Do you own a Meta Quest 2, 3, or Pro headset and dream of stepping into Master Chief’s shoes in Halo, or getting behind the wheel and tearing down the road in Forza Horizon 5? Well, you still can’t do that, sorry, but you can experience the next closest thing with all cloud-gaming-supported Xbox Game Pass games right now, with the newly released Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) app.
As outlined in a post on the Meta website, the Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) app was released on the Meta Quest Store earlier this week (on December 13) and allows Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to jump into an enormous variety of games on their supported VR headsets. They’ll also need a compatible controller, as well as a solid internet connection for the best results (on the app page, a connection of at least 20Mbps is recommended).
Users won’t actually need an Xbox controller in order to play, either. According to the post, PlayStation 4 controllers and Nintendo Switch Pro controllers work just fine, too, with PlayStation 5 controller compatibility to come down the line too. With this, on top of the fact that you don’t need an Xbox console or even a TV screen to use the app, gamers now have a brand new means through which to play the best Xbox Series X games without owning Microsoft’s current-gen hardware.
It was confirmed in September that Xbox Cloud Gaming would be coming to Meta Quest this month, although at that time it wasn’t clear exactly what date it would be released. As such, this news is likely to be positively received by compatible headset owners, especially if they were planning on diving into more VR gaming over the holiday season, with popular games like Starfield and Hi-Fi Rush both playable via the app.
If you love VR gaming, be sure to check out our recommendations for the best VR headsets to enhance your experience. Meanwhile, if you’re a big Xbox fan, you can look at our picks for the best Xbox controllers.