(Microsoft Image)

Microsoft’s cloud gaming ambitions will take a big step forward later this year when the company launches its cloud gaming service on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles.

The service allows Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to test and play more than 100 high-end games directly from the cloud within a few minutes, without having to download anything onto their device.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is currently available on PCs and expanded to web browsers (mobile devices) in June.

Microsoft revealed the update during today’s Gamescom Xbox stream. The service will be part of the Xbox Insider program this fall. Some refer to it as the “Netflix of games” given that it lets users access a library of games via the cloud.

“It’s a way for console gamers to play some of their favorite games as quickly as possible, jump into games with friends more easily, and try out Xbox Game Pass titles before installing them,” Jake Rosenberg, a senior program manager at Xbox, wrote in a blog post.

Xbox Cloud Gaming originally debuted in late 2019 under the working title “Project xCloud,” as an additional invitation-only option for Ultimate-level Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Microsoft’s later attempts to bring the Game Pass to iOS via the Apple App Store were stymied back in September by a change in Apple’s terms of service, to which Microsoft reacted by looking to find browser-based solutions.

Microsoft is trying to make it easier for anyone, anywhere, to play games on Xbox. Between the Game Pass subscription service, Xbox Cloud Gaming, the All Access program, and bringing the Xbox app to other platforms like iOS, the Xbox itself is increasingly more of a concept than a console.

The company also recently announced that it plans to embed the Xbox experience directly into internet-connected TVs, requiring just a controller to play Xbox games. The tech giant is also working on a new standalone streaming device that plugs into a TV or monitor and lets people play Xbox games without a console.

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