Microsoft Brings Xbox Cloud Gaming to More Fire TV Devices

Microsoft has just made its Xbox Cloud Gaming service available on two addition Amazon Fire TV devices. The cloud gaming service launched first on the 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Stick 4K last month, and starting today, it’s now available on the first-gen Fire TV Stick 4K Max released in 2021, as well as the 3rd gen Fire TV Cube released a year later.

To be clear, Xbox Cloud Gaming is still available on just 4 Fire TV products from Amazon, which probably represent a tiny fraction of the Fire TV ecosystem. Amazon announced last year that it had sold over 200 million Fire TV devices globally, a number that includes Amazon Fire TV sticks and Fire TV smart TVs. For now, though, the entry-level Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite, which Amazon discounts almost every month, are excluded from the Xbox Cloud Gaming fun.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is currently only available with a $19.99/month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. However, Amazon’s Fire TV devices are probably the cheapest way to access the cloud gaming service on any TV. Microsoft previously teamed up with Samsung to integrate its Xbox app on recent Tizen-powered Smart TVs and monitors, but the app is still absent from Android TV/Google TV, tvOS, LG’s webOS, and other smart TV platforms.

Xbox Cloud Gaming works really well if you have a solid Internet connection (on Wi-Fi, a 5 Ghz connection is recommended), though you’ll only get a 1080p image with low bitrate. As of today, over a hundred games from the Game Pass library are playable on Xbox Cloud Gaming, with new releases from Xbox Game Studios coming to the service on day one.

If the Game Pass library is getting new games twice a month, Microsoft has yet to deliver on the promise it made in November 2019 to also make the Xbox games you own playable via the cloud. Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming teased back in February that this capability should finally come this year. Assuming Microsoft markets this right, making your Xbox games playable everywhere should help to make the Xbox ecosystem more attractive to gamers.