A post on the GamingLeaksandRumors subreddit said that Xbox Cloud Streaming for playing the games you own will arrive in July 2024with some important exceptions.
User RyanG-Writes stated in a post that the long-awaited Xbox feature that allows first-party games to be played in the cloud should arrive in July this year with some reservations:
“In July 2024 (after its showcase in June), Microsoft will allow you to start streaming your own games via xCloud, with some publisher exceptions:
Activision-Blizzard
EA (some games)
CD: RP
Square Enix will let you stream FF14, but no other games at this time. This is despite cloud streaming versions of their games existing due to Game Pass.”
It may seem strange that Activision-Blizzard is listed, but the cloud rights to all ABK games from the past and next 15 years belong to Ubisoft. RyanG-Writes goes on to say:
“Publishers had (or will have) the option to activate or deactivate the service. Most publishers, from what I’ve been told, are happy with the terms Microsoft has given them (I don’t have access to those terms).
Microsoft is still negotiating cloud streaming rights with Ubisoft for Activision-Blizzard. Ubisoft wants more money to stream Activision-Blizzard games. Microsoft, so far, has said no.
All streaming will require an Xbox GP Ultimate account.
Microsoft intends to work with major publishers on “exclusivity” agreements, in the hope that they will be the only ones to offer the games through cloud streaming and digital ownership. The idea is to draw people away from other platforms and into the Xbox ecosystem. For example, Microsoft made an offer for Persona 6 to be a console exclusive, with cloud streaming available for first-party versions. This offer has currently been declined, but Microsoft has other potential exclusive deals in the works.
Obviously, physically owned games won’t work. It would have happened if Microsoft had gotten its way at the launch of the Xbox One. That was when digital licensing was tied to physical ownership (and it was possible to transfer digital licenses).”
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