xCloud Joins Game Pass Ultimate On 15th September

After a long beta period and only being available to registered Xbox Insiders, xCloud is now coming to Game Pass Ultimate.

From the 15th September, subscribers will have full and instant access to nearly everything in the Game Pass library, available on any compatible device.

Over 100 games will be available at launch, including Minecraft Dungeons, Destiny 2, Tell Me Why, Gears 5, Yakuza Kiwami 2, and more. Additionally, as part of Microsoft’s commitment to releasing all first-party Xbox Game Studios titles to Game Pass on their launch day, this means you don’t even need an Xbox console or PC to play their exclusive games, just a valid account and Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

All the experiences you expect on Xbox and your gaming profile travel with you on mobile, including your friends list, achievements, controller settings, and saved game progress.

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Can I get xCloud?

To play games on your Android tablet or phone (we’re not sure if or when xCloud will be coming to iOS), you can download the app from the Google Play Store, Samsung Galaxy Store, or the ONE Store. Once installed, simply connect to an Xbox account with Game Pass Ultimate and off you go.

At launch, xCloud with Game Pass Ultimate will be available for Android devices in 22 markets across the world, including; Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. More territories will be added as the service continues.

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xCloud System/Device Requirements:

To use xCloud, you will need a phone or tablet running Android 6.0 or higher, Bluetooth 4.0 or higher, a strong WiFi/4g/5g or higher network connection, and a Bluetooth-enabled controller (Xbox One Bluetooth Controller, PS DualShock 4, or one of many compatible third-party controllers).

The beauty of xCloud is that it will work on very modestly specced devices. The biggest influence on the quality of experience is the stability and speed of your wireless connection. xCloud will run at speeds of as low as 7-10 Mb/s and still turn in a solid performance. More important is the speed of the connection and the ping from your network to the cloud servers. 5GHz WiFi to a high-speed fibre connection will yield the best results, though we still enjoyed a playable experience using 4g – be warned, it uses up a lot of data, so if you are on a limited data plan it can chew through it alarmingly fast.

From our use, the connection while on a home network has been great. Latency (the delay in moving the controller and seeing the movement on screen) has been for the most part, quite acceptable. Very fast-paced competitive games, like first-person shooters or sports games, are playable, but it’s easy to become frustrated when you can’t react as fast as those playing on Xbox consoles or PC. For single-player games or titles that don’t rely on very fast reactions, though, it’s a great experience.

Connections via mobile data have been more inconsistent. We have experienced occasional drop-out, and often the image quality tanks if your connection speed fluctuates, resulting in a stuttering and pixellated mess. When in a strong signal area, it’s very good, but where I live the connection quality is spotty, so if you’re relying on mobile data make sure your speeds in your area are up to it before committing.

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For more information, please visit www.xbox.com/gamepass.