[Verge] Xbox Cloud Gaming comes out of beta with improved 1440p resolution

Topher

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Microsoft is also upping the bitrate quality of Xbox Cloud Gaming streams for select games.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is finally coming out of its preview state, more than five years after the streaming service first launched in 2020. "We're officially removing the beta tag from Xbox Cloud Gaming," says Dustin Blackwell, director of gaming and platform communications at Microsoft, in a briefing with The Verge.

The beta tag removal coincides with some key changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming today, and a big price increase to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Microsoft is also expanding Xbox Cloud Gaming to more Game Pass tiers, and it's improving the streaming quality and resolution exclusively for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

"We'll have our highest streaming quality yet for Ultimate subscribers," Blackwell says. "It'll go up to 1440p for select games and select devices, and still deliver the shortest wait times for players."

Some Xbox Cloud Gaming users already spotted the 1440p support in games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora last month, with bitrates that can peak at 27Mbps. Most Xbox Cloud Gaming streams average at around 10Mbps right now, with some devices able to access a better 17Mbps stream. An upgrade to 27Mbps should greatly reduce artifacts and improve the visual quality of game streams.

It's the first major visual quality improvement to Xbox Cloud Gaming since Microsoft upgraded the hardware in the service to Xbox Series X-like blades. The previous Xbox Cloud Gaming upgrade in 2021 allowed games to load faster and have improved frame rates, all because the hardware enabled support for Xbox Series S / X-optimized titles.

It's not immediately clear whether Microsoft is doing any hardware upgrades to enable 1440p support and higher bitrates this time around. I asked the company to comment on whether PC-like hardware is being used in its Xbox Cloud Gaming configurations to enable these upgrades, but the company didn't respond in time for publication.

The expansion of Xbox Cloud Gaming to Microsoft's new Xbox Game Pass Essential and Premium tiers will allow many more Xbox fans to access cloud games they own or titles from the Game Pass library. It's the first time, beyond the free-to-play Fortnite streaming, that Microsoft has enabled cloud access beyond its top Ultimate plan.

The 1440p upgrade is still limited to select games and select devices, and Microsoft needs to go further to match the impressive quality from Nvidia's GeForce Now service. I suspect we'll have to wait until Microsoft is ready with its next-gen console launch to see a bigger upgrade to 4K resolution, higher frame rates, and even better bitrates.


 
I would have maybe tried it again if they hadn't jacked up the prices.

Xcloud was always the worst of the streaming services by far for me out of Xcloud, PS+, and GFN.

GFN was the best but I also used it the most. PS+ was flawless but I probably only used it for like 30 minutes as I don't really have a use case for it so maybe it was a one off? I subbed to GFN Ultimate for a month and played for probably 20 hours including stuff like BF online with only occasional bitrate issues.

Xcloud had horrendous bitrate and latency issues to the point I don't think I've ever been able to last more the like 5 minutes on any device I've ever tried it on.
 
imagine working for 5 years on your cloud streaming service to reveal it and find out next day everybody cancelled their subscription. i am crying of laughter
 
Comes out of beta still worse than PS streaming and paid queue priorities . . . it's pretty pathetic considering they're one of the main cloud providers.
 
Not great timing, given I have even less incentive to want streaming when I know the cost will just raise over time if it even reaches a large audience.

Would rather just pay the fixed cost for my game, running on my own hardware. Renting isn't fun when you know the landlord will fuck you later.
 
Microsoft is also upping the bitrate quality of Xbox Cloud Gaming streams for select games.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is finally coming out of its preview state, more than five years after the streaming service first launched in 2020. "We're officially removing the beta tag from Xbox Cloud Gaming," says Dustin Blackwell, director of gaming and platform communications at Microsoft, in a briefing with The Verge.

The beta tag removal coincides with some key changes to Xbox Cloud Gaming today, and a big price increase to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Microsoft is also expanding Xbox Cloud Gaming to more Game Pass tiers, and it's improving the streaming quality and resolution exclusively for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

"We'll have our highest streaming quality yet for Ultimate subscribers," Blackwell says. "It'll go up to 1440p for select games and select devices, and still deliver the shortest wait times for players."

Some Xbox Cloud Gaming users already spotted the 1440p support in games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora last month, with bitrates that can peak at 27Mbps. Most Xbox Cloud Gaming streams average at around 10Mbps right now, with some devices able to access a better 17Mbps stream. An upgrade to 27Mbps should greatly reduce artifacts and improve the visual quality of game streams.

It's the first major visual quality improvement to Xbox Cloud Gaming since Microsoft upgraded the hardware in the service to Xbox Series X-like blades. The previous Xbox Cloud Gaming upgrade in 2021 allowed games to load faster and have improved frame rates, all because the hardware enabled support for Xbox Series S / X-optimized titles.

It's not immediately clear whether Microsoft is doing any hardware upgrades to enable 1440p support and higher bitrates this time around. I asked the company to comment on whether PC-like hardware is being used in its Xbox Cloud Gaming configurations to enable these upgrades, but the company didn't respond in time for publication.

The expansion of Xbox Cloud Gaming to Microsoft's new Xbox Game Pass Essential and Premium tiers will allow many more Xbox fans to access cloud games they own or titles from the Game Pass library. It's the first time, beyond the free-to-play Fortnite streaming, that Microsoft has enabled cloud access beyond its top Ultimate plan.

The 1440p upgrade is still limited to select games and select devices, and Microsoft needs to go further to match the impressive quality from Nvidia's GeForce Now service. I suspect we'll have to wait until Microsoft is ready with its next-gen console launch to see a bigger upgrade to 4K resolution, higher frame rates, and even better bitrates.


All their chats about the power of the Cloud in the past and they barely achieve 1440p in 2025. What a joke of company lol.
 
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Cloud streaming is mostly useful on phones/tablets where 1440p is perfectly fine.

While GFN is more robust in features, I do find the xcloud interface and experience much nicer and more streamlined - launching a game feels natural and seamless rather than a UI layer over Steam that itself must launch a launcher and so on.
 
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