Microsoft’s Xbox Everywhere initiative will soon let you play your purchased games via its cloud service, Xbox Cloud Gaming. Whether this will involve a subscription fee is unknown at this point. Nvidia also allows you to play your PC game library on Steam and Epic Games Store via GeForce Now. However, the latter requires you to subscribe to the service.
This information was shared on Twitter by The Verge’s Tom Warren. While there is no official confirmation from Microsoft as of writing, Warren has been reliable in the past with his information on the company’s future plans. We have little reason to doubt him, as this is essentially a further expansion of the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative.
Xbox Everywhere includes devices like a TV puck for Xbox Cloud Gaming, apps for TVs, and even Microsoft's original plan to let you play all Xbox games you own through the cloud
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 5, 2022
Warren also mentioned that Xbox Cloud Gaming will soon be expanding its reach by becoming available in more markets and on more devices, including wider availability of apps for TVs. People with devices that are unable to run Xbox Cloud Gaming need not be disappointed, as Warren mentioned that Microsoft also plans to sell a TV puck for this purpose.
Microsoft appears to be pretty aggressive in its pursuit of dominance in the Cloud stratosphere. Fortnite, a free-to-play game, is now available for anyone with a device that can run the xCloud app. There’s no subscription required whatsoever. This suggests that your purchased game library may also be playable free of cost. It’d be a highly competitive move; one that may force Nvidia to rethink its GeForce now strategy.
Microsoft began its Xbox Everywhere initiative with its Play Anywhere program, which offered a cross-platform game buying plan for Xbox One and Windows 10 devices. Players could buy a game on one platform and then get it for free on the other through this service. Game progression also carries over between titles, as it is synchronized from platform to platform. All Xbox Play Anywhere titles also sync achievements and DLC. The service was launched in 2016.
