Microsoft brings cloud gaming to Amazon Fire TV Stick with Xbox app
Xbox cloud gaming is now available on the Amazon Fire TV Stick, thanks to the new Xbox app. Microsoft first announced last month that it would make its Xbox games available to Fire TV Stick owners via the Xbox app, but it wasn’t available in the Amazon App Store. Starting this month, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can take advantage of the platform’s cloud gaming services to play their favorite Xbox titles on the Amazon Fire TV Stick, without the need for a dedicated Xbox console.
Xbox Cloud Gaming on Amazon Fire TV Stick
With the new Xbox app on Amazon Fire TV StickGamers don’t need an Xbox console to play games. Along with the announcement, Amazon also released an ad that said “you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox.”
The service supports Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023) or Fire TV Stick 4K (2023), and only those devices are compatible with the Xbox app. To play games, players can pair Bluetooth-compatible controllers with the devices, the company said. An Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription is required to play titles from the Xbox library, however.
Since it’s a cloud-based gaming service, it doesn’t rely on the graphical prowess of the device. Instead, gamers can play graphically intensive games like Starfield, Forza Horizon 5, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. However, Amazon says that a “solid” internet connection is required, which, if available, can be used for streaming games in addition to saving the player’s progress. The entire gaming setup is also said to be easily portable, even when the player is on the go.
The Xbox app is free to download from the Amazon App Store and is available in Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, and other languages.
This development comes just weeks after Microsoft announced that it would soon pull one of its most popular titles – Forza Horizon 4 – from digital storefronts, just six years after its release. The game will be pulled from storefronts starting December 15, and will also be removed from Xbox Game Pass.
