Microsoft Flight Simulator is nowavailable via Xbox Cloud Gaming. Not long ago, I covered 2 othersimilar options, which were "Remote Play" where you connect back toyour Xbox console to play as though you were actually at your Xboxalbeit remotely, and Cloud Gaming, where you sign up for a PC in theCloud and run whatever you liked including MSFS from it.

So, what is Xbox Cloud Gaming? And is it any good? Who is itintended for? How does it compare to those other offerings? Why am Igiving myself all these questions to try and answer? Well, let's tryand get some of those questions out of the way...

What is Xbox Cloud Gaming?

Well, it's actually been around for about 6 months now, and isstill in Beta form. By signing up to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (more onthat later), using a compatible device and meeting some hardware specrequirements, you can stream various games directly from the MicrosoftCloud. Microsoft Flight Simulator was just added on the 1st of March2022 as one of those games. Just like Netflix, you are streaming thevisuals back rather than needing to worry about the compute powerneeded to run it natively.

In simple terms, Xbox Cloud Gaming lets you play MSFS withoutneeding an expensive PC or the latest Xbox to do so.

What do I need to use this?

Well, there's only four things really. Let's go through themquickly one by one.

First up, you will need a decent internet connection. Goes withoutsaying really, that you will be pulling your hair out unless you havea good speedy connection and it's stable. All the power to stream thegame is via your internet, so the usual things apply here such aswired rather than wireless if possible, and close anything else thatmight be running taking up bandwidth. 20 Mbps or higher is suggestedby Microsoft but I'd suggest 30 Mbps at a minimum.

Second, is a Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. There's no wayaround this, this is a must have to get up and running. However, thegood news is that you can pretty much try before you buy, well you canfor £1 at least, for the first month before moving to theregular price of £11 per month. For this, you get access to theever growing library of Cloud Games, other Xbox related benefits andof course save on the initial cost of buying the game in the firstplace. MSFS Game of the Year Standard Edition costs £60 whichyou now get access to play for nothing by signing up for the Game PassUltimate subscription.

Third is a supported device. Without getting into detailed hardwarespecs, to simplify, can your device run the latest modern browser - beit Edge, Safari or Chrome? If so, you're probably in business. Formobile devices, can it run the latest OS for your device? If so,again, very likely you're all set. For specific breakdowns onsupported devices check here on system requirements.

Finally, and just as important as the above is an Xbox Bluetoothcontroller. Don't be fooled here - not all Xbox controllers areequal, some still currently on sale use a Wireless protocol to connectto the console; more recent controllers now use Bluetooth. XboxBluetooth controllers basically let you connect them to non-Xboxhardware, so a must-have for our needs here, and these can be pickedup easily, if you can spare the hit of £55 on your wallet.

Ok, so what's the benefit of Cloud Gaming?

Great question and like anything really, there's pros andcons. Without sounding too much like a sales guy, the pros are:

• Power is not your problem anymore: with all the processingand compute power needed to run MSFS being on the Microsoft Cloud, youonly need a lightweight device yourself to be able to stream it. Somobile phones, tablets, Xbox One and even old computers, once theymeet a minimum spec, can benefit from Xbox Cloud Gaming.
• Mobility: prior to this, the main way to get into the skywith MSFS was to possess either a PC that could handle it or an XboxSeries X or S. With access now on your tablet or phone, you could fireit up on your daily bus commute! Yes, be that guy!
• Availability: Perhaps you've an older PC or Xbox One lyingaround, or a second machine that happens to be a Mac that you alwayswished you could use for MSFS. Or maybe you are travelling withnothing but your work laptop? All of which can now get you up into theskies with MSFS - with nothing to install to get this working, excepta supported browser and a fast internet connection, in just a fewclicks.
• Ease of use: there's no settings you can fiddle withhere. There are no add-ons to worry about. There are no updates toinstall. Microsoft for better or for worse, now controls allthat!

For the cons, well there are some and I will cover them shortly.

Right, with all that background out of the way, and safe in theknowledge I'm exceeding all the specs, time to fire up MSFS using XboxCloud Gaming on a three-year-old Mac; let's see what it can do!

To get started, after signing in at xbox.com/play you are greetedwith the library of games on offer. Clicking on MSFS does a quickcheck that you indeed do have all the requirements, including aconnected controller, before loading into the sim after a brief splashscreen. For those familiar with MSFS, all the usual loading pages doappear including BlackShark, syncing data & checking for updatesetc. Boot up time for the sim took just slightly over 2 minutes - afar cry from the typical 5 mins + I'm used to on PC.

At the main menu, and jumping straight into General Options, comesthe first sign that things are different. There's no ability to changeanything graphic wise, which was a bit disappointing as I was hopingto "push all she's got" from my fast broadband connection. Basically,you are getting the resolution & experience that's pre-determined foryou. All other aspects however, are as you would expect from a vanillaMSFS experience, such as the Marketplace, and the full multiplayerexperience. No community folder to use here, but thankfully itemspurchased via the in-sim Marketplace that you might have made aresynced and available.

Onto The Flying!

One interesting change comes at the World Map. To enter an ICAO, itbrings up a new input box allowing you to use your keyboard to enterthe letters. Once loaded into the cockpit, it reverts to an extremelyfamiliar experience if you've ever used the Xbox version. You use thecontroller for pretty much everything, keyboard shortcuts don't workhere at all. Immediately, I can notice the resolution. There's nodeveloper mode nor game bar here, so tough to tell FPS. To my eye, itappears to be 1080p at a constant 30fps. In other words, far below themaximum experience possible from MSFS, smooth yet heavily optimised. Afew short flights later, well the experience is....in a word....fine,no input lag and again, mirroring the Xbox experience.

Time to give it even more of a challenge and load in Heathrow for aflight down The Thames into the heavily congested (or cough, stutterinducing) London City area. As well as the scenery, there were loadsof nametags in the area to join me. Technical term here I think, istrying to break it! And well....I failed! Flying over London Bridge,the O2, London Eye and between the skyscrapers, there wasn't a stutterto be had. But then again, if you were to reduce the resolution on anymachine, surely it will ease the load and produce betterperformance. And that's what's happening here. I found the visualssoft, muddy and murky, clearly optimised for a low to medium levelexperience and set at a bar to perform for those only just meeting thelowest of compatibility settings.

So how does this compare with other similar offerings?

Well, the nearest comparison is

Compared to the

So, to close this out, would I recommend Xbox Cloud Gaming for MSFSand does this have a place for a certain type of simmer?

Well, going into this review, I would have said - yes. Itabsolutely has a place - especially for those that are interested tosee what MSFS is about and don't want the initial outlay of costlyhardware such as a Next Gen Xbox Series X/S or indeed PC to do so.

The best MSFS experience hands down is on PC. For a greatexperience, choose Xbox. With this, you have an option number 3, whereit provides you with an avenue for the most casual of gamer to exploreour awesome sim, due to the low barrier to entry and potential to workup to running natively on more dedicated hardware.

And while this is all true, I remain confused. Specifically aboutthe need for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in its current form.

If you think about it, an Xbox Game Pass would really only be ofinterest to current Xbox or PC users. Both of which may already beable to run MSFS natively, which even at a medium level would offer abetter experience. Which leads me to the question I'm struggling with:

Is this just an option for the same addressable audience since theXbox release?

At present, I'm unsure why anyone that doesn't already have an Xboxor PC would buy such a subscription. Perhaps, this could be much moresuccessful if Microsoft were to decouple the Cloud Gaming offeringfrom the Xbox Game Pass offering to attract new gamers to MSFS.

To wrap up, MSFS on Xbox Cloud Gaming can (in my opinion) serve apurpose but it's very much a niche one, and at present may not attractas wide an audience as Microsoft is possibly hoping for. Nevertheless,I will watch this space closely to see how it evolves further, asthere's no doubt this is the future of gaming.

In the meantime, I'll never leave the house again without my Xboxcontroller just in case.

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