Microsoft is revealing today that the company will have more than 150 games to stream through its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription service tomorrow. Known previously as xCloud, the game streaming feature launches on September 15th for Android tablets and phones.
xCloud is being bundled into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as a game streaming feature. Microsoft is launching an update to the Xbox Game Pass app on Android in 22 countries tomorrow, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Missing from the list of 150 games are EA’s Play titles. Microsoft revealed last week that it’s adding EA Play to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but the games won’t be available on xCloud until later this holiday.
Microsoft is also working to improve xCloud with touch controls for games. The first title to launch with touch controls will be Minecraft Dungeons, including support for controlling exactly how big controls are on-screen.
Microsoft has previously demonstrated Gears 5 touch controls, and xCloud testers have had access touch controls for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice for around a month now. Expect a lot more games to pick up these touch controls in the months ahead.
Unfortunately, xCloud won’t be available on iPhones or iPads initially, due to Apple previously blocking services like xCloud. Apple extended an olive branch to Microsoft last week, permitting game streaming services like xCloud or Stadia to exist on iOS or iPadOS with a big catch. Apple wants companies like Microsoft to individually submit their games as separate apps using its streaming tech.
Microsoft wasn’t happy with this requirement, but it’s not clear if the company may eventually package up some games and stream them on iPhone or iPad devices. Microsoft called Apple’s move “a bad experience for customers,” noting that streaming movie or song apps don’t have to package individual content into separate apps.
Update, September 14th 9:15AM ET: Article updated with xCloud touch controls details.
