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Xbox Cloud Gaming launches in beta on Xbox One & Series X/S consoles

Players can now access Xbox Game Pass games via the cloud on Xbox consoles.

TJ Denzer

November 17, 2021 4:20 PM

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Xbox Cloud Gaming has been one of the corner pieces of Xbox’s overall gaming service empire over the course of these last few years. The ability to stream Xbox Game Pass games from the cloud or your Xbox console to mobile devices, PCs, or other platforms has proven to be a promising and versatile service. Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming has finally rolled out on consoles, allowing players to play Xbox Game Pass games from the cloud without having to download the game to their machine.

Xbox announced the rollout of the Xbox Cloud Gaming beta on consoles in an Xbox Wire blog post on November 17, 2021. According to the post, Xbox Cloud Gaming has rolled out on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles in around 25 regions. With this service enabled, players on Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S can now play games from Xbox Game Pass without having to install them first. It will go a long way in helping keep hard drive space free for the things you actually want on your Xbox.

This is a follow-up on the announcement that Xbox Cloud Gaming was coming to consoles several months ago. The service has already been available via smartphones, tablets, and PCs, but console was one of the further-down-the-line platforms Microsoft was preparing Xbox Cloud Gaming for. Given that one can already access the Xbox Game Pass on Xbox consoles, the need for Xbox Cloud Gaming is arguably a bit niche, but it was a requested feature nonetheless. In particular, though, Xbox One owners benefit from Xbox Cloud Gaming in that they can stream and play Xbox Series X/S versions of games or even games that are exclusive to Series X/S on Xbox One via the service now.

With Xbox Cloud Gaming having launched in beta on consoles, there are still likely some kinks to work out before Xbox calls it a true 1.0 launch. That said, stay tuned for further details and updates as they become available, right here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.