over the coming weeks and months ahead.
It finally happened. The long-awaited rollout of buy-to-own Xbox games in the cloud is coming in November, 2024 (next month!), but there are some details well-worth knowing.
Microsoft first announced its long-term vision for Xbox Cloud Gaming as early as 2019, when it set out its goal to bring its entire Xbox games catalog to the cloud. Since then, we’ve been waiting an incredibly long time for confirmation of the program’s launch window, and Xbox President Sarah Bond posted in a thread just yesterday that the plan is finally going ahead. However, some details are still missing from the equation.
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In the thread above, Sarah Bond hailed the U.S. courts for its decision in a recent Google vs. Epic case, which forced Google to open up its app platform to third-party stores and goods sales. Google Play’s policies prevent platforms from selling content directly through their own apps, which is why, for example, you can’t buy Kindle books directly through the Kindle app on Android anymore. However, thanks to this U.S. court ruling, that will likely now change.
For Xbox, it means that Microsoft can begin selling Xbox games directly through its shiny new Xbox Android app in the United States. And while it seems Google has wiggled around the EU’s similar legislation on the topic, it probably won’t be long until the chips fall there too. Right now, you can only play Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games on Xbox Cloud Gaming. But from next month, you’ll be able to create your own cloud library using games from the Xbox Store as well.
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Indeed, one of the main questions I’ve had so far about this new feature is “what about iOS? what about outside of the United States?”
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Well first of all, right now, yes, our sources indicate that Android in the United States will be the only Xbox app version that gains this new capability, at least initially. Apple’s app platform is still (inexplicably) locked down, so don’t expect it on iOS. And Google may even overturn the previous decision on appeal. Google may even figure out some arbitrary fine-print way to throw the Xbox app out of the Google Play Store, like Google did when it revoked the YouTube app for Windows Phone API keys back in the day.
Yes, you will also need Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to access your cloud games — maintaining that server infrastructure ain’t cheap. But what if you don’t have an Android device?
It seems that Microsoft is planning to bring these features to Xbox.com/play on the web as well. So even if Google does somehow get around to sabotaging this feature, or you find yourself unlucky enough to have an iPhone, you should still be able to access your Xbox games via the web version. Additionally, the Xbox app on Amazon Fire Stick 4K ($29.99 at Amazon) devices and Samsung TVs that support Xbox Cloud Gaming are already based on the website, so they should get this functionality lit up as well around the same time.
It seems that additionally, even if Android in the United States is the only version with this functionality natively, the ability to play your own games via the cloud will roll out more broadly to other Xbox Cloud Gaming markets on Xbox.com/play. However, the exact timelines for this is unclear. It could be that initially, Microsoft starts with the United States, and then moves to light up other markets over time.
Another important point to note is that even in the United States, Xbox Cloud Gaming will not support your entire library of games at launch. One reason being that some publishers are simply going to opt out, because they have exclusive deals with other services perhaps, or maybe they’re seeking to build their own cloud platforms in the future. Another reason is more technical. Xbox’s cloud servers are based on Xbox hardware, and stream installations of cloud titles on the fly if necessary at times. I’ve been told in the past that when queues appear on Xbox Cloud Gaming, sometimes it’s due to the server node drawing the game down from network-attached storage, if it hasn’t been used recently by another player in that node.
Up until now, Xbox’s cloud servers have had an expected 300~ or so games available due to Xbox Game Pass, but now they plan to expand that catalog to thousands upon thousands of titles. That’s potentially terabytes of additional required network-attached storage, as such, the rollout of the existing Xbox Cloud Gaming library will arrive in batches I believe. This might look similar to how NVIDIA GeForce Now announces new games from Steam hitting its service as it cuts deals with license holders and expands its own storage facilities.
So yes, while the rollout won’t give you instantaneous access to your entire library at launch, it’s still an important step toward that future where you’ll be able to access all of your Xbox games, anywhere, at any time.
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A future in the Xbox cloud
In a universe where platform holders are trying to figure out where the next wave of growth will come from, cloud gaming seems to be a promising option. Players are increasingly cloud-based and digitized, as sales of physical media wane in the wake of the popularity of digital platforms like Steam, and even iOS and Android. People just expect their content to be available when moving between devices now, and that’s certainly the universe the next generation of potential consumers have grown up in.
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Xbox is hoping that it can be ahead of the curve in this nascent market, but significant challenges remain. Xbox Cloud Gaming and cloud gaming in general is very network-dependent. Even if you have good bandwidth coming in, you still need to make sure you’re running 5 GHz Wi-Fi to get the best experience, or even ethernet in some cases. Not everybody is willing or able to accommodate the requirements involved with cloud gaming. Given that Microsoft is targeting folk who are casual to the point of not wanting to own a home console at all, there’s certainly a gap to bridge when you consider the technical complexity of optimizing your home networking. Most enthusiasts are already buying Xbox Series X|S consoles or Windows PCs for native gaming anyway, making me wonder how much appeal something like cloud gaming might actually have with the console-eschewing audience.
Still, even if “cloud” simply becomes another way for core users to access their Xbox content, I’m all for it. I’m not sure Xbox Cloud Gaming will deliver the new audience Xbox is hoping for, but technological advancements with Wi-Fi and mobile networks could eliminate the accessibility gap. It’s crucial that Microsoft has a foot in the door if it does become more popular. And I’d say they have a pretty big foot in there already. It would be a nice addition for saving storage on an Xbox handheld … that’s for sure.