Microsoft announces that public access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for cloud gaming will start on September 15 with more than a 100 games in your library to play from your smartphone or from another supported endpoint.
Out of the 90 million Xbox Live gamers, Microsoft currently has more than 10 million Game Pass subscribers, which comes with a monthly cost of roughly 14.99 USD per user. This includes access to a variety of games that you can play on your Xbox, PC, or now also on your Android smartphone. New games are swapped in, and old ones are swapped out of the service as you are familiar with from similar service subscriptions like Amazon Prime Video.
Play wherever you have Internet access
The cloud gaming and streaming app, enabled by Project xCloud, has been in a closed testing phase before and will soon allow Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service subscribers to play on the go. To play modern console-grade games on the go without compromise in the quality and without latency issues was one of the promises given from 5G service providers, and soon you can test it out yourself.
By leveraging such a cloud gaming service, gamers are likely to also reveal new ways of playing together wherein they have previously been restricted by gaming hardware. With this step, they are, next to Google Stadia, among the pioneers of high-end mobile gaming, and we are keen to see how the users will adapt to the new possibilities.
No iOS but PS4 controller support
There are currently no mentions of iOS support, which means that you will need an Android device if you want to play Xbox games in the cloud on your phone or tablet. It is, however, interesting to notice that you will not only be able to play with on-screen touch buttons or the original Xbox One Bluetooth Wireless controller but also with the PlayStation DualShock 4 controller if paired with your phone. Other than the console controllers, you will also be able to play with officially supported third-party accessories such as the Razer Kishi and other gadgets.
Not all of our predictions for the future are met, but we are close to what has been forecasted in articles such as “Is the Gaming Hardware Industry about to Get Killed by Cloud Computing?“. The only thing missing now is Amazon waking up to these developments and building out their own cloud gaming services that complement their Twitch streaming offering, but there are no signs of that as of now.
YouTube: Play over 100 Xbox games on Android mobile with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on September 15
Source: Kareem Choudhry (Xbox news post) / Cian Maher (VG247)
