Last month marked two years since the launch of Xbox Cloud, then known as Microsoft xCloud, Microsoft’s cloud gaming service that initially debuted only in its version for Microsoft’s console, although shortly after that we started getting reports of its jump to PC. and mobile devices. and since then, we’ve seen the work Microsoft has done to increase their numbers.

In some cases, it was with the arrival of new titles in the catalog. Personally, the Xbox Cloud release that surprised me the most (and the best) was Microsoft Flight Simulatora real resource eater that, although in a version that does not copy 100% of the features of the desktop version, offers a much more satisfying gaming experience, and of course, incredibly better than any existing flight simulator option. for consoles.

I said that in my case it is the arrival in the Xbox Cloud catalog that surprised me the most, but I am aware that it is not the one that has saved the platform the most. In that sense, we can certainly all agree the most strategic launch in two years of service was the launch of Fortnite. And it’s because, together with GeForce NOW, it’s the only way to play the most successful battle royale on the market on iPhone and iPad, after Apple ended up in court on Epic Games.

Microsoft on the other hand also worked to get the Xbox Cloud to as many devices as possible. In this sense, only this year saw two quite important milestones, the compatibility of the service with Steam Deck and, more recently, the collaboration with Samsung to make the service directly accessible, without additional devices, on the TVs of the Korean manufacturer.

So much work seems to be bearing fruit with a more than remarkable growth rate. And it is that if at the beginning of the year Microsoft was talking about 10 million users, as we can read in The Verge, the numbers have doubled. And according to the latest data presented by the company Xbox Cloud would have already reached and exceeded 20 million users. Doubling the volume of users in less than a year is undoubtedly an absolute success.

It is true that it was strongly influenced by what I mentioned earlier, the addition of Fortnite to its catalog, and we must remember that it is not necessary to be an Xbox Game Pass subscriber to play this title, so we are talking about accounts that do not generate income in this way. However, in a market that is still as green as cloud gaming, to reach as many users as possible, who in this way can appreciate the advantages of this type of platformIt’s a definite success.