New Microsoft advert highlights that ‘you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox’

Microsoft has released a new advert highlighting the ability to play Xbox games without a dedicated console.

While it has been possible to play Xbox games via the cloud on PCs, mobile devices, and select smart TVs and VR headsets for some time, support for the feature was this week extended to some Amazon Fire TV Stick devices.

To do so, players have to install and launch the Xbox app from their Fire TV device, sign in with a Microsoft account, sign up for Game Pass Ultimate if they haven’t already and connect a controller to play.

A new advert promoting the launch of the Xbox app on Amazon devices, which takes the form of a Scream parody, is titled ‘No Xbox? Have no fear with Amazon Fire TV Stick’. Viewable above, it hammers home the point that you can play Xbox games without a console.

Xbox partnered with Samsung to bring Xbox cloud gaming to the electronics company’s TVs in 2022, and Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer previously hinted at plans to bundle Xbox Game Pass with TV streaming sticks.

“The cloud will allow us to completely remove these barriers to play worldwide,” Spencer said back in 2021. “Of course, there’s still a place for consoles and PCs and frankly, there always will be, but through the cloud, we will be able to deliver a robust gaming experience to anyone connected to the internet, even on the least powerful, least expensive devices, devices people already own.

“And with the cloud, gaming players can participate fully in the same Xbox experience as people on local hardware. We couldn’t do that if we weren’t part of Microsoft.”

A recently unearthed patent seemingly provided the first proper look at Microsoft’s own shelved Xbox streaming device.

First announced in 2021 and codenamed ‘Keystone’, it was being designed to let players stream Xbox games to TVs or monitors without the need for a console.

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However, Xbox deprioritised work on it after failing to produce it cheaply enough to be able to sell it at the desired price, which Spencer said was in the $99-$129 range.

This week Microsoft announced plans to raise Xbox Game Pass prices and introduce a new subscription tier that does not include day one releases.