Xbox is finally letting you cloud stream games you own, with some limits

By Carli Velocci Published November 20, 2024

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's new character. She's in a security uniform leaning against a railing with a fiery cityscape in the background. — CD Projekt Red

Years after Xbox promised that users could stream games they own through the cloud, the company is finally launching that functionality, albeit with some restrictions.

Starting Wednesday, Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will be able to use Xbox Cloud Gaming to stream games they already own, even if they’re not in the Game Pass catalog. However, they can only stream from a list of 50 supported games right now. You can view the full list on Xbox’s website, but it’s a good mix of titles, ranging from AAA releases like Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Outlaws, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to recent indies like Animal Well, Fear the Spotlight, and Dredge. This applies to any version of the game you own, like if you have Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.

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Recent reports claimed Xbox would be launching a test to Xbox Insiders first, but it seems that the plan is being skipped in favor of a smaller public launch.

The program is now available in the 28 countries that support Xbox Cloud Gaming. It’ll also work on just about any smart device with an internet connection. You can start streaming games on your smart TV, Meta Quest headset, mobile device, or PC through a supported browser (Edge, Chrome, or Safari).

If you’ve used Cloud Gaming before, the process for streaming games you own is similar. Just head over to Xbox’s website or sign into an Xbox app on your device, make sure you’re signed in, and look for the “Stream your own game” feature.

You might notice that you can’t stream games through an Xbox console or the Xbox app on PC just yet. The company says that functionality will be available sometime next year.

Xbox has been promising that players can stream games already in their libraries for years, basically since it started going public with its Game Pass and Cloud Streaming plans (back when it was called Project xCloud). Originally, the plan was to launch this capability in 2020. Xbox executive Ashley McKissick later said it would be coming to players in 2022 as long as the games are “cloud enabled.”

The company’s priority in regard to Game Pass has been to add more games to the platform and to expand the list of devices that can support it. It added it to Amazon Fire TVs earlier this year, for example. Hopefully, that means one day, even your T-shirt can use Xbox Game Pass.

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Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

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