Xbox Cloud Gaming "should" finally allow you to stream games you own this year

Having been on the cards since 2022, the option to stream games you own could finally be added to Xbox Cloud Gaming in the near future.

Available as part of an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, Xbox Cloud Gaming lets you stream hundreds of games to your console or other devices, including mobiles and PCs. It's a neat feature for those not wanting to be weighed down by disks or console hardware, though one of the downsides is that the selection of games on offer only includes titles from the Game Pass library. Fortunately, that looks set to change before the year is out. 

In a conversation through Xbox chat posted on Reddit, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer is asked about the company's plans to broaden the range of games available to include titles players have bought. "Any word or update on being able to play my Owned Games on XCloud?" the player queries, to which Spencer replies, "Should be this year."

The exec doesn't go into any further detail, and the fact he said "should," as well as the lack of any official announcement by Xbox regarding the feature being rolled out in 2024, suggests that, at the moment, this is the aim, but it's far from set in stone. It's also not yet clear how many games from our owned games collection will be compatible with the service.

Despite advancing its cloud gaming service, Microsoft doesn't have any plans to exit the console business anytime soon. During the recent business update, Xbox president Sarah Bond quelled rumors that Xbox Series X would be the company's final console, teasing its successor with promises that it will herald "the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation." Spencer has subsequently also assured fans that Xbox consoles aren't going anywhere, saying that "hardware is a critical component" of the business.

Check out our Xbox Cloud Gaming guide for more on how the service works and what games you can currently play.