Microsoft has announced that its streaming service Project xCloud is finally coming to Android mobile devices on September 15.
The service will allow users to stream over 100 games available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at no additional cost added to their subscription. The announcement post on the Xbox Wire says this is still technically “in beta,” so expect some issues as the team hashes out how to best optimize the service on your phone or tablet. The launch will begin in 22 countries, including the following:
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.
With the beta launch on the way, the preview that has been ongoing since last year will conclude on September 11. So if you’ve been playing Xbox games on your phone regularly, there’s going to be a four day gap where Project xCloud goes offline for a bit. If the thought of playing these games on your phone sounds enticing to you and you’re not already an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, the service costs $14.99 a month, and gives you access to a sizable, rotating catalog of games, including some pretty big names like Destiny 2, Yakuza Kiwami 2, and Fallout 76. Microsoft is also bringing all of the Xbox Game Studios games to the service on day one, meaning that if you’d like to play Halo Infinite on your phone when it launches, this is a way to do that.
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If you’re thinking about trying Project xCloud on your phone or tablet, it might be worth looking into controller setup, such as a clip to attach your phone to your controller so it’s at least somewhat comparable to a handheld device. But you can also just connect an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 controller to your mobile device through a bluetooth connection.
With Project xCloud, Microsoft continues toward its goal to get the Xbox brand on as many devices as possible, but from the sound of it, this dream stops at the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. According to Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, the company’s competitors just don’t have any interest in having the Xbox experience on their devices. Which, in theory, seems fair, because they’re competitors in the market, not typically partners. But it seems like it would, in the long run, add more value to their devices over buying an Xbox, as they would have both their own libraries and Xbox’s as well, but it doesn’t seem like you’re going to be playing the next Gears of War on a PlayStation or Nintendo console in the near future. However, you can play them on PC, as Microsoft has pretty much made Windows a pillar of its games division, with everything that comes out of Xbox Game Studios coming to both Xbox consoles and PC at launch.
