Dan Ackerman/CNET Where it falls shortĪs a jack-of-all-trades, XGPU doesn't master every aspect. It probably takes longer to get the licensing agreements signed than to ready a game for either service. The two complement each other more than they compete, and they require the least adaptation work for developers, ensuring fast growth in the numbers of supported games. GeForce Now is great if you already have a big library of PC games and want to play them on any device at high quality and frame rates, making it a good choice for more veteran gamers. XGPU is great if you don't already have a big library of games or if you want to play them on any device, making it a good choice for almost anyone. The key here is 'intended purpose,' because XGPU is only one of our two cloud-gaming Editors' Choice Awards: The other is Nvidia GeForce Now. And it operates a huge network of state-of-the-art data centers optimized for serving cloud applications: Xbox Cloud Gaming is as much about Azure as it is about fun. It has well-established game development studios and gobbles up more independent studios every year, plus it has relationships with every important game developer. The company has a long history in gaming - Microsoft Flight Simulator launched nearly 40 years ago and the Xbox more than 20 years ago - and it owns the DirectX graphics programming interface used by both Windows and its Xbox consoles. That's included in the Ultimate package, so you can already see why that's the plan Microsoft is really pushing you toward.ĭan Ackerman/CNET The Game Pass Ultimate difference: Breadth and depthįor its intended purpose, Microsoft has unmatched advantages over competitors for several reasons. If you want to play games with online multiplayer, in most cases you'll need a separate $10 per month Xbox Live subscription to play online against other people. Even when a game leaves the library, though, you can transfer your progress to another storefront like Steam - not easily, but you can do it.

As with all these subscriptions, games enter and leave the library regularly due to licensing deals, but Microsoft staples such as Halo and Forza are usually permanent.

Plain old Game Pass is $10 per month, and just includes a library of games from famous to obscure, that you can download and play on Xbox One or Xbox Series X and Series S consoles.

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