Now You Can Stream Your Xbox Games Directly to Your PC
Xbox is known for its flexible Play Anywhere program, which lets users play Game Pass games across multiple devices, including phones and even the Meta Quest, via cloud streaming. Earlier this year, the company expanded the feature, allowing players to use Microsoft’s servers to stream not just games from the Game Pass catalog, but also select games they personally own. The feature was separate from Remote Play, which required a game to be open on the console to stream, and worked with browsers, consoles, and a few other devices, but oddly not the Xbox app on PC. That’s all changed now.
This is a big deal for Xbox fans who love to play on PC. Sure, it’s convenient to be able to download your library to your desktop, but most importantly, the new feature also works with games that weren’t previously available on PC by downloading them locally. While Xbox does its best to maintain parity between its PC and console libraries, some games slip through the cracks and are only available on one of the systems. With this new solution, PC-only players will be able to use the Xbox app to stream games that were previously only available on console. While streaming may introduce input lag into your gaming session, it also means you can free up precious storage space from game files, which is a boon if you use your PC for more than just gaming.
The problem is that you’ll need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to do this, as well as the game you want to stream. If that’s too much trouble, you can limit yourself to streaming just Game Pass games, though some games may not be available.
Stream Your Game support will also be added gradually, one game at a time; the feature is currently limited to around 250 games, which you can see a list of here . Xbox says it’s working to expand the catalog of compatible games over time, including titles that were previously console-only.
Become an Xbox Insider First
Right now, streaming your own game on PC is technically only in beta, so to access it, you’ll also need to be a member of the Xbox Insider program. Like Windows Insider , this is a free program for getting beta updates early. To join, simply download and open the Xbox Insider Hub app (available on both Windows and Xbox consoles). Once you’ve set it up for the first time, head to the Previews tab and select Broadcast a preview of your own game . You’ll need to go through some paperwork to verify your eligibility, but otherwise you’ll be good to go.