It is unlikely that today you will get bored or end up getting tired of the catalog of games available for Xbox. In the same way, there are few excuses to say that you do not have more options for economic reasons, because with Xbox Game Pass you can access hundreds of titles for a very affordable monthly fee. Even so, if by any chance you want to expand the leisure offer, we are going to tell you how to play Steam PC titles on your Xbox.
The Xbox games catalog
For a while, some users decided to bet on PlayStation instead of Xbox for two reasons. The first was because all his friends had said console and if they wanted to play together, there was no other option. The second argued that the catalog of titles available for the Microsoft platform was inferior.
Well, it is true that at first it was not so attractive and the fact of the exclusives played a lot in favor of Sony. With the passage of time all this has changed and both consoles are very even today. What's more, there are still exclusives, but Microsoft's latest moves buying studios as important as Bethesda, Activision or Blizzard means that if at any time there will be a company with important exclusives, it will be Redmond's.
However, the most important thing is that the complete catalog of games for xbox It has grown remarkably and there are many very good games that can be found. from the series The Witcher to Assassin's Creed, FIFA, Fallout , Halo, Gears of War, etc. But the thing does not stop there.
One of the great movements of Microsoft in recent months has been the fact of further promoting its service by Xbox Game Pass subscription. Thanks to it, Xbox users can access a catalog made up of more than one hundred titles and that does not stop growing.
With Xbox Game Pass you pay a fixed monthly fee and you can download the games you want, as long as your console has disk space, and enjoy them as much as you want. And this is important and very advantageous, because although you will never own the games, with their respective physical copy, you will be able to play them without fear of not liking them. Because if that happens, you uninstall already for another. So it doesn't hurt as much as spending 60 euros on a title that ends up disappointing.
For all this, the Xbox catalog has become so powerful. Although we must not forget that there is the option of being able to enjoy these games remotely thanks to the cloud-based option, which until now we knew as xCloud. Through this service and if you pay for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate you can access a console gaming experience with its characteristic triple A's from your mobile phone, tablet or other less powerful devices, but with a compatible browser.
Xbox and the power of gaming in the cloud
With Xbox CloudGaming many casual gamers are being able to enjoy a console gaming experience from less powerful mobile devices or computers that, due to their technical specifications, are not capable of running said titles.
Well, all that power and options that Microsoft's streaming game service opens up are also being exploited by other companies such as Google with Stadia or Nvidia with GeForce Now. And it is precisely the latter that have caused Microsoft consoles, the Xbox, to become an even more valuable and attractive piece of hardware.
NVIDIA unlocked the use of Microsoft Edge as a gateway to GeForce Now and, as you can imagine, that brings the entire catalog of titles available on said service closer to Xbox. Or what is the same, you will be able to play an infinite number of titles available on Steam from your console.
So before you start hyperventilating because you get dizzy from having so many gaming options, let's see how it's done and what you'll need to enjoy PC games that don't have a console version.
GeForce Now, what is that?
To be able to enjoy the PC games that are available on Steam, the first thing is to know that you will do it through GeForce Now, a streaming game service developed by Nvidia that what it does is connect us remotely with supercomputers with top hardware to play, and next-generation RTX graphics that are sometimes not even available in stores. With those PCs, they will broadcast the game to us after logging in with our username and password on Steam.
Of course, before subscribing to this service, It would be nice if you could check how many of the games you have purchased are available within GeForce Now, because you will not be able to access those that you have not previously purchased within the store. So be very careful not to think that you can play remotely with Red Dead Redemption 2 when it's not in your library.
The second thing to remember is that to access GeForce Now you will have to use the available browser on your Xbox i.e. Microsoft Edge.
How to Play Steam PC Games on Your Xbox
Access to GeForce Now can be done through three different subscription options, one free and two paid. Keep in mind that what you do when you connect to the service is to play from an Nvidia PC but that it takes all your data from the Steam account, such as achievements, saved games in the cloud, etc. So depending on how long your game sessions are, you should choose the type of subscription you are going to pay for.
- Free subscription: makes use of the basic platform, access priority is standard and the maximum duration of each game session is 1 hour.
- Priority Subscription: It costs 9,99 euros per month, or 49,99 euros every six months, and makes use of an advanced platform with support for RTX (Ray Tracing), priority access, a 6-hour session, and resolution of up to 1080p at 60fps.
- RTX3080 Subscription: it is the most advanced of all, it costs 99,99 euros every six months (or 19,99 monthly) and the games run on computers with a GeForce RTX 3080 with Ray Tracing graphics, it can be played for 8 hours, the quality of streaming Video on PC and Mac is up to 1440p at 120fps and if you have an Nvidia Shield TV you can play at 4K HDR resolutions.
Once you have chosen the option that most interests or suits you, you can start with the free period to test the experience. And it is that you must take into account that the catalog of games available in GeForce Now is based on those that are inside the Valve store, exclusively. It could be the case that you have many games in your library that are not supported by this Nividia service, so you will have to wait until they include it. New compatible titles are announced every so often, but remember that the store Gabe Newell's has been operating for almost 20 years, so the list of games in the catalog is endless and we don't always agree in taste with the millions of users who, together, define with their tastes which are the most popular releases... or the best sellers.
These games are purchased individually, it's not like Xbox Game Pass, but between Steam sales and other promotions it is likely that more than one already has a rather curious library of games in the Valve store.
so one time access the GeForce Now website with Microsoft Edge from your Xbox, the next step is connect your steam library. From that moment you can enjoy PC games on your Microsoft console, although it is important to remember that surely you miss some pitches. This is so because Nvidia is gradually adding new titles that it supports from its platform. So keep that in mind before signing up (paying) for the service, lest you go in and look for that wonder that interests you so much, it turns out that it is not yet available.
Yes, you can play all those PC strategy games and some exclusive ones that appear for Windows and not Xbox. In addition, with the support that the browser offers for keyboard and mouse, you can also forget about using the gamepad and resort to more traditional control methods for many.
How to Connect a Keyboard and Mouse to the Xbox
El using a keyboard and mouse with the xbox it's more a matter of personal preference than necessity, but now that you can access many PC titles from your Xbox with GeForce Now you might be interested. To connect a keyboard and mouse you have to do the following.
How to connect a mouse to the xbox
To use a mouse with your Xbox, simply connect a wired or wireless mouse with a USB adapter. From the settings you will be able to change some settings just by doing this:
- Turn on your Xbox console and pick up the controller.
- Press the button on the controller to open the guide.
- Now go to Profile and system option and there scroll to Settings > Devices and connections.
- Once inside that section, select Mouse and you'll be able to configure the experience a bit more to your liking by varying the scroll speed or primary and secondary click settings.
How to connect a keyboard to the Xbox
To connect a keyboard to the Xbox the process is as follows:
- Turn on your Xbox console.
- Plug in the keyboard.
- On the remote, press the button to open the guide.
- Go to Profile and System > Settings > Devices and connections.
- Review the options and adjust what you think is necessary.
Voila, you're ready to take advantage of access to Steam titles for PC from your Xbox with GeForce Now and also to play more comfortably thanks to keyboard and mouse support. In addition, there is hardly any latency so you can handle what happens on the screen as if it were running natively on the device from which you are connected.
Recommendations for playing Steam titles on Xbox
As you may have seen, playing games from your Steam library on your Xbox console is possible. However, the experience can vary based on many factors.
The first recommendation that you should follow is to connect your Xbox Series to your router via Ethernet cable. Cloud gaming is quite responsive. Any interference will cause our game to be affected. In addition, the cable is much more reliable than the Wi-Fi connection, and allows to reduce considerably the input lag, which is the Achilles heel of all cloud gaming. Remember that, as much as this technology has advanced, the cloud computing it's still pretty green.
Regarding the peripherals, something of the same thing happens. Use mouse and keyboard wired is not ergonomically perfect, but it will help to minimize the effect of input lag. If you want to use wireless peripherals, make sure to use quality equipment with low latency if you want a pleasant experience or if you are serious about gaming.
Xbox running like a PC
Although the method to play Steam games on the Xbox is based on the use of the cloud and the NVIDIA GeForce Now service, you cannot deny that this is the closest thing to turning your console into a PC. And it is that all the library that you have on Steam will be accessible from the service, being able to continue games in the event that you want to do it from the sofa with your Xbox Series. It may not be the most perfect method, but for users who have a powerful desktop computer, and want some mobility, they can always lie on the couch and continue the game from their Xbox.
It must be taken into account that these cloud-based services today cannot replace the experience of playing locally, but it is currently the most versatile solution with which to take advantage of your console and continue enjoying the Steam catalog. We must also take into account that the PC and Xbox catalog is increasingly similar, especially with the appearance of the Xbox Game Pass service and the arrival of games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator o Age of Empires, so the gap between the PC and the console is increasingly blurred in terms of the user experience. And of course, it also leads us to the curious situation of being able to play exclusive PlayStation games on Xbox, since with the arrival of titles like God of War or Uncharted on Steam, this method would allow you to play them from your Xbox Series X. Isn't that fantastic?
Hi there. I don't know if you can help me. I was interested in knowing which games from the steam platform or epic games can be played from the Xbox one. I have a few on both platforms but I don't know if they are compatible, is there a list? Because if I can play them, buying an Xbox console is very attractive. Thank you very much 🙂