Microsoft just officially graduated Xbox Cloud Gaming from beta status after five years, marking a major milestone with upgraded 1440p streaming for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. The launch coincides with expanded access across Game Pass tiers and significantly improved bitrates that could reshape the cloud gaming landscape.
Microsoft just pulled Xbox Cloud Gaming out of beta limbo after five years of testing, and the timing couldn't be more strategic. The company's cloud gaming service is shedding its preview label alongside some serious technical upgrades that should make Nvidia take notice.
"We're officially removing the beta tag from Xbox Cloud Gaming," Dustin Blackwell, director of gaming and platform communications at Microsoft, told The Verge in an exclusive briefing. The announcement comes as Microsoft pushes Game Pass Ultimate prices higher while expanding cloud access across its subscription ecosystem.
The real story here isn't just the beta graduation - it's the dramatic jump in streaming quality that Microsoft is delivering exclusively to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. The service now supports 1440p resolution for select games and devices, with bitrates that can peak at 27Mbps. That's a massive leap from the current 10Mbps average most users experience today, with some premium streams hitting 17Mbps.
"We'll have our highest streaming quality yet for Ultimate subscribers," Blackwell explained. "It'll go up to 1440p for select games and select devices, and still deliver the shortest wait times for players." The upgrade has already been quietly spotted by users playing Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora last month, suggesting Microsoft has been testing these improvements for weeks.
This represents the first major visual quality improvement since Microsoft upgraded Xbox Cloud Gaming's server hardware to Xbox Series X-like configurations. That previous 2021 upgrade enabled faster game loading and improved frame rates by supporting Xbox Series S/X-optimized titles, but didn't touch streaming resolution or bitrates.
