Streaming games on a Chromebook

Ever since I got my first Chromebook about 6 years ago, I have always heard about all of the things that you could not do with it. One of those things was the ability to play PC/Console type games. Since that time, Chromebooks have incorporated Android Apps, which have vastly improved the games available to play on a Chromebook. However; Android games, while vastly superior to web-based games, are not in the same league as a console or PC games.

Now there are new methods available that allow the streaming of PC and Console games on a Chromebook. One of them is Google Stadia, which can be played directly in the Chrome browser. Another is with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate thru the Game Pass app on the Chromebook. Finally, there is Xbox cloud streaming (using your Xbox console as a server) via the Xbox Android app. There are other streaming services available to Chromebook users such as GeForce Now, but for the purposes of this article, I will only be focusing on Xbox and Stadia.

In my own experience, in terms of streaming quality, Stadia is the best in this area as of this writing. However; Xbox is rapidly catching up with better quality streaming than in previous months. Xbox has announced that they are currently replacing their server blades from Xbox One S to the vastly more powerful Xbox Series X. As a result, the quality of the streaming on Xbox will continue to improve. I have already witnessed great improvements in quality recently using the Xbox Game Pass app. As a point of reference, I am currently using Gigabit speed internet…