Xbox Cloud Gaming arrives for Insiders on Windows 10 PC Xbox App

By Samuel Tolbert
published

Another way to play for Insiders.

Project xCloud PC App
Project xCloud PC App (Image credit: Daniel Rubino | Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Xbox Cloud Gaming came to Windows 10 PCs and iOS devices earlier this year through a browser-based option.
  • Xbox Insiders can now access Xbox Cloud Gaming through the Xbox app.
  • Xbox Cloud Gaming is also available through an app on Android devices right now.

Microsoft announced via Xbox Wire (opens in new tab) on Monday that players enrolled in the Xbox Insider program can now access Xbox Cloud Gaming through the Xbox app on Windows 10 PC. Xbox Cloud Gaming rolled out to Windows 10 and iOS users earlier this year via browser-based option.

If you're in the Xbox Insider program, you just need to make sure the app is updated, then connect an Xbox controller through USB or Bluetooth. From there, you'll find an option in the app enabling you to choose a cloud game and start playing.

Xbox Cloud Gaming, formerly known as Project xCloud, also recently received an upgrade enabling 1080p 60 FPS streaming, with Xbox Series X server blades helping to power the service. The Xbox Series X optimized versions of some games are available to stream, meaning that when paired with the best phones or tablets for the service, players can have a high-quality experience playing while on the go.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is currently available for anyone subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which also includes Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass for PC and Xbox Live Gold.

Xbox Game Pass UltimateA catalog of games

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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

All your gaming needs, in one subscription.

Is the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate the best value in all of gaming? It's possible. Ultimate bundles your Xbox Live Gold subscription, an Xbox Game Pass subscription for both Xbox consoles and Windows PCs, and Xbox Cloud Gaming for on-the-go. That means access to hundreds of games, with more added all the time, for a single monthly subscription cost.

Samuel Tolbert
Samuel Tolbert

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.

15 Comments
  • Does anyone know if the app let's you Remote Play from your consoles too?
  • Yes, you are able to.
  • Awesome, thanks! I've been waiting for official support for this for almost two years now! Cloud Gaming may be the future, but in my experience it's still garbage compared to streaming from my own consoles (not to mention the game selection is paltry by comparison). My only remaining question is why I can't remotely play backwards compatible titles even when they're available for Cloud Streaming? Clearly they've negotiated the streaming license, so why limit them to the inferior stream experience offered by the cloud vs personal consoles?
  • You would be surprised, streaming works extremely well on PC compared with a phone
  • I've tried it on my wired desktop and on my laptop and even with Gigabit fiber Cloud Streaming is way less responsive and has more screen tearing, graphics artifacting, and stuttering than Remote Play. I'm probably just too far from the nearest xCloud data center, but it's still a terrible experience compared to streaming from my own consoles which look and feel like playing natively. When I was using the Test App I could even get 1080p 60fps streams from Remote Play, but Cloud Gaming never went above 720p 30fps. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
  • They should combine the two android apps into one app
  • Game Pass and Xbox? The thing is, you can be part of the Xbox ecosystem and not own a console. Or own a console and not have Game Pass.
  • Game Pass could just be a tab in the main xbox app. The Xbox app needs some serious work, you can't even buy games directly from the app, if you want to purchase off console/PC then you have to go to the website. Not exactly intuitive.
  • That's intentional. If they let you buy games in the mobile app they'd have to give Apple/Google a 30% cut since it would technically be an in-app purchase.
  • Ohhh, with the Xbox Series X being used now for their servers, I wonder if that means the gameplay will be better! It's been practically unusable for any fast action games and especially for multiplayer action games up to this point, even on fiber internet.
  • The wording is confusing here. Or something is not clear. I am an Xbox Insider on PC, I'm on preview for game bar and the xbox (game Pass) app. But didn't get any update for it, no xcloud options in it. Also, the blog post does say it's available in "all 22 regions" that are part of the Insider program. The list linked shows my country. Which up to today didn't have Xcloud availability. What does this mean? Do I have to pay for Ultimate to test this??? Very confusing, Microsoft style.
  • Yes, of course you need to be on ultimate to be able to us Xbox Cloud Gaming on pc.
  • You know what’s crazy? You can’t even do Xbox cloud gaming on Xbox without using the browser. Lol. I wanted to play Halo 5 but didn’t have space on my hard drive to install it, so I had use the browser and in a convoluted way just to stream a game to my Xbox. If they are going to release a game streaming device for tv’s they should atleast have a Xbox cloud streaming app on the Xbox itself.
  • AFAIK game streaming is coming to consoles natively at some point
  • I've been playing around with this for a while now and streaming via the desktop app is far better than via my phone TBH