Microsoft’s Project xCloud streaming service will join Xbox Game Pass Ultimate this September, for no extra cost to subscribers of the latter service, the company announced today. Xbox head Phil Spencer made the announcement in a blog post detailing its promises about how its products and services will work as the industry switches to a new console generation.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will have access to “over 100 Xbox Game Pass titles on your phone or tablet,” and those will also work for online play over Xbox Live.
Microsoft first announced Project xCloud back in October 2018, and it has long been in a public preview. It’s unclear if xCloud will get any new branding or will simply be listed as a cloud option in tablet or phone apps. In the preview, xCloud only worked with Android phones, so we’ll see whether or not the service comes to iOS.
Game Pass Ultimate costs $14.99 per month, works on Xbox consoles and Windows 10 PCs and includes an Xbox Live Gold membership. Now, that will include xCloud. (PC or console subscriptions alone are cheaper, but don’t include Live).
Spencer reiterated some other promises, including that peripherals like the Xbox Elite Controller and Xbox Adaptive Controller will work with Xbox Series X and a commitment to backwards compatibility. Additionally, he wrote that “[w]e won’t force you to upgrade to Xbox Series X at launch to play Xbox exclusives,” seemingly a shot at Sony’s PlayStation 5, which is scheduled to have exclusives that won’t be on the PlayStation 4 at launch.
Spencer also wrote that games will “look and play best on Xbox Series X.” We’ll see about that when the console releases this fall.
