Summary
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Microsoft is reportedly planning major Xbox Cloud Gaming improvements.
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The company is said to be working on 4K gaming support, in addition to expanding the catalog of non-Game Pass titles that can be streamed.
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It is currently unclear when exactly these upgrades are scheduled to arrive.
Microsoft is reportedly working on some bigger ones Xbox Cloud Gaming upgrades, including support for 4K streaming and playing more proprietary games, among other news. Such improvements would help increase the overall value of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the highest tier of Microsoft's subscription service and still the only way to access the company's cloud gaming platform.
Xbox Cloud Gaming was initially teased as Project xCloud at E3 2018. A public preview of the service launched in 2019, a year before the xCloud name was dropped in favor of the current moniker. Xbox Cloud Gaming became available to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in June 2021. The service has consistently received updates that expand its capabilities and performance since then.
Family
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate adds 2 games released 27 years apart today
The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate content catalog is expanding with two more titles, which happen to have been released 27 years apart.
Even more upgrades are now on the horizon, according to a new report from Windows Central's Jez Corden. The insider claims that Microsoft is currently working on bringing support for 4K streaming and higher bitrates to its service. The company is also said to be looking at expanding the catalog of non-Game Pass titles that can be played through Xbox Cloud Gaming. Support for streaming-owned games originally launched in December 2024.
Microsoft has reportedly improved the Xbox Cloud Gaming Infrastructure
Additionally, Corden reports that Microsoft is working on improving the Xbox Cloud Gaming infrastructure. To that end, the company is believed to have begun allocating more chip supply to the service. Such a move suggests that Xbox Cloud Gaming is growing in popularity, prompting Microsoft to upgrade its server farms to keep up with consumer demand. For context, the streaming service relies on custom Xbox Series X server blades, which run games on Series S profiles – an architectural decision made to improve operational efficiency.
It is currently unclear when exactly Microsoft plans to introduce these alleged upgrades. Based on the company's track record, it's likely that all of these improvements will be rolled out to select users first and then gradually expand their reach. Such an approach is all but guaranteed for features like 4K streaming, which will require careful and gradual stress testing of the Xbox Cloud Gaming infrastructure before its global rollout. 4K gaming itself sounds like a significant upgrade for the service, which has been limited to 1080p/60fps streaming since its Project xCloud days.
Improving Xbox Cloud Gaming is one of the ways Microsoft is trying to drive Xbox Game Pass Ultimate growth. And while the company is naturally hoping to sell as many of its premium subscriptions as possible, it's also rumored to have considered launching a cloud-only edition of Xbox Game Pass since at least the summer of 2024.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the highest tier of Microsoft's flagship gaming subscription service offering over 100 game titles that you can play with a single purchase, making it one of the most outstanding value propositions in the Xbox ecosystem to date.
