What you need to know
- Microsoft announced a 10-year partnership with Boosteroid last year.
- This partnership received its first batch of games in June 2023.
- Players can now stream a select number of games they've purchased through Boosteroid.
- Those same games are also available to Boosteroid customers with Game Pass Ultimate.
- This is the first instance of being able to play purchased Xbox games via a cloud gaming service.
In March 2023, when Microsoft was neck-deep in dealing with world regulators concerning their purchase of Activision-Blizzard, they announced a 10-year partnership with Boosteroid. Following that deal, they brought their first batch of games to Boosteroid in June 2023. Yesterday, Microsoft announced they were not only bringing more Game Pass games to Boosteroid, but also allowing them to play select titles they've purchased through the service.
From Xbox Wire:
"We’re bringing more high-quality, immersive PC games by giving players another option to stream select games purchased through Microsoft Store on Windows, or available with a Game Pass membership. Our partnership continues to accelerate access to players by letting them choose how and where they play their games.
Starting today, you can play Deathloop, Dishonored, Dishonored 2, Dishonored: Death of The Outsider, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Pentiment. You can also enjoy cross-play and cross-save features with your Xbox console and Windows PC for these games. We’ll continue to add more hits and fan favorites from our extensive catalog of PC games over time."
We’re bringing more high-quality, immersive PC games by giving players another option to stream select games purchased through Microsoft Store on Windows.
Xbox Wire
What stands out is that players can now play purchased games through a cloud service. While it's only a select few, this is the first instance of this being available to players. What's more surprising is that it comes to a competing service like Boosteroid first, not xCloud.
Many expect to be able to play purchased games through xCloud sometime in 2024. That is, at least, according to the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer. He messaged a user via Xbox chat, saying the feature should be coming this year.
