In brief: Last month saw Microsoft opening up registrations for a public beta of its xCloud game streaming service. Now, the company has officially launched it in preview as invites start to reach participants.
The public beta of Microsoft's xCloud game streaming service is now live, which means that users who signed up last month to participate in the public preview should check their inbox for an invite from Microsoft (as long as they're eligible), while those who haven't signed up yet can do so here.
As previously noted, users residing in the US, UK or South Korea can opt-in for the beta and should fulfill the additional requirements laid out by Microsoft. Outside the cost of securing and using this equipment, testers won't need to spend any money on purchasing content or a subscription for xCloud.
The public preview period has a limited launch library of four titles that are free and will stream to your device through the company's game streaming app. These include: Halo 5: Guardians, Gears 5, Killer Instinct, and Sea of Thieves. Interestingly, Forza Horizon 4 isn't on the list, a title that Microsoft showed off in xCloud's first live demo earlier this year.
"Public preview is a critical phase in our multi-year ambition to deliver game streaming globally at the scale and quality of experience that the gaming community deserves and expects," said Kareem Choudhry, Microsoft's cloud gaming chief, looking forward to the official launch of the xCloud's public preview.
xCloud's public beta will see a limited number of players during the initial test while new players will be added throughout the year. Those participating right now can use the Xbox Game Streaming App to provide feedback and join the conversation in the Xbox Game Streaming (Preview) community on Reddit.