Microsoft’s xCloud comes to iPhone, Android, PCs, with more than 100 Xbox games

Microsoft has now made its xCloud service available on the iPhone, Macs, iPad, PCs, etc. The company announced on Monday that the cloud gaming service had started rolling out to compatible devices so if your device meets the hardware requirements for xCloud, you will be able to play Xbox games on it, with the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription of course. So far, the xCloud has been an invite-only service and Microsoft has now rolled it out to 22 countries.

Now, can you play all the Xbox games? Essentially, yes. Since cloud gaming does not require specific hardware, a large number of devices can access it and the games. You can play Xbox games on browsers like Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, etc, and also on Macs. However, these games will have to be a part of the cloud gaming category under the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. There is also support for iPhone and iPads and you can access xCloud through the Safari browser. As far as game controls are concerned, Microsoft says that players will have the option to choose between a controller or touch controls.

“With billions of active Windows 10 PCs, iOS devices, and Android phones, we want you to have new opportunities to play the deepest, most immersive games whenever and wherever you choose. Simply put, we’re bringing the Xbox experience directly to the devices you use most,” said Catherine Gluckstein, Vice President & Head of Product, Xbox Cloud Gaming, in the announcement post.

As this service rolls out, about 100 games are available to be played and you can use touch controls or play with Bluetooth or USB controllers. Microsoft mentioned in the announcement that the xCloud games are powered by custom Xbox Series X hardware so players will be able to stream games at 1080p at up to 60fps, but of course, you need a very good internet connection for this. The company recommends at least 10Mbps with 5GHz frequency to be able to play the xCloud games best. The streaming is capped at a maximum resolution of 1080p for now, but Microsoft has said that they are going to add more features so it is possible that we might get 4K at 60fps in the future.

Microsoft’s xCloud gaming service is not available in India yet, but the company is expected to roll it out in the future since the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is available here.