Microsoft's 'Netflix-for-Gaming' Service Launches on iPhone and PC This Week

Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service, previously known as xCloud, will begin rolling out in beta to iPhones, iPads and PCs this week. The service will be invite-only to start, Microsoft said in a blog post on Monday. From a report: Xbox Cloud Gaming was on track to launch for iPhones and iPads earlier, but Apple updated its App Store rules in September that impacted services like Xbox Gaming and Google Stadia. Apple's move forced the companies to use web browsers to redesign their services so that they could circumvent the App Store rules. Under the rules, Microsoft, Google and other companies with similar services would have had to offer each game as an individual download instead of offering a complete library the way Netflix does for movies.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is sort of like Netflix for games. People who subscribe to Microsoft's $14.99/month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate plan can access more than 100 titles. The cloud gaming aspect lets you stream the games without having to download them, provided you have a fast enough internet connection. The streaming option is already available for Android phones.

xMeh

[TimothyHollins]

I assume more games are coming, but right off the bat it doesn't sound like a good deal when Sony offers exactly the same thing with 800 games for $10 a month (or $5 if you buy 12 months at a time).
It's also worth noting that combined platform solutions never ever ever work well.

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[Hodr]

They aren't charging $14.99 for this service, it's included in Game Pass Ultimate. Kind of like most people don't buy Prime for the video service.

Ha! but Grr

[DarkRookie2]

I hate that they are pushing this and the idiot mouth breathers are buying into it.
It is too expensive for the lack of library and all the issues it comes with.

Can you also download them? really don't want the

[Joe_Dragon]

Can you also download them? really don't want the lag and for some that data overages / hit your slow down point and be capped at an speed that can't game.

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[Aqualung812]

Yeah, if you have a PC or Xbox that can handle them. It's already an option to do that.
I'm excited to do this because I already pay for this service just for the Xbox catalog.
I'm not going to play any lag-sensitive games, but something like No Man's Sky or Fallout would be great on it.

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[DarkRookie2]

Couple of bad examples you mentioned. Unless you mean FO1+2. 3 and NV need smooth gameplay. Its buggy enough as is. Also, why they both might not normally be twitchy shooters like CoD and Halo, they are still times it can turn into one. Sucks to die when your video 1/10th sec behind the action.

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[nullforce]

You can for Game Pass games. This (formerly xCloud) is streaming. xCloud is included in a Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Will it work the same way as Netflix

[bobstreo]

With items from the store just disappearing, and a severe downward slope of total content over time?

want old games need the disney vault add on

[Joe_Dragon]

want old games need the disney vault add on

Why can't we have nice things?

[jellomizer]

Back in the old days, we would have a bunch of cartridges, or CD's (for those youngans out there) that we would buy and then own. We could play these games for as long as we would like, then after no longer spark our interest, we could trade them with a friend for an other game they got tired of. You could sell them in a yard sale and get some of your money back, or trade them back at a game stop or something else... The thing is it was yours and it had value.
A subscription means when you are done with it, that is is 14 bucks a month that you will not get back, or be able to trade for.

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[DontBeAMoran]

And there was no DRM bullshit either. If you can find an Intellivision from ~1985 that's still working, you can still play games on it 35 years later. For comparison, you can't even play some console games from 2016 anymore since they can't connect to a server that's no longer online.

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[UnknownSoldier]

> And there was no DRM bullshit either

True, but we did have copy protection. Or I should say "attempts" at copy protection because (almost?) every game that had copy protection was probably "kracked" at some point. Who knew pirates were actually preserving history -- otherwise these obscure titles would be lost to the annuls of time.

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[Slyfox696]

Back in the old days, we would have a bunch of cartridges, or CD's (for those youngans out there) that we would buy and then own. We could play these games for as long as we would like, then after no longer spark our interest, we could trade them with a friend for an other game they got tired of. You could sell them in a yard sale and get some of your money back, or trade them back at a game stop or something else... The thing is it was yours and it had value. A subscription means when you are done with it, that is is 14 bucks a month that you will not get back, or be able to trade for.

This is all 100% true and it certainly is a valid argument. On the flip side, however, if you average playing a game for 14 days (and play no other game during those 14 days), you can play roughly 2 games a month for $15. That comes out to 24 games a year at $180/year. Using the "old days" system, that $180 would be 3 games at new prices (~$60 a game) or 6 games at half price (~$30 a game).

In other words, you can play far more games at the same price, which is nice if you like playing a variety of games. An

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[Surak_Prime]

And games can be patched on their servers, which is admittedly a curse as well as a blessing, but it does mean no more "King's Quest VII" situations where a buggy game was purchased buggy and never fully fixed - or at least not in anything like a timely or convenient way.

And speaking of ET - how much of that $14/month would or at least theoretically should go to running the landfills for all of the outdated and unwanted plastic, circuitry, and packaging that isn't involved in an online streaming scenario?

Do

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[Darinbob]

Hm, I replayed Fallout 4 recently, started in November I think, fnished in April. Which is a replay. $15/month for me is a massive increase in budget on games to be honest. You can't amortize the cost of your game over time, you won't see a game with 3 hours of total gameplay as being a waste of money or a game with 500 hours of game play as a great value.

Now this may make sense for the people who think renting the same copy of Frozen for their kids to watch every day to keep them from screaming is a bet

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[Slyfox696]

Hm, I replayed Fallout 4 recently, started in November I think, fnished in April. Which is a replay. $15/month for me is a massive increase in budget on games to be honest. You can't amortize the cost of your game over time, you won't see a game with 3 hours of total gameplay as being a waste of money or a game with 500 hours of game play as a great value.

And before my life got crazy busy this spring, I used Game Pass to play Streets of Rage 4 ($25 on Steam right now), No Man's Sky ($60), one of the Gears of War game ($20 on MS), OOTP 21 ($20), and Subnautica ($30), all within a 3 month span (~$155). I beat SoR4 multiple times (though I didn't finish unlocking everything), grew bored with No Man sky and Subnautica, and got too busy to play Gears and OOTP.

We can swap anecdotal evidence, no doubt, but to ignore the incredible value it has to gamers who wish t

Yeah....we all miss those shelves of VHS movies!

[Somervillain]

Back in the old days, we would have a bunch of cartridges, or CD's (for those youngans out there) that we would buy and then own. We could play these games for as long as we would like, then after no longer spark our interest, we could trade them with a friend for an other game they got tired of. You could sell them in a yard sale and get some of your money back, or trade them back at a game stop or something else... The thing is it was yours and it had value. A subscription means when you are done with it, that is is 14 bucks a month that you will not get back, or be able to trade for.

Not sure why you're complaining. Want physical copies?...buy some. Want to stream?...do that. Choices are not bad, even if they don't add value for you. For me? I never want to own a game, just play them...same with movies. I have never bought a DVD. Once I've watched a movie, I don't want to watch it again for a very long time and 99% of movies I watch I never want to see again....even if they're good. Once is good enough for me.

Some see a shelf full of VHS movies and get warm fuzzy feelings. I

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[kingbilly]

I agree, or at the very least I've got a hybrid view to points both of you made.

I absolutely don't want a collection of stuff. However, I do buy first-party Switch titles since I know that when I am finished, I can sell it back for at least 85%. Think of it as a poor-man's subscription.
On the other side of the coin - agreed - Nintendo rarely has sales as good as on PC, and too many games are missing a demo.

I could easily get comfy with a GOOD subscription service on Switch, while still buying a physical

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[Merk42]

Oh wow, any game on Xbox Cloud Gaming isn't also alternatively available as a stand-alone purchase?

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[dissy]

Back in the old days, we would have a bunch of cartridges, or CD's (for those youngans out there) that we would buy and then own.

Back in those old days, some of us got a monthly subscription at our local video rental store, where you could "check out" up to 3 movies and 2 games, play them up to a month, then return them and check out others.

Back in the old days, not all of us could afford throwing away $40 on a game we never heard of only to turn around and try selling it for $4.
We also didn't want or couldn't afford a nintendo power magazine subscription.

The renting model was great since for $10 you could try out TONS of games, find

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[bloodhawk]

back in the old days I could never afford to play as many different games as I liked. I was reliant on having friends with games I wanted to trade and would still spend more than $180 a year on games, hell I would sometimes spend that in a month. The gamepass has its pros and cons, but price is definitely NOT a con.

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[antdude]

Also if the game's online service ends, then the game dies too.

Netflix for

[enriquevagu]

Subscription service.

You're welcome.

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[lauwss]

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