Xbox players just got a handful of new features this week, several of which improve the overall user ecosystem experience and make good on Xbox’s “Play Anywhere” mantra. But one feature in particular has me wondering why more gaming companies aren’t stealing the idea or pushing the feature harder.
Xbox’s April update includes the ability to purchase games via the surprisingly useful Xbox smartphone app. While users have always been able to manage their storage, download games, and even remote play via the app, they haven’t been able to outright buy new games on there.
The new update rolls back the ability to remote play via the app, but in its place is the ability to remote play from any device with access to a web browsers, similar to the way xCloud currently works. While it’s not as uniform as accessing the feature via a dedicated app, it does open up the remote play feature to a bevy of new screens, including VR headsets, smart TVs, Amazon Fire devices and more. According to Xbox, unifying remote play with Xbox Cloud Gaming “make it easier for our teams to optimize the streaming experience and build new features going forward.”
Arguably the best feature being added, however, is the option to stream games you own directly through Xbox. It’s not a revelutionary feature by any means. We’ve been able to stream games we own for a few years now, thanks to services like Nvidia GeForce. PlayStation has been quietly growing its streaming library to nearly 1,000 games as of March 2025, and expanding where it can be used. On Xbox however, where this is no brainer feature should be standard, has been reserved for secondary devices like computers, handheld PCs, and TVs since its introduction.
Given the fact that game sizes continue to swell, it’s a welcome addition for the ecosystem that’s pushing the idea of playing games anywhere, anytime. Now, in instances where you want to pop into a quick session of Assassin’s Creed Shadows (which is 109 GBs) or a nighttime cruise through Night City (Cyberpunk 2077 is 87 GB with Phantom Liberty installed), you no longer have to sit through long download times or do so on a device not hooked up to your living room television.
It’s a small addition that can make a world of change. As a player playing primarily on Xbox, I have often sat down to play a game for the night, only to realize my game of choice is taking an absurd amount of time to download or there’s big update I haven’t installed yet. Putting off game time for these reasons has made me pine for the days of inserting a DVD into my 360 and getting right to it. Streaming stuff directly on my Series X and S is a simple solution to a simple but unaddressed problem.
Microsoft is playing a bit of catch up in this department. Having this crucial software feature skip the very hardware its supposed to be emulating has felt like critical gap in its otherwise cohesive (but yet to be proven) vision for the platform. It’s been a long time coming. But for the few invested in its hardware, it’s damn great to see this being added to its broader slate of features.
