Xbox cloud games launch in beta for PC and iOS

After Android mobile devices, cloud games Xbox (formerly xCloud) is finally coming to PC, iPhone, and iPad. However, it is only a select few Game Pass Ultimate subscribers that will have access initially.

Phil Spencer had promised it several months ago, it is finally a reality: the cloud games à la sauce Xbox is about to come out of the shackles of Android mobile devices, the only place where it was available until now. Starting Tuesday, April 20, 2021, Microsoft will launch a web application version of its service in closed beta, accessible through Edge, Google Chrome and Safari browsers. The cloud games Xbox thus gets a new compatibility not only with PCs, but also with iPhones and iPads. Access to this web application will initially only be possible by invitation, which the manufacturer will send at its discretion to certain Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, unfortunately without the possibility for interested users to show their enthusiasm and request access.

In doing so, Microsoft becomes the last of the major players in the cloud games, after Nvidia, Google and Amazon, to adopt the web application format to overcome Apple’s reluctance on the cloud games. In fact, Tim Cook’s company still stubbornly closes its App Store doors to game-on-demand streaming services. It is justified by the need for fairness between the games available on its platform, which should be subject to the same validation process, even if this requires surprisingly specific and complicated clauses to be included in the terms of use of the App Store, the Honesty seems very questionable.

This same web application format is also not trivial for use on a PC, as it makes the service accessible without having to install a specific client application on the machine. Students and workers with a computer provided by their school or employer, and whose administrator rights have been blocked, will no doubt be delighted.