Xbox Cloud Gaming Officially Leaves Beta After Five Years
Microsoft has officially removed the beta tag from Xbox Cloud Gaming, marking a significant milestone for the streaming service that first launched in 2020. The announcement comes from Dustin Blackwell, Microsoft’s director of gaming and platform communications, who confirmed the service’s transition to full release status.
Enhanced Streaming Quality for Ultimate Subscribers
The beta removal coincides with substantial improvements to Xbox Cloud Gaming, particularly for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. The streaming service now supports up to 1440p resolution for selected games and devices, representing the highest quality streaming Microsoft has offered to date.
Blackwell emphasized that despite the resolution upgrade, the service will maintain its signature short wait times for players. Early adopters had already noticed 1440p support appearing in games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora last month, with bitrates reaching peaks of 27Mbps.
Significant Visual Improvements
The upgrade to higher bitrates represents a substantial leap from the current average of 10Mbps streams, with some devices previously accessing 17Mbps streams. The jump to 27Mbps should dramatically reduce visual artifacts and enhance overall streaming quality, providing a noticeably better gaming experience for cloud players.
This marks the first major visual enhancement since Microsoft upgraded its server hardware to Xbox Series X-like blades in 2021. That previous hardware upgrade enabled faster loading times and improved frame rates by supporting Xbox Series S/X optimized titles.
Expanded Access Across Game Pass Tiers
Microsoft is broadening Xbox Cloud Gaming availability beyond the Ultimate tier for the first time, extending access to Game Pass Essential and Premium subscribers. This expansion means more players can stream games they own or access titles from the Game Pass library through cloud streaming.
The company hasn’t confirmed whether new hardware upgrades are powering the 1440p capabilities, leaving questions about potential PC-like hardware implementations in their server configurations.
Future Streaming Expectations
While the 1440p upgrade represents progress, Microsoft still has ground to cover to match competing services like Nvidia’s GeForce Now. The enhanced resolution remains limited to specific games and devices, suggesting that more comprehensive upgrades might await the next generation of console hardware.
Industry observers anticipate that significant improvements to 4K resolution, higher frame rates, and better bitrates will likely coincide with Microsoft’s next console launch. As reported by our colleagues at imdmonitor.com, this transition out of beta represents a crucial step in Microsoft’s cloud gaming evolution.
