The Quest 3 can make like an Xbox and allow you to play console-quality games
Update: Xbox Cloud Gaming on Meta Quest Beta is live!
The awaited service has finally launched on December 13, 2023. It allows owners of the Quest 2, Quest Pro or Quest 3 models of headsets to enjoy Xbox Game pass on a flat, 2D screen. An active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, typically priced at $16.99, is required too (duh).
What will cost you more, however, is the need for a dedicated console controller, as this service won't let you use the controllers, bundled with any of the supported headsets. You'll need to buy an Xbox controller, but the PlayStation's Dualshock 4 controller is supported too. Just to be safe, you can always check which controllers are supported here.
Other than that, so long as your internet connection is strong and speedy enough — 7 Mbps at 2.4 GHz, to be exact — you should be good to go. And in all honesty, at least this isn't a tough requirement to meet.
Keep in mind: the service is still in a Beta test period, so some technical hiccups, such as slowdown or battery drain, are to be expected. Hopefully, those will be ironed out by the time the testing period is over.
The original story from October 2, 2023 follows below:
Gaming has been, for the most part, normalized. A lot of people game, be it on some of the best phones on the market while taking the bus home, on a dedicated gaming console or even a gaming PC. Oh, and of course: the best VR headsets can game too!But how far off are we from getting combinations between these? After all, it’s pretty hard to maintain libraries for multiple platforms at the same time. Take the iPhone 15 Pro, for example, which is getting dedicated ports of games like Resident Evil Village (which I’m replaying for the third time right now, just for fun, and I still love it, btw).
But Meta can flex with a similar statement too! Because its latest headset, the recently launched Meta Quest 3, will support Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This means that console-quality, full-fledged games will be available on the Quest 3!
Before I do that, though, let me explain what Xbox Game Pass is. This is basically a subscription service, which is primarily available on Xbox platforms and on Windows PC. When you sign up, you instantly get access to all games made by Microsoft, available on the given platform (except for Forza, but that’s a different story).
Oh, and then you also get access to hundreds of console games for third-party companies too, with new titles being added regularly, for just $16.99 per month.
Well, that sounds awesome! Should you be throwing your Xbox out the window already? Well, not really. And this is where we get to the “sort of” part.
Basically, this is a streaming service. The headsets on which this service will be available won't be getting native ports of these games, but streaming them over the internet instead. So you’ll not only need a constant internet connection, but a steady one at that.
If you are interested, then you should know that these titles will not have any extra VR-exclusive content or features. They will be streamed on a flat, virtual screen, in 2D and you’ll also need an Xbox wireless controller in order to play them.
Xbox Game Pass will become available on the Quest 2, the Quest Pro and the Quest 3 sometime during December. Will this be a killer-feature or a bumpy ride? Well, if anyone has the know-how to achieve this, it's Meta and Microsoft, but time will tell if my hunch is right or not.
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