Starting yesterday, the newly released Xbox app for the Amazon Fire TV stick allows users to play Xbox games on the go, even without the console. Of course, you will need an active Game Pass Ultimate subscription, as that’s the only way to access cloud gaming for Xbox – unless all you want to play is Fortnite, which can be checked out for free.
The app is initially available on the Fire TV 4K Max (2023) and Fire TV Stick 4K (2023), with pricing starting at $49.99. A Bluetooth-enabled wireless controller, such as Xbox Wireless Controller, Xbox Adaptive Controller, PlayStation DualSense, or DualShock 4, is also needed to play.
To celebrate the occasion, Microsoft also released a dedicated ad where the phrase ‘you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox’ can be heard – something that would have been unthinkable mere years ago. Of course, it is no news that Microsoft is pushing beyond the limited confines of the console space. Partly, that is because sales aren’t great (in fact, they have been declining for a while now), but it’s also because Microsoft’s ambitions are much bigger than the total addressable market for consoles could ever allow. There are only a few hundred million users interested in console gaming, whereas Microsoft wants to reach up to three billion gamers wherever they may wish to play.
That includes PC gaming (all Xbox first-party titles have launched on PC for several years now), other consoles (as we’ve seen with the ports of Sea of Thieves, Pentiment, Grounded, and Hi-Fi Rush to PlayStation 5/Nintendo Switch), TVs (there’s been an app on Samsung televisions for two years now), and mobile devices, the real deal, with Microsoft ready to launch a dedicated store later this month. The Amazon Fire TV stick app is just a stepping stone on a path to bring Xbox games to every possible device.
