That’s why Microsoft is bringing the Xbox app to Samsung TVs, allowing you to enjoy a true console-style gaming experience in your living room without actually having to buy a console. But let’s be real: These games are meant to be played on a TV. Microsoft’s popular gaming subscription service lets you stream games from the cloud to almost any device with a screen, making it easy to get a quick Halo, Forza or Gears of War session going on your phone, tablet or laptop.

We’ve long considered Xbox Game Pass to be the best value in gaming, partially because you don’t actually need an Xbox to enjoy it. Xbox Cloud Gaming seems like it might have a better shot than most given that it's being added as a feature to a service, Xbox Game Pass, that people already use and understand.Your CNN account Log in to your CNN account But it's probably also because the people who want to play big budget games, and who have heard of cloud gaming services, are probably also people who already own good gaming PCs or consoles they can play on natively. The tech has struggled to find an audience partly because you need a heck of a good internet connection to be able to stream games without input lag. (Hello to the three Stadia stans about to try to convince me that their preferred service is doing great, actually.) Shadow, which gave you access to an entire PC in the cloud, filed for bankrupty last month Nvidia's GeForce Now service continues although recently doubled its price and Google's Stadia also continues but has had a rocky start. They hope to open the service up to all members in 'the coming months.'Ĭloud gaming has a stop-start history on PC, with plenty of services launching and almost as many closing down without finding an audience. This is a limited beta, so invites will be sent out to players gradually as Microsoft gather feedback. Invitees will be able to play over 100 Xbox Game Pass games through Chrome, Safari or Microsoft's own Edge browser. Microsoft announced the beta's launch earlier today. What this means is that some paying subscribers of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will be invited to a closed beta whereby they can play games in their web browser, without the need for a lengthy download and install beforehand. Microsoft have been dipping their toes into cloud streaming games for a while now, but today sees the launch of an Xbox Cloud Gaming beta for Windows 10 PCs.

Xbox game pass streaming pc