Xbox has introduced its Cloud Gaming service to Meta Quest VR headset devices, following the announcement made by both companies at the launch of the latest Quest 3 hardware earlier this year. The Xbox Cloud Gaming app is currently in beta and is available for Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest Pro headsets (apologies to OG Quest owners). It offers a virtual cloud gaming experience on a large screen, provided you have a compatible controller and a Game Pass Ultimate subscription.
I promptly downloaded the app from the Meta Quest store and gave it a test run to assess its functionality. I’m pleased to report that it performed very well, although I encountered an issue where I had to hard reboot the headset to register the input from both an Xbox Elite 2 controller and an 8bitdo Pro Gamepad in the Xbox Cloud Gaming app. However, once the issue was resolved, everything worked as expected, and I was able to engage in a session of cloud-based GTV V gameplay seamlessly.
The performance on my device was smooth, but it’s important to consider that the quality of your network environment will influence the experience. It’s worth noting that the app doesn’t create an immersive gaming environment; instead, it displays games on a large virtual 2D screen, which can be resized to one of four options (I personally prefer XL) and presented in either a fully virtual Xbox-themed setting or in your own space using Meta Quest 3 or Pro’s passthrough modes.
If you haven’t already discovered it, Xbox Cloud Gaming offers a fantastic selection of games through Xbox Game Pass, and now you can play them anywhere on a large virtual screen if you own a compatible Quest headset and a controller. This is a significant enhancement to an already outstanding service from Microsoft, and provides yet another compelling reason to own a Quest 3.
