In the same week that Nvidia released its RTX 5080 cloud gaming servers, letting you stream games off one of the latest gaming GPUs out there, Microsoft announced that you can now stream Xbox games in cars. Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud is still running on console-like hardware that’s showing its age, and Nvidia’s improvements to GeForce Now show exactly how far behind Xbox Cloud Gaming is.

Also this week: Microsoft mandates a return to office, Windows Mixed Reality headsets come back to life, and the Windows 11 SSD issues could be down to older firmware and BIOS versions.

Xbox Cloud is getting a much-needed upgrade

Over the past week, I’ve been using Nvidia’s new RTX 5080 GeForce Now tier. Nvidia’s cloud gaming service has been the best on the market for years now, and this upgrade makes it even better. I’ve been playing Cyberpunk 2077, Overwatch 2, and Silksong, and it’s genuinely comparable to my own PC.

The upgrade is also a staggering reminder of just how far behind Xbox Cloud Gaming is, both in stream quality and latency — two key components for streaming games from the cloud. Microsoft needs a far better cloud for its Xbox everywhere strategy. Fortunately, there are plenty of signs that it’s about to get a much-needed upgrade.

Xbox Cloud Gaming started off as Project xCloud in 2019, promising to bring streaming Xbox games to mobile devices and tablets. In the early days of xCloud, it was largely an add-on for Game Pass subscribers and a way to fend off competition from Google’s Stadia service. Six years later, Xbox Cloud Gaming is now a key offering in Microsoft’s mission to bring Xbox games to as many devices as possible.

I’ve been streaming games through Nvidia’s GeForce Now service at impressive quality at 5K resolution this week, making the switch back to Xbox Cloud Gaming at 1080p particularly jarring. The low bitrates make games with a lot of movement or action blocky at times due to high compression, and the limit of 60fps doesn’t help with latency and responsiveness. On GeForce Now, Nvidia now offers a 360fps mode at 1080p, which is 500 percent more frames than Xbox Cloud Gaming.

The biggest issue I have with Xbox Cloud Gaming right now is just how inconsistent it is. Some games run at higher bitrates than others, and some devices, like TVs, get a better experience than my phone or PC. To ensure I get the best quality, I have to use a third-party tool like the excellent Better xCloud to get 17Mbps streams instead of blockier 10Mbps ones.

Microsoft appears to be readying some upgrades to Xbox Cloud Gaming, though. A number of players have spotted a new 1440p mode in recent weeks. Digital Foundry managed to get this new mode running with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and kindly shared some footage with me. The 1440p stream really helps improve the visual quality of the game, with a higher resolution and bitrates that can peak at 27Mbps. It’s still not on par with GeForce Now, but it’s definitely an improvement over what exists on Xbox Cloud Gaming today.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is also getting two new “HQ” modes for both 720p and 1080p. The developer of Better xCloud spotted these in code on Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming website this week, and the 1440p mode is also included.

I asked Microsoft about the new 1440p mode and higher quality resolutions for Xbox Cloud Gaming, but the company declined to comment.

While there are some much-needed upgrades to Xbox Cloud Gaming on the way, I don’t think we’ll see a huge upgrade until Microsoft moves to PC hardware inside its data centers. Microsoft upgraded its xCloud servers to Series X hardware in 2021, bringing big improvements to load times and frame rates. With the Xbox next-gen console being tied to AMD chips that span across multiple devices, the next big Xbox Cloud Gaming upgrade will undoubtedly also be tied to those new chips.

In the meantime, Microsoft is relying more and more on Xbox Cloud Gaming for its Xbox everywhere effort. Last year, Microsoft said, “No Xbox, no problem,” as it embarked on bringing Xbox Cloud streaming to Amazon Fire TV sticks and Samsung TVs. Microsoft has also launched its Xbox app on LG TVs in recent months and released a custom Xbox-themed Meta Quest 3S. An Xbox app will soon be available in some cars, too. All of these devices aren’t Xbox consoles, but the cloud makes it possible to play Game Pass titles and many games you own in places you’d never expect Xbox hardware to appear.

Microsoft is also lowering some of the barriers of using Xbox Cloud Gaming. While games like Fortnite are free-to-play on the service, most games require an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription at $19.99 a month. Microsoft has started expanding Xbox Cloud access to Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers recently, after hinting at “more affordable” and accessible ways to access Xbox Cloud games.

It seems like Microsoft is extending cloud gaming to more tiers of Game Pass, rather than launching a separate “dedicated” version of Xbox Cloud Gaming that it revealed it was working on a couple of years ago. Microsoft has also hinted in the past that there could eventually be a free version of Xbox Cloud Gaming in exchange for ads. Either way, Microsoft has shown over the past year that it’s very much back to pushing its Xbox Cloud vision, after plenty of struggles battling app store rules and trying to convince regulators that it wouldn’t dominate the future of cloud gaming.

Still, these upgrades are a stopgap to keep Xbox Cloud Gaming usable — not the upgrade that’s going to make it the best option. Microsoft needs to match the quality and latency of GeForce Now if it really wants to convince consumers that they don’t need dedicated Xbox hardware. Nvidia’s RTX 5080 servers are now pushing cloud gaming bitrates to 100Mbps with frame rates and visual clarity that are closer than ever before to native PC gaming. As Microsoft heads more toward PC for its next-gen Xbox plans, it needs to take the GeForce Now competition a lot more seriously.

The pad

Microsoft mandates a return to office. I revealed last month that Microsoft was about to announce a new return-to-office policy, and it’s now officially here. Microsoft is asking employees to return to the office three days per week. This will initially start with employees in the Puget Sound area of Washington next February, before expanding to other US offices and internationally. Some employees will be able to apply for exceptions, but it’s a big change from when Microsoft was allowing employees to work from home permanently during the covid-19 pandemic. “This update is not about reducing headcount,” says Amy Coleman, executive vice president and Microsoft’s chief people officer, but this will be seen as a stealth layoff situation for many employees.
Xbox engineer brings Windows Mixed Reality headsets back to life. Windows Mixed Reality headsets were left in a nonfunctional state last year, after Microsoft suddenly discontinued the platform with its 24H2 update to Windows 11. Now, an Xbox engineer at Microsoft is bringing these headsets back to life, thanks to a new driver that enables SteamVR support. Matthieu Bucchianeri, a software engineer that worked on Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality headsets, has released a free “Oasis Driver” on Steam. It’s named Oasis as that was the codename for Windows Mixed Reality, and it requires an Nvidia GPU because it relies on features “missing in the AMD and Intel graphics driver.” This is a great reverse engineering effort from Bucchianeri, and something I would have loved to see Microsoft officially sanction instead of leaving headsets unusable last year.
Microsoft 365 Personal is now free for US college students for a year. Microsoft is giving away Microsoft 365 Personal subscriptions to all US college students. This subscription gives students free access to Microsoft Office apps and the Copilot AI assistant integration for a year, after which the students are eligible for a 50 percent discount to continue the subscription. The announcement, made by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, was part of the White House’s AI Education Task Force meeting last week. Microsoft is also funding $1.25 million in educator grants, offering free LinkedIn AI courses for job seekers, students, and teachers, and expanding access to its AI tools in schools.
Windows 11 SSD issues blamed on reviewers using “early versions of firmware.” Microsoft already made it clear that its latest Windows 11 update wasn’t causing SSD issues, and now Phison has identified “early versions of firmware and BIOS” as the problem instead. Phison recommends that reviewers, where “many of the reports originate from,” upgrade motherboard BIOS or early versions of firmware on SSDs. YouTuber JayzTwoCents claimed last week that the “Windows update and SSD problem is WAY worse than we thought!” and showed a Crucial T500 drive (with a Phison E25 controller) failing after Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 security updates. JayzTwoCents was using a beta motherboard BIOS, and upgrading this BIOS to a non-beta version solved the issues he was having. If you’re also experiencing problems, then I’d start with upgrading your motherboard BIOS, especially if you’re on an AMD system. You may also need to check for SSD firmware updates, too.
Microsoft fires another employee over Palestine protests. Microsoft has fired a fifth employee over the latest Palestine protests at the company’s headquarters. No Azure for Apartheid doesn’t name the Microsoft employee, but it says they took part in the demonstrations that saw protesters set up encampments at Microsoft’s headquarters. Microsoft has also fired employees who occupied its president’s office, protesting against the company’s contracts with the Israeli government.
Windows developers can now publish apps to Microsoft’s store without fees. Microsoft is allowing developers to submit apps to its Windows store without having to pay any onboarding fees. Individual developers in nearly 200 countries can now sign up to publish apps on the Microsoft Store with just a personal Microsoft account and no more one-time fees. Microsoft started cutting its $19 one-time fee to publish apps to its Windows store in June, and it’s now removing this fee for all developers worldwide.
Copilot gets a new scripted audio mode that uses Microsoft’s AI models. Microsoft started previewing its MAI-Voice-1 model late last month, and now it’s updating its Copilot Audio Expressions feature with a new scripted mode that uses Microsoft’s own AI models. It reads your text input in a variety of styles, including a vampire style that you can sink your teeth into — just in time for Halloween.
Microsoft brings its sales, service, and finance Copilots into Microsoft 365 Copilot. I exclusively reported last week that Microsoft was about to shake up its Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing, and now the company has officially revealed that its sales, service, and finance Copilots are being bundled into Microsoft 365 Copilot. That means they’re no longer a $20 add-on, and businesses using Microsoft 365 Copilot will be able to get access to these additional Copilots in October.
Microsoft to buy AI from Anthropic in partial shift from OpenAI. Microsoft is reportedly planning to use Anthropic’s AI models for some features in Microsoft 365. The Information reports that the Microsoft 365 Copilot will be “partly powered by Anthropic models,” after Microsoft found that some of these models outperformed OpenAI in Excel and PowerPoint. It’s a surprise move, especially given that Microsoft will reportedly pay Anthropic for access to its models through AWS. It’s also a big admission that OpenAI’s GPT-5 model has been disappointing, compared to some of Claude Sonnet 4’s features.
Xbox returns to the Tokyo Game Show later this month. An Xbox Tokyo Game Show stream will be held on September 25th at 3AM PT / 6AM ET / 11AM UK, where Forza Horizon 6 is widely expected to be announced. The Xbox teaser for the Tokyo Game Show includes a neon aesthetic street scene that looks like it would be ideal for a new Forza game set in Japan.
Windows 11 version 25H2 ISO files are out now. If you don’t want to join the Windows Insider Release Preview Program to get Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 update a little early, you can now perform an in-place upgrade using Microsoft’s official ISO file. This will upgrade Windows 11 to version 25H2 (Build 26200.5074). Because of the way Windows 11 is now developed, 25H2 will share the same features as 24H2 for now, and new ones will be enabled in monthly cumulative updates. I’d expect to see 25H2 appear on Windows Update for most Windows 11 devices in the coming weeks.

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Newslurp

Xbox Cloud is getting a much-needed upgrade

Tom Warren <notepad@theverge.com>

September 11, 4:00 pm

Xbox Cloud is getting a much-needed upgrade

The pad