E3 2019 Xbox briefing

Microsoft’s xCloud game streaming service launches in October

xCloud will be available in October as preview. It'll support every Xbox One title, and you'll be able to use your console as an xCloud server.

Although Microsoft isn’t sharing all the information about its new game streaming service, xCloud, during its E3 Xbox briefing, the company revealed a number of new details about the service.

According to the company, xCloud will launch sometime in October 2019 (as preview), and no surprising, the game streaming service will allow anyone to play Xbox titles on multiple devices, including on your computer, tablet, laptop, phone, and of course, your TV — just like with Google Stadia.

Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of xCloud that you’ll also be able to stream games directly from your console. The ability to stream games from an Xbox console has been available for a long time, but it was limited to the local network and on a Windows 10 computer. Microsoft has to share more details on how it’ll leverage the cloud to offer a good remote play experience from your other devices and from outside the local network.

Out of the game, Project xCloud will support every Xbox One title, which includes more than 3500 games.

While cloud game streaming service was part of the briefing, the company didn’t unveil many specific details, such as hardware and internet requirements, expected latency, pricing, or how the subscription will work.

Microsoft’s xCloud is expected to compete directly with Sony’s PlayStation Network and Google’s new Stadia service. Google recently unveiled that its Stadia cloud will go live in November, and while it’ll cost $9.99, there’ll be a free tier of the service.  

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.