Last week, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and other top gaming executives at the company gave some hints about the future of Microsoft"s gaming efforts in a special episode of the official Xbox podcast. Among other things, Spencer confirmed four unnamed Xbox-PC first-party games will be coming to other platforms, and Xbox President Sarah Bond said that Diablo IV will be the first Activision Blizzard game released on Xbox Game Pass on March 28.
However, it looks like Spencer has made another fairly major announcement about a future Xbox feature to a fan this week as well. According to X (formerly Twitter) user @jhe007, a fan with the Gamertag "NASburg" asked Spencer when players will be able to access and play their currently owned Xbox games in the cloud. Spencer replied, "Should be this year".
"Na comunidade internacional, um jogador perguntou ao Phill quando poderemos jogar nossos PRÓPRIOS JOGOS através do Xcloud (qualquer jogo que comprarmos), e ele respondeu "Deve ser este ano", então, preparem-se."@PastorXbox @OCervejeiro_ @SOXBOXOficial @Xbox @WindowsClubBr pic.twitter.com/w3zcXc2HGE
— JHE O INSIDER BR (@jhe007) February 17, 2024
This exchange has reportedly been confirmed as genuine by Windows Central. This should be a very big deal for Xbox gamers who may want to play games in the cloud via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but want to continue playing them in the cloud if they are removed from the service.
There are still a couple of questions about this upcoming feature. One is whether players will have to continue to pay for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to access their owned games in the cloud or if they can continue to do so if they decide not to get a Game Pass subscription. If you don"t have to pay for a Game Pass plan, Microsoft might find another business model for gamers who want to play their owned games in the cloud.
Microsoft has not made any major announcements about cloud gaming in a while, but perhaps in 2024 we will get some updates on this service, especially as the company continues to emphasize it wants people to play Xbox games on any screen.