If you only use the touch controls to play games on Xbox’s cloud gaming service, you’re not alone. Microsoft reports that 20% of its Xbox cloud gaming users exclusively rely on its smartphone-friendly touch controls to play games.
The number is a bit surprising since many of the games on Xbox’s cloud gaming service were designed to be played with a console controller. However, over the past year, Microsoft has been working with developers to add touch-based controls to their games.
This means you can stream Xbox games to your smartphone, and play them, without using a Bluetooth controller. Instead, you can rely on touch controls on the smartphone’s screens, removing the need to carry around any accessories.
Currently, the touch controls are available for over 120 titles. And according to Microsoft, some of the games are seeing over 30% of the players exclusively use the touch controls. They include Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age, Football Manager 2022 Xbox Edition, Hades, Minecraft Dungeons, New Super Lucky’s Tale, Scarlet Nexus, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
As a result, the company is encouraging more game developers to add touch controls to their games. “We’ve seen, on average, a 2x increase in usage for titles available via Xbox Cloud Gaming, across genres, that implement touch controls,” the company wrote in a blog post.
Microsoft’s cloud gaming service is a free perk for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which costs $14.99 a month. To stream the games on a smartphone, you need a steady internet connection that can reach at least 10Mbps in downloads.
