Just yesterday, Microsoft announced through the Twitter Xbox account that GeForce Now was being added to Xbox.com's "Play With Cloud" dialog, providing an option besides Xbox Cloud Gaming for Xbox's first-party published games. Since this has yet to be fully implemented, the full extent of this change can't yet be tested. However, from what we know about both services, Xbox Cloud Gaming (formerly Project xCloud) can't provide image quality or input responsiveness on par with GeForce Now, so this is a better choice for cloud PC gamers who own Xbox games.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is limited to 1080p and 60 FPS for those unfamiliar with either service. It is fine by console standards but still inhibited by cloud streaming. Meanwhile, the premium version of GeForce Now can go as high as 240 Hz, implements Nvidia Reflex, and is powered by an RTX 4080 per user. Nvidia estimates end-to-end latency to be 66% lower than a local Xbox Series X. That number is heavily reliant on your Internet connection. This factor is truthfully never entirely in the player's control.
Play your games the way you want, where you want! Starting today, we’ve enabled GeForce NOW integration which allows you to launch supported games on GeForce NOW via https://t.co/Nf3xumC9vw game pages: https://t.co/rNVwXNU6gw pic.twitter.com/TBrfsiDoCeJuly 17, 2024
On the official Xbox support page linked in Xbox's Tweet, it's noted that this Play With Cloud functionality doesn't just extend to first-party Xbox games purchased directly through a Microsoft platform. For example, if you have a Steam account that owns those games, you should still be able to Play With Cloud through Xbox Cloud Gaming, Nvidia GeForce Now, and even the lesser-known Boosteroid as long as your accounts are correctly linked to one another.
It is a nice gesture from Microsoft, though it raises some long-term concerns about Xbox Cloud Gaming. The most-liked reply on the original posting is the immediate assumption that Xbox Cloud Gaming (referred to by its original XCloud codename) won't ever get a bitrate increase. Since GFN is far and away the better solution and Microsoft is now directly pushing it as an alternative to their Cloud Gaming solution, that may not be an incorrect assumption. However, Microsoft still cares about its own Cloud Gaming solution.
After all, just last month, Xbox Cloud Gaming also found its way to some of Amazon's Fire Stick streaming devices, so this move following that news emphasizes how dedicated Microsoft is to expanding the Xbox ecosystem. Once you buy a first-party Xbox game, it likely doesn't matter much to them what cloud you play it from; it's just that you bought (or are renting) the game. Their solution is bundled with Game Pass as the entry-level pick, which may be fine.
