This article may contain affiliate links. Learn more on our Partner Program page.
Now it's official. The new streaming service Microsoft Project xCloud is set to be released in September this year. However, nothing seems to be known yet about its availability on iPhone and iPad.
Microsoft has confirmed the launch of Project xCloud in September 2020 in a blog post. The service will be made available free of charge to users who have the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. To be precise, Microsoft wants to bundle the Xbox Game Pass with Project xCloud. However, it remains to be seen whether the service will also be available on iPhone or iPad. is called it in the article:
You get more from your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. Finally, today we're announcing that this September, in supported countries, we're merging Xbox Game Pass and Project xCloud at no additional cost to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. With cloud gaming in Game Pass Ultimate, you can play over 100 Xbox Game Pass titles on your phone or tablet. And because Xbox Live is connected across devices, you can play alongside the nearly 100 million Xbox Live players around the world.
Microsoft has big goals
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate currently costs 12.99 euros per month and offers subscribers instant access to over 100 games for both consoles and PC. Subscribers also receive unique perks, such as exclusive discounts and offers. By adding it to xCloud, users can play many of the games on their smartphone or tablet. Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, explained in a press release:
We're not only building the most powerful and compatible console, we're also building the fastest, most powerful and compatible gaming cloud. When Project xCloud launches later this year, Project xCloud will enable Xbox Game Pass members to play with their friends anywhere, with no download required.
App Store guidelines create uncertainty
The streaming service has been available as a trial on Android since late 2019. Testers have access to 50 games. An xCloud beta test for iOS also began in February 2020. Participants had to sign up for a closed beta version, which was made available via TestFlight. Users could play “Halo – The Master Chief Collection” on their iPhone and iPad. TestFlight betas can have a maximum of 10,000 testers. Due to this limitation, several rounds of testing were initiated. Due to special App Store requirements, guidelines xCloud may not be available in the same form as an iOS version as it is on Android. The guidelines state that an app may not rely on streaming from the cloud. This means that cloud-based gaming services from Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce cannot be hosted in the iOS App Store and that Microsoft will have to accept some restrictions if an iPhone or iPad version actually appears in the end. (Image: Microsoft)
