There have been reports that Microsoft plans to start allowing gamers to stream titles from their own Xbox game libraries next month. This would finally fulfill a key part of the Project xCloud plan, which has been repeatedly delayed as the service morphed into Xbox Cloud Gaming within Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
The Verge reports that what is known at Microsoft as Project Lapland is finally coming to an end. Although this will still go through the standard public testing process, starting with Xbox Insiders in November and gradually expanding to more users and more games.
This will accompany Microsoft’s announced update to the Xbox mobile app for Android, which is expected to enable in-app game purchases in the US – something Microsoft may do following a court ruling this week that forced Google to allow other billing methods in the Play Store November 1st.
When the service was still known as Project xCloud in 2019, Microsoft confirmed its intention to allow users to start streaming purchased games in 2020. While Xbox Cloud Gaming itself launched in 2020, purchased streaming has been pushed back to 2022. …but it never materialized. Cloud gaming has always been constrained to games from the Xbox Game Pass library, and even then it wasn’t completely universal.
Microsoft has taken a dainty, dainty approach to the Cloud Gaming rollout, starting with just 50 games and having constrained touch control support in select games. It’s grown a lot since then, so now almost every game available on Game Pass is also available on the cloud. Still, having a curated set of a few hundred games available for streaming is a huge difference from having thousands of games.
Of course, there is the technical challenge of making all game data available on all servers, having to test for compatibility, and weeding out games that simply don’t handle streaming well, but there are also licensing issues. The Verge claims that some publishers are holding back certain games due to licensing or contract requirements.
Overall, this will be a great solution for gamers who want to play off-menu with Game Pass while away from their main console. Let’s say you want to play Space Marine 2 (which isn’t included in Game Pass) over Christmas, but you can’t take the Series X home to your family home or watch TV. This would allow you to perform several operations.
Source: Edge
