What you need to know
- Xbox Cloud Gaming finally gets buy-to-own games.
- A few years ago, Microsoft announced its intent to add games to Xbox Cloud Gaming that you would be able to purchase and play at any time.
- The feature took a long, long time to materialize, but we're finally here.
- Xbox Cloud Gaming "Bring Your Own Game" feature goes live today on Xbox.com/play and the TV web app, with Xbox app for PC and Xbox consoles coming early next year.
- The initial selection adds 50 games to purchase for cloud, including titles like Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, Balatro, Space Marine 2, Baldur's Gate 3, and Cyberpunk 2077.
Xbox Cloud Gaming finally gets its most highly anticipated feature.
They say late is better than never, and nothing exemplifies that in the Xbox universe than Microsoft's long-promised "bring your own games" feature for Xbox Cloud Gaming. All the way back in 2012, we reported that Microsoft had shown off an internal demo showcasing the future of Xbox gaming, which was Halo 5 running on a Windows Phone. Sadly, Windows Phone is no longer with us (RIP), but Xbox Cloud Gaming sure is.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is Microsoft's answer to NVIDIA GeForce Now, giving users access to a few hundred games via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription on Xbox.com/play. A ton of games in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate are available with Xbox Cloud Gaming, giving you access to play dozens of titles on any device with a web browser, including Apple's iPad, phones, Amazon Fire Stick, and even some Samsung TVs. A few dozen games even have touch controls, meaning you don't need an Xbox controller or one of the various Xbox Cloud Gaming mobile controllers to play.
Previously, you were limited to games that were part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to play on Xbox Cloud Gaming, but that ends today. In a post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft revealed that from this week, they're adding 50 games from the company's back catalog as playable via the cloud.
The full list of buy-to-own Xbox Cloud Games (so far) is as follows:
- Animal Well
- Assassin's Creed Mirage
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
- Balatro
- Baldur's Gate 3
- Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- The Casting of Frank Stone
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
- DREDGE
- Dying Light 2 Stay Human
- Farming Simulator 25
- Fear the Spotlight
- FINAL FANTASY XIV Online
- FINAL FANTASY
- FINAL FANTASY II
- FINAL FANTASY III
- FINAL FANTASY IV
- FINAL FANTASY V
- FINAL FANTASY VI
- Hades
- Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions
- High On Life
- HITMAN World of Assassination
- Hogwarts Legacy
- House Flipper 2
- Kena: Bridge of Spirits
- Lego(R) Harry Potter (TM) Collection
- Life is Strange: Double Exposure
- Metro Exodus
- Mortal Kombat 1
- NBA 2K25
- PGA TOUR 2K23
- Phasmaphobia
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
- Rust Console Edition
- 7 Days to Die
- Star Wars Outlaws (tm)
- Stray
- The Crew (tm) Motorfest
- The Outlast Trials
- The Plucky Squire
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Tom Clancy's The Division 2
- TopSpin 2K25
- UNDERTALE
- Visions of Mana
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
- WWE 2K24
The initial wave of games will be available on Xbox.com/play and the web-apps on a Meta Quest VR headset, Amazon Fire Stick, and Samsung TVs to begin with. Buy-to-own cloud gaming features for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and the Xbox app for PC will come a bit later in early 2025.
Microsoft has also previously announced that it will no longer update the Xbox Cloud Gaming apps on Android since allowing users to buy their own content violates Google's gatekeeping store rules. Google is currently undergoing an anti-trust investigation in the United States, which could end with it having to open up its Android platform to third-party stores. But for now, Microsoft's only option is to offer the app via the web at Xbox.com/play, which you can then pin as a web app using various browsers.
The Xbox Cloud Gaming "buy to own" games feature will be available in every country where the service is currently live, including: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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There are some really great games included in the first wave, even recent ones. It's impressive to see some of the best Xbox games ever hit the list, including The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. It's also great to see more recent entries like Space Marine 2 and Visions of Mana. Turn-based games like Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters will be great for cloud conditions too, where the best speeds aren't always available.
The elephant in the room with all this is that Xbox Cloud Gaming is still not quite on par with NVIDIA GeForce Now, at least when it comes to bitrate. That crown firmly goes to NVIDIA, owing to their purpose-built servers designed specifically for video encoding. Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming delivery is based on AMD chips designed for Xbox Series X|S consoles, which was never built with video encoding in mind. Given that fact, it's incredibly impressive that they've been able to pull off what they have, and Xbox, of course, has the home-field advantage of thousands of games potentially ready-baked for the service. NVIDIA relies on connecting to other services like Steam and PC Game Pass for its library, which can feel a bit clunky in some situations.
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In any case, we should begin seeing near-monthly drops of new buy-to-own cloud games as Microsoft scales up its service. It could induce a flood of new users, potentially triggering queues. NVIDIA itself recently instituted a 100-hour per-month time limit on its GeForce Now service, owing to scalability issues. With companies like Apple and Google gatekeeping discoverability, it could be a long time before cloud gaming becomes truly profitable at scale. However, like Netflix, they won't be able to stifle its growth forever, especially since Google itself exited the market with its failed Stadia service.
Either way, this exciting development is a huge milestone for Microsoft's "Everything is now an Xbox" strategy. It'll be interesting to watch it grow.
