Xbox Series X just killed this key feature — and PS5 has it

News
By Tom Pritchard
published

Xbox One let you stream games to your PC, but Xbox Series X does not

Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

One of the best features of the Xbox One was its local streaming capabilities, letting you run a game on your console but play it on a nearby Windows 10 PC via the Xbox Companion App.

Unfortunately it looks like this particular feature is basically dead, because Microsoft has confirmed streaming to your PC isn’t supported on Xbox Series X.

Microsoft MVP Radael Rivera discovered this piece of news, which you can also see for yourself on the Xbox support pages.

While almost all Xbox games are available on Windows PCs, including the Xbox exclusive titles, it’s not quite the same. That’s mainly down to the fact you’d need a PC capable of running those games in the first place, whereas the streaming method lets you play on pretty much any machine while your console did all the leg work.

That’s not to mention the cost of the components needed to run those games at Xbox Series X-level specs.

The obvious question is why Microsoft scrapped this feature, especially when the Series X supports remote play on Android and iOS devices. While Microsoft may want to push PC owners to its xCloud streaming service (when it launches on PC, that is), there’s nothing to be lost by letting people beam the games they already own onto a different machine.

This is one bonus for the PS5 at any rate. The PlayStation blog FAQ confirms that PC-centric remote play will be supported on PS5, as is the option to stream the console to Android, iOS, and older PS4 consoles.

Let’s just hope that Microsoft sees the error of its ways, and reinstates this feature pretty quickly. Even if, like the Xbox One, the games have to be capped at a lower resolution to make it happen.

Tom Pritchard
Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.