Xbox Game Pass Will Support xCloud This Year--Here's Why That's A Big Deal

Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service--which features a catalog of more than 100 games and growing--will be added to the xCloud streaming service later this year.

In a blog post today, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed the news. "Later this year our cloud game streaming technology, Project xCloud, will come to Game Pass--so you and your friends can stream and play the games you love together on your devices," he said.

This news is not altogether surprising, given that Microsoft announced in November 2019 that game-streaming from the cloud was coming to Xbox Game Pass.

Xbox Game Pass support for xCloud is a big deal because it moves one step closer to making Xbox Game Pass the elusive "Netflix of games." Currently, all Xbox Game Pass titles must be downloaded, which can take time. But with xCloud support, titles will presumably load right away because the games are streamed. It's exciting to think about being able to try a game from the Game Pass library right away, without waiting, especially when game file sizes today can be so massive.

It's still early days for xCloud, as it's still only described as by its working title--Project xCloud. It's available to testers in some parts of the world, and Microsoft's latest numbers show that hundreds of thousands of people are using it already in its early state.

As for Xbox Game Pass, it's performing well, recently passing 10 million paying subscribers. The service will be worked into the Xbox Series X in some capacity as well.