Microsoft Brings xCloud Game Streaming to Windows PCs Using Xbox App

Xbox Project xCloud Windows and IOS
(Image credit: Xbox)

Microsoft has today announced that the company is finally pushing Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is in beta, to the Xbox app for Windows. More specifically, it is available for Xbox insiders.

Microsoft's xCloud project is a game streaming service powered by Xbox consoles in the company's data centers. Currently, over 100 games are supported if you have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions.

Today's announcement allows Microsoft to finally give Xbox Insider program users the ability to run the xCloud gaming service on their Xbox App. Beforehand, PC players had to use the browser. The same games that Microsoft makes available on the browser will be available in the "cloud games" portion of the Xbox app.

Jason Beaumont, partner director of Xbox experiences, wrote that the Xbox app will provide some feature to differentiate it from the browser, "including
easy-to-access information on controller and network status, social features to stay connected with friends, and the ability to invite people – even those also playing on cloud without the game installed – to join you in a game."

The Xbox Cloud Gaming service allows gamers to stream more than 100 games. Whether you have an older machine, or the latest PC without a strong GPU, all you need is a compatible controller and internet connection to run the service.

In case you are not part of the Xbox Insider Program, you can check out this website to get information on how you can access the xCloud service on your device. In case you are not a part of the supported 22 countries listed on the website here, you would have to wait until Microsoft rolls out the service to your region as well.