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Microsoft bringing Project xCloud to Game Pass for free

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate owners will get Microsoft's cloud gaming service free of charge this Fall.

Donovan Erskine

July 16, 2020 8:55 AM

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Head of Xbox himself Phil Spencer made a blog on Xbox's website where he shared a crop of new details about the Series X and other Xbox-related services. In the post, Spencer breaks the news that Project xCloud, Microsoft’s cloud gaming service, will be available for Xbox Games Pass Ultimate subscribers for free this September. 

Microsoft is scheduled to have its major Series X event in just one week, where they’re set to showcase a bunch of new games. The event will be solely focused on games, so Microsoft wanted to get some console and tech related announcements out ahead of time. Project xCloud allows players to stream their games to different devices, such as smartphones. Over 100 Game Pass titles will be eligible for xCloud use when the service becomes available for Game Pass Ultimate owners in September.

This will also include newly released Xbox Game Studio titles that launch on Game Pass. Meaning that you can play Halo Infinite this holiday on your iPad, if that’s your kind of thing. Xbox Live will allow players to take the xCloud experience online as well. 

Cloud gaming certainly seems to be the inevitable future of video games. We’ve already seen streaming take over other mediums of entertainment, such as television and film. Recently, we saw Google Stadia take a big swing at the concept of a fully digital gaming experience. As we transition into the next-generation of consoles, it’ll be fascinating to see how the big players adapt cloud gaming into their services. 

The post from Phil Spencer also revealed that every Xbox One game that isn’t tailored for the Kinect will be backwards compatible on the Series X at launch. Come back to Shacknews on July 23 where we’ll have all of the latest news out of Microsoft’s reveal event.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_