First look: Xbox streaming on Windows 10 Mobile

Phil Spencer once said at the Microsoft’s January 2015 event that Windows 10 will make “new ways to extend gaming across devices,” and we have yet another.

With the first release of Windows 10, Microsoft announced its Xbox app which would be bundled with the operating system. This addition allowed gamers to buy games for their devices, communicate and interact with their friends, and the most exciting aspect – the ability to stream their Xbox to their PC. This feature allowed users to continue their existing Xbox experience and game progress on any PC or tablet on the same local network, and with a pretty decent connection and a paired controller, your computer turned into a remote Xbox.

There have been rumors for a while that Windows 10 Mobile might be able to jump in on the Xbox action, and with the remote devices prompt that was included in an update to the Xbox app a while back, the excitement was real – only to be foiled by a DPI compilation bug that that particular update had since the app was universal.

Now, Ethan Alvarée and I have been able to test a Microsoft app that WalkingCat posted about recently. The app, aimed at developers creating apps for the Xbox platform, allows for the streaming of your console to your PC, similar to the functionality of the included Xbox app on the PC. The app has also been compiled for Windows 10 Mobile, and it works flawlessly.

Continuum is not necessary to use this app or the streaming functionality, and thanks to the Anniversary Update, works with Xbox controllers as well (we tested this with a Bluetooth controller for the Xbox One S).

It should be interesting to see if Microsoft plans to include this feature within the existing mobile variant of the Xbox app, as the awesome feature isn’t currently included.