Xbox One owners will be able to play Xbox Series X games via Xbox Cloud Gaming, Microsoft’s game streaming service. Xbox has taken a “play anywhere” approach to gaming recently, focusing on creating a library of games that can be played on a variety of devices. Rumors even suggest that Game Pass may come to the Nintendo Switch at some point, which shows that Xbox isn’t overly concerned about what devices fans play its games on. Though Xbox Cloud Gaming is still in Beta, mobile and tablet users can access a lineup of Xbox games while streaming through their devices.
This year marked the return of E3 since its cancellation in 2020, and Xbox provided one of the event's best conferences. From Halo: Infinite to Starfield, Xbox and Bethesda’s joint conference detailed 30 games coming to Xbox platforms in the coming years. Perhaps the biggest focus of Xbox’s E3 showcase was Game Pass. Of the 30 games shown, 27 of them will be available on Xbox Game Pass. While Xbox Series X is set to be the main platform for those games, it looks like Xbox One users won’t be left in the dust.
As reported by The Verge, Microsoft revealed in a blog post that Xbox Series X games will be available on Xbox One through Xbox Cloud Gaming. As of now, Microsoft hasn’t confirmed when the cloud streaming service will launch on Xbox One. In the blog, Xbox Wire Editor in Chief Will Tuttle confirmed that Xbox One users will have access to certain Series X games, writing:
“For the millions of people who play on Xbox One consoles today, we are looking forward to sharing more about how we will bring many of these next-gen games, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, to your console through Xbox Cloud Gaming, just like we do with mobile devices, tablets, and browsers.”
Microsoft Flight Simulator, which recently appeared to receive an Xbox One rating, is the only Xbox Series X game mentioned by Microsoft. The game’s E3 2021 trailer solely mentioned an Xbox Series X/S release on July 27, so maybe Xbox One owners can exclusively play the game through Xbox Cloud Gaming. Given the game's imminent release and the fact that Microsoft specifically mentioned it, it's possible that the cloud service could launch on consoles sometime later this year.
Allowing Xbox One users to play Xbox Series X games through Xbox Cloud Streaming is a user-friendly maneuver for the console manufacturer to take. Xbox continues to value building a large game library over selling platforms, so letting console players stream new games on old hardware furthers Xbox's goal of building its user base. This announcement comes at a particularly stressful time for would-be buyers of current-gen consoles, which are still hard to find due to chip shortages. In the meantime, Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox One ensures that owners won’t miss out on Xbox Series X-only games.
Sources: The Verge, Microsoft, Tom Warren/Twitter