Microsoft's 'Netflix of gaming' service finally launches in September, and it'll give access to over 100 Xbox games from your phone, tablet, or console for $15/month

• This September, xCloud — Microsoft's Xbox-based game streaming service — is scheduled to launch, long after it was first announced.
• The service enables users to play dozens of Xbox games via the cloud, on smartphones and tablets. Any progress made on those games will be reflected on the Xbox when you pick it up there.
• The service, named "Project xCloud," will arrive as part of Xbox Game Pass — the wildly popular gaming subscription program.

In the summer of 2017, Microsoft made an ambitious bet on a new Xbox service: Game Pass.

The service offered a curated library of over 100 games, and it cost just $10 per month. Moreover, every major Xbox game published by Microsoft, from "Halo" to "Gears of War" to "Forza Motorsport," was published to the service at launch as part of the library, along with a smattering of third-party games like "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt."

It went on to great success, with over 10 million subscribers as of this past April.

If you're thinking, "That sounds sort of like Netflix," you'd be right, although with Game Pass you download titles instead of streaming them. But now, starting in September, Game Pass is transforming into a true Netflix-like service as every game becomes outright streamable — thanks to the technology from Project xCloud, Microsoft's long-in-the-works plan to stream Xbox games to phones, tablets, and consoles from the cloud.

"This September, in supported countries, we're bringing Xbox Game Pass and Project xCloud together at no additional cost for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members," Xbox leader Phil Spencer said in a blog post on Thursday morning.

Notably, this specifically applies to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate — the $15/month version of Game Pass that comes with access to Xbox games, PC games, and Xbox Live Gold (a separate subscription service for Xbox consoles that enables online multiplayer and comes with free games each month).

When Project xCloud is combined with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the 100-plus games in the Game Pass library will become streamable on smartphones and tablets, in addition to being downloadable on Xbox consoles and PC. Moreover, Spencer said you can start a game on one platform and pick up where you left off on another.

"Just like you do with your movie and music streaming services, when cloud gaming launches into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can continue your game wherever you left off on any of your devices," he said.

It's the culmination of a long-term plan spearheaded by Spencer, to transform Xbox from a hardware platform to a digital platform, and to reach people on whatever device they've got.

"That remains core to what we're trying to do," Spencer told Business Insider in an interview last June. "To allow creators to reach the customers that they want, allow players to play the games that they want with the people they want to play with, anywhere they want. And it fits right into the opportunity ahead."

Notably, Microsoft isn't the only one making a big bet on video game streaming: Google's Stadia, which officially launched late last year, has a similar vision — though it has yet to show that it's made a significant dent in the market.

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