Xbox cloud gaming comes to Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico this month in Project xCloud Preview

Microsoft’s new Xbox cloud gaming service is set to expand to four new regions next week. Beginning on November 18th, Android smartphone and tablet owners in Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico will be able to sample cloud-powered video games via the Project xCloud Preview program.

Registrations for the preview are already open here and participation is completely free when/if accepted.

Because it’s a preview intended for testing, the range of titles will be limited but games such as Minecraft Dungeons, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Forza Horizon 4, Black Desert, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Yakuza 0 have already been confirmed.

It will be interesting to see how the Xbox cloud gaming test goes in these countries as the quality of the internet infrastructure varies greatly between them. Japan, for example, has phenomenal internet coverage while Australia is notorious for having some of the worst internet infrastructure, ranking 32nd out of the 35 OECD nations for internet speed in a recent study.

The game streaming service is expected to launch properly in Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico as part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription service sometime in 2021.

Xbox cloud gaming basically allows gamers to play high end video game titles on devices with low specs by having the games run entirely on Microsoft’s own servers. Android devices are getting Xbox cloud gaming first due to the platform’s support for such streaming services and a Windows 10 and Xbox console launch is expected in the very near future. The rollout of Xbox cloud gaming on iOS had been delayed due to Apple’s strict App Store policies though it was revealed earlier this month that Microsoft is planning to work around these restrictions by offering game streaming via web browsers.

While a launch of Xbox cloud gaming on the Nintendo Switch and PS5 hasn’t been announced, Microsoft has stated that they are open to such a collaboration.

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