Meta announced at Connect 2023 that Xbox Cloud Gaming is heading to Quest in December, meaning you’ll be able to play all of your favorite flatscreen games on offer through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Meta’s full unveiling of Quest 3 yesterday came with a fair bit of news, including specs, price, pre-orders and shipping dates; long story short, you can get Meta’s $500 consumer mixed reality headset starting October 10th, with pre-orders now live.

Sometime in December, Meta says we’ll also get support for Xbox Cloud Gaming on Quest too, which users will be able to use on a virtual screen that can be adjusted and resized.

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There’s no specific date yet for when to expect Xbox Cloud Gaming to the Quest platform. On stage, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg only mentioned that it’s “coming to Quest in December,” so it’s possible we’ll see even Quest 2 included in the list of supported hardware in addition to Quest 3 and (presumably) Quest Pro.

As it stands, there are a few standard caveats. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and a supported controller (sold separately) is required. Meta says in a blogpost that some streaming limitations may apply as well, including variable server availability and wait times, and geographical restrictions.

Want to know if Quest 3 is worth it? We haven’t gone in for our deep dive review yet, although we got a full hands-on with the headset right before Connect 2023 this week that goes into everything from confort to clarity.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • CURTROCK

    This is a major feature I’ve been waiting for. Although I know it’s flat screen games, this will provide a myriad of fun games past & present to play while in VR. I’m looking fwd to playing the Halo campaign in co-op while hanging out in the Meta Home space with my VR buddies. Couch co-op – in VR! If Meta wants me to spend more time in VR, this is a great way to make it happen.

    • ViRGiN

      Sitting side by side would be an awesome feature, but we haven’t seen a glimpse of it.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      But it is already possible for regular PC games, except you have to stream it from your own PC.

    • Arno van Wingerde

      Fascinating: I thought this would be the most useless bundle ever, using VR to see a picture that also for the Quest3 is likely to be worse than a good TV. It would be akin to playing the Quest games on a flat screen, or an Abo on B/W movies with a top notch TV. But playing with friends that are miles away is really something extra. I presume there is no chance to get VR games on XBox Cloud, as that might cost Meta money….

      • kraeuterbutter

        i see forward to that…
        dont know if the quest3 would be enough to be equaly in experienced resolution to a fullHD television
        (of course not compared to 4k)
        i have a beamer here in my living-room..
        but: often cant use it, because: girlfriend dont want to darken the room or she wants to see something else…
        have also a second house – there no television (except an 30years old crt-tv)
        with a VR-Headset i can watch movies, play games everywhere
        dont need a big television for that
        i can use it on the balcony, on the terrace, in the garden – so in the evening outside
        i already use my pico4 for that kind of stuff..
        also to replace my tiny 14″ notebook-screen by two or 3 bigger virtual screens with the Pico4
        hope the quest3 is improved in visuals compared to the pico4.. better lenses

    • Richard R Garabedian

      do you think head aiming will be an option?

  • Hussain X

    I hope Meta and Xbox consider injecting 3D into these pancake gaming on a giant screen initiative in future. Either something universal like what Reshade does on pc or developers build it into their games. Most importantly it needs to have very little friction and marketed well. This might persuade traditional non vr flat screen gamers to get a Quest 3 (if they don’t yet do VR) for the 3D immersive gaming on a giant curved screen whilst a buddy is next time to them virtually. I.e. they purchase it as a TV/monitor instead of some other traditional monitor.

    This means lots of people have more reasons to own VR headsets and this can mean bigger budgets & IPs for VR games, and then the pancake gamers who bought Quest 3 just to use as a TV for non vr games can be persuaded to become vr gamers because more of their beloved pancake games have official 6DOF vr versions (standalone like Call of Mountain or hybrid like RE8/GT to use PSVR2 games as an example). These VR games can then also be delivered via Xbox Cloud to Quest in future too as an option. A way to solve the chicken and egg situation for big budget, big IP games coming to VR as well as making upfront high end VR gaming costs affordable (via cloud).

    • Chris Meeks

      I’d even play the 360 3D conversions. Loved Crysis 2, and Gears of War 3 in 3D .

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Don’t count on that happening, xbox doesn’t support VR or stereo3D so why do you think they would add it if it is already a big commitment to support gamestreaming itself. Maybe in a couple of years once they have gamestreaming running perfectly for some years, they might start supporting VR/stereo3D in games.

      • Lurene B

        Only a Fool Knows Everything, a Wise Man Knows How Little he Knows

  • Nevets

    Would be epoch-making if this was Steam VR!

  • CrusaderCaracal

    Buy a VR headset just to simulate having a tv
    Meta’s just doing anything to push MR

  • Kamala

    I would rather play Halo MCC on my PC in glorious Stereoscopic 3D with VRScreenCap than pancake mode.

  • Richard R Garabedian

    i would think that anyone willing to spend $500 on the quest 3 would already been playing their games like this…but i supposed it is nice to see the mainstream heading that way