2022 has proven to be a breakout year for Xbox Game Pass and for Xbox Cloud Gaming in particular. The service gained over a hundred games and improved significantly in terms of streaming fidelity. What does 2023 have in store for Xbox Cloud Gaming? Let’s break it down!
More Great Games
Xbox Game Pass had an amazing 2022 in terms of game availability, and there is no doubt 2023 should be just as spectacular. One area where Xbox struggled in 2022 was in exclusive titles, but 2023 looks jam-packed with amazing titles. We are expecting most (if not all of these) to hit Game Pass and the Xbox Cloud on day one. Perhaps the single most anticipated title is Starfield from Bethesda – a AAA game that has been in the works for several years.
We know for certain that Age of Empires II definitive edition and Age of Empire 4 will be hitting the cloud platform early in the year. And, we also know that the very popular Hot Wheels Unleashed is set to come to Game Pass and the cloud while Monster Hunter Rise is on its way to Game Pass. While, Xbox doesn’t announce most Game Pass games in advance, it is a safe bet that most Xbox exclusive titles will arrive this way.
Stream Games You Already Own
This is actually a little bit overdue at this point. Back in June, Xbox leadership stated that Xbox Cloud Gaming would soon let Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers stream not just current Game Pass games but also a subset of games they own outright.
We think that this will likely start with games that have previously been available on Xbox Cloud Gaming but became unavailable as they left Xbox Game Pass. This would include over a hundred additional games. Here are some that have recently left in November, December and upcoming in January.
Even if it starts with this limited scope, it’ll be great to see users have the ability to purchase and continue streaming games as they leave the Game Pass subscription. This will steadily increase the Xbox Cloud Gaming library. And, it won’t take long for the library to surpass other cloud gaming services.
Xbox Chat & Parties
The Xbox Game Pass apps (and web apps) appear to be poised to get their own bonafied chat and party clients. This means people won’t need an Xbox or the official Xbox app to chat with Xbox friends and enjoy all the multiplayer niceties the platform has to offer.
This isn’t a rumor… this functionality is right there waiting in the Xbox Cloud Gaming app when you enable “Preview features”.
It’s great to see that the cloud gaming apps will achieve feature parity with what console players have in terms of a multiplayer experience.
More Screens
You can definitely play Xbox Cloud Gaming on a lot of devices already.
- Consoles (Xbox Series + One)
- Anything with a browser (PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, Cashier Stations, etc.)
- Mobile Phones (iOS and Android)
- Smart TVs (officially just Samsung for now w/ others unofficially supported through browsers or the Android app)
But, we also know that Xbox Cloud Gaming will be available on Meta’s Quest VR devices in 2023. The category where we’d like to see the most growth in 2023 is Smart TVs. We haven’t had any official indication that bonafide Android TV, Fire TV, LG Web OS apps are on the way. But, Phil Harrison has presented a vision where the Xbox gaming apps are eventually ubiquitous on all your screens. It is likely we’ll see some additional movement in this area in 2023.
What are you most looking forward to in terms of Xbox Cloud Gaming in 2023? Is it new games? New features? Both?
I just want to use my keyboard and mouse to play Xbox Cloud games on PC 🙁