Microsoft's continued push into cloud gaming took another big step forward today with the arrival of one of the biggest games on the planet. Fortnite, the insanely popular battle royale from Epic Games, is now available to play from the cloud with Xbox. This is a big deal on a number of fronts, so let's break it down.

The first is that this gives iPhone and iPad gamers another avenue to play Fortnite again. Apple and Epic Games have endured a very public, very messy fallout. While these mega-corporations were arguing over who gets more of your money, the losers were the gamers. Fortnite was pulled from iOS and that was that. Nvidia has already brought it back by way of GeForce Now, but now Microsoft is joining the party. This is handy if you subscribe to Game Pass but didn't want a GeForce Now account. Better still, it doesn't look like you need an Xbox Game Pass subscription even to play, just a Microsoft account.

Naturally, you're not excluded if you prefer to use Android, a Windows PC, or even a Steam Deck. Xbox Cloud Streaming is available through your favorite Chromium-based browser, and according to the accompanying blog post, you might have to use the browser on PC over the Xbox app.

Today we reach another key milestone as we expand our business model to make cloud available to more people in even more ways, going beyond Xbox Game Pass to provide our first free-to-play title. In partnership with Epic, Fortnite is available via Xbox Cloud Gaming so fans can play on an iOS device, Android phone or tablet, or Windows PC through web browser.

Currently, you can find Fortnite ready to play through the browser on PC but not in the Xbox app, but it could appear later so we'll be sure to update accordingly. You will need a controller, as Xbox Cloud Gaming doesn't currently support keyboard and mouse.

The bigger, long-term implication though is that this is the first time Microsoft has added a game to its cloud streaming service that isn't in Xbox Game Pass. It's also the first free-to-play game added to the service, and Microsoft says it's just the beginning.

This is just the beginning for us – we’re going to learn, implement feedback, and in time look to bring even more free-to-play titles to players through the cloud.

There is definitely a big future for cloud gaming and while Microsoft isn't the first to offer either Fortnite or free-to-play games, it's a huge step forwards for the platform.

Source: Xbox Wire