Following its announcement during Gamescom earlier this year, Microsoft has finally begun to roll out Xbox Cloud Gaming for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. The beta service will allow users to play titles from the Xbox Game Pass cloud library without directly downloading them. The feature will also seamlessly let users play any available game together, even if one friend doesn't own the title.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is available to anyone with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription that lives in one of the 25 regions Microsoft decided to launch first. According to Microsoft, the rollout will begin this month "to a subset of Xbox gamers and scale to all gamers in supported markets over the coming weeks." Brazil can expect support for the service "coming soon."
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Xbox One users will experience specific next-generation titles only available for Xbox Series X|S through the service, such as Recompile, The Medium, and The Riftbreaker. In addition, Microsoft says Flight Simulator isn't available yet but will arrive on the cloud game library in early 2022.
Allowing older Xbox consoles access to next-generation titles only enforces Microsoft's aim of letting consumers experience its software via the cloud, no matter the limitations. Xbox Cloud Gaming, originally dubbed Project xCloud, was initially released in April as an invite-only beta for iOS and PC before Game Pass Ultimate subscribers gained access in June.
Microsoft has provided several innovative ways to play some of the latest titles without a current console. It appears the company isn't pressuring its users to upgrade hardware any time soon to play its exclusive games, and given the current climate of snagging products at retail, that's a good thing.
