Playtime on Xbox Cloud Gaming Increases 45% as Expansion Hits 29 Countries

Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming platform is seeing a significant increase in playtime, all thanks to dedicated expansions for the service. The company just announced that hours spent gaming on the cloud have increased 45% compared to this time last year.

As noted by the company in a recent Xbox Wire blog post, Xbox Game Pass members on console are spending 45% more time utilizing the cloud. Microsoft is also seeing a larger 24% increase in time across “other devices.” Although a vague additional statement, this could include PC, mobile, and gaming handhelds.

The substantial increase in Xbox Cloud Gaming adoption can be attributed to two things. The first is Microsoft’s expansion into cloud gaming services worldwide. Earlier this month, Xbox Cloud Gaming launched in India. According to Xbox, the country has “the fastest-growing gaming market,” which is said to have hit 500 million gamers this year. India is now the 29th country worldwide to support Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Bolstering its global expansion, Latin American countries like Argentina and Brazil are both shown to have “double-digit growth” in playtime and active players. Both of these countries also got access to the Xbox app across LG and Amazon Fire smart TVs.

The other major contributor to the increase in Xbox Cloud Gaming playtime is access. This year, Microsoft reorganized its tiers for Xbox Game Pass. While this ultimately led to a hefty price increase for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, both the new Premium and Essential tiers gained access to Xbox Cloud Gaming. With cloud gaming accessible across all of Microsoft’s subscription tiers, more players have access to try it out that might not have otherwise been able to had they not been subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Microsoft’s efforts to expand its cloud gaming services appear to be paying off in some aspects, but it is still ultimately held back. Server stability and ease of launching into a game without latency or hiccups remain an issue. Microsoft is in stiff competition within the space as Nvidia GeForce Now is becoming a leader in the cloud gaming space, offering up to 4K resolution at 120fps.