The CEO of Xbox Asha Sharma told staff at an all-hands on 6 October that Microsoft was preparing to do something with Grand Theft Auto 6 that "no other platform holder is doing."
The Verge's Tom Warren revealed it, Xbox managed to secure exclusive cloud streaming rights for GTA 6 at launch, making Xbox Cloud Gaming the only service permitted to stream it.
Neither Microsoft nor Rockstar conformed the deal. The exclusivity period is not revealed as well.
What it would actually let you do
Rockstar still hasn't announced a PC version release date yet, and nothing here changes that.
This deal just means that a PC, laptop, phone, tablet or smart TV could stream the Xbox Series X version via Microsoft's servers. Removes the console barrier for players.
Drawback is naturally the latency, compression, and a hard dependency on your connection.
The timing problem
Starting on November, Game Pass users will get monthly cloud allowances. Fifteen hours for Ultimate, ten for Premium, five for Essential tiers. Extra hours will be purchasable through the Xbox Store.
Let's tell the obvious, fifteen hours is not a Rockstar open world. It's a day maybe.
There are works for buying hours without having subscription.
Microsoft meters cloud gaming, then secures exclusive streaming rights to the biggest release of the decade, then sells hours to people who want to play it.
The pricing will be the main issue here.
Where PlayStation sits
On the other hand Sony does hold the marketing deal, with the "Plays Best on PS5" campaign, PS5 Pro performance messaging and limited-edition DualSense controllers.
Now Microsoft has the cloud. Different fight, no direct conflict.
One difference from last time: Xbox is allowed to talk about GTA 6 before launch. With GTA 5 it wasn't. Rockstar and Xbox have also streamed GTA 5 through the service previously, so there's precedent for the relationship.
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