Microsoft has plans to stream PC games over Xbox Cloud Gaming

The email read, "Interesting….. I wonder what this means? Seems like they will have a leg up because their stuff is more generic Linux VMs + Network.... But I am assuming we will do the same for Game Pass PC – right? And if so we can have the same flexibility in terms of offering Cloud Gaming as a PaaS backend as well."

In simpler language, Nadella was concerned that Google's rumored plans for Stadia would give the company an advantage over his company. To nullify this threat, he suggested they do something similar with their Cloud Gaming service and offer it as a product to developers, too.

Less than one hour later, Spencer responded to Nadella's email. The Xbox chief outlined his doubts about the rumored move by Google and, here is the big news, confirmed they were working on streaming "PC native games from an Azure GPU SKU." While he didn't exactly confirm that they will follow Google's steps and offer the service as a white-label product, he admitted it was possible.

Choudhry also weighed in on the conversation and provided more context. He backed Spencer's thoughts and revealed he and Bond were hard at work on a solution to offer PC titles on Microsoft's Cloud Gaming service.

He wrote, "Phil is correct. Sarah [Bond] and I in partnership with Jason's [Zander] team are driving a suitable Azure SKU... as part of a series that will serve the customer demand we see externally for IAAS and to run our xCloud PC streaming stack."

It's been more than two years since this conversation took place, but we still have no indication that Microsoft has made major headway on its plans. However, The Verge confirmed they are still underway. We think the reason for this lack of progress is that Microsoft took its foot off the pedal after the threat of Google offering Stadia as a white-label product went away.

Nevertheless, we hope the company eventually completes its plans as we think a Cloud Gaming service that offers titles across both Xbox and PC will be to the benefit of gamers worldwide.