What Is Cloud Gaming?

Before the days of the internet, gamers waited outside GameStop, EB Games or other franchises to get accesses to games on day one. They would then go home, blow the dust out of the cartridge and start playing.

In more modern times, gamers would purchase the disk, go home and then wait a couple of hours for the update to be installed before being able to play.

Thanks to the internet, the video game experience has improved dramatically. Going to the store is now an optional experience, as games can be purchased and downloaded over the net.

Microsoft has taken this a step further with cloud games on Xbox, a service now available via a Microsoft Xbox Game pass subscription. Cloud games on Xbox Game Pass allow you to stream games over the internet with your Xbox or PC, meaning you now no longer need to que up at the store, or wait for you game to download before you start playing.

This is an exciting new feature in the video game experience as cloud games on Xbox also saves space on the hard disk from not having to download games before playing them.

With Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision last year, they have also hinted at bringing games like Call of Duty to cloud games on Xbox on the game’s first day of release. This is a game changer, particularly agiven the typical file size of a Call of Duty update.

How Does Cloud Gaming Work?

So far we’ve seen that cloud games on Xbox is a pretty cool feature. So how does this actually work?

With Microsoft being such a large player in the cloud space, it makes sense they will be using their own cloud technology. Behind the scenes, the games are hosted on Virtual Computers that emulate an Xbox console. When you choose to play cloud games on Xbox, the service spins up a Virtual Computer and exposes its viewport to you over the internet and to your Xbox.

Pretty cool, right?

How fast does my internet need to be?

Because cloud games on Xbox streams over the internet, you may be wondering how fast your internet has to be?

The short answer is: as fast as possible.

For an okay experience, you will probably get away with a 25mb/s internet connection when playing cloud games on Xbox. But for the best performance, you should aim to have a speed of 50mb/s and higher.

What Games Can I Play?

Microsoft continues to release more and more games to cloud games on Xbox and Xbox Game Pass. To get the latest info on games available, sign up to our mailing list below to stay up to date on cloud games on Xbox and Xbox Game Pass.