You can now play Xbox-only console games on PC

Microsoft has added a new feature for Xbox Insiders and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in the PC Gaming Preview program: the ability to stream "select console games" that they own as part of Xbox Cloud Gaming. The update also enables the "stream your own game" feature in the Xbox PC app.

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This feature, previously available on consoles, smartphones, and browsers, allows you to stream eligible games that you already own without the need to install them natively. This feature also includes access to console-only games that were previously unavailable to play via the Xbox PC app.

Over 250 games are supported in the "stream your own game" catalog, with Microsoft noting that more console-only games will be added over time. You can find the full list of compatible titles here.

This is an excellent feature for PC gamers with a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. However, it's worth noting that it's a cloud gaming feature, not a local streaming option, which allows you to play games over a local network using an Xbox console.

Available in a wide range of countries, Xbox Cloud Gaming is still in Beta, with one of the main points of contention being that the overall video quality and 1080p 60 FPS limit fall short of competing platforms, such as NVIDIA's GeForce NOW cloud gaming service. GeForce NOW is widely regarded as the gold standard for game streaming, and it even offers the option to play select titles from your Game Pass subscription.

Additionally, this move to make console-only titles available for PC play could be due to Microsoft's shift toward a Windows-based future for Xbox. If the next Xbox console is to be a PC hybrid with a custom version of Windows, having console titles stream over the cloud could also be a way to bolster backward compatibility, where natively running an older Xbox 360 or Xbox One game isn't possible due to rights issues or other reasons.