Phil Spencer Confirms Major Xbox Cloud Gaming Feature Coming Soon

19.02.2024 - 03:05 / gamerant.com / Phil Spencer / Xbox Game Pass / Dominik Bo

Xbox Cloud Gaming should start allowing users to stream their own games sometime in 2024, according to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. Streaming enthusiasts have been waiting for this feature to be added to the Xbox service since its earliest days, back when it was still called xCloud.

The promise of its arrival dates back to November 2019, when X019 took place in London, just one month after Project xCloud entered public beta in the US, UK, and South Korea. The event saw Microsoft announce that its users would be able to stream both Game Pass titles and «Xbox games that they already own or will purchase» starting in 2020. Whether because the global pandemic was hot on the heels of that promise or due to some other reason, the following year only saw the company launch xCloud for the Game Pass library, later expanding its support to Fortnite.

Officially, Microsoft remains radio silent on the feature to this day. Unofficially, a recent Xbox chat exchange between Phil Spencer and one inquisitive fan saw the former reveal that the ability to stream purchased games «should» finally launch sometime in 2024. While the executive did not elaborate on the matter any further, it is safe to assume that streaming one's own library via Xbox Cloud Gaming will still require an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership.

Although the global pandemic likely didn't help speed up the process of adding this highly requested feature to the service, it's ostensibly not solely responsible for its four-year delay. The fact that Microsoft's cloud gaming ambitions drew a lot of regulatory scrutiny following its early 2022 agreement to acquire Activision Blizzard was plausibly a much bigger factor influencing the company's reluctance to make any aggressive moves in this space.

Other challenges that Microsoft has to overcome before it can allow users to stream their own game libraries aren't purely technical in nature. On the contrary, such offerings require a lot of legal legwork in the form of licensing agreements with third-party publishers. That is also why similar platforms like GeForce NOW are adding new games on a monthly basis, as new agreements are reached, instead of just allowing users to stream whatever they own.

The February 15 episode of the Official Xbox Podcast that was specifically focused on Microsoft's future gaming strategy was a good opportunity for the company to announce this long-awaited streaming service feature. Since its executives ended up mentioning nothing of the sort, it's plausible that streaming one's own games via Xbox Cloud Gaming won't be possible for at least another few months.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft's flagship game subscription service that offers over 100 game titles