Please note this is for the cloud version of Xbox Game Pass. To my knowledge, it is not possible to run the native Xbox Game Pass app on Deck. Also, you will need an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription in order to use this.

1. Get a Chromium-Based Web Browser⌗

Go to Desktop Mode. I’m assuming you have some sort of Chromium-based browser installed, but if not, install one via the Discover App. While of course Microsoft is going to suggest Microsoft Edge, we don’t need to use that. Any browser that uses Google’s Blink engine will work:

• Brave
• Chrome/Chromium
• Vivaldi
• Opera
• among many, many other browsers

In this guide, I will be using Brave.

2. Give the Browser Gamepad Permissions⌗

Open up a terminal and run this:

flatpak --user override --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.brave.Browser

Change com.brave.Browser to whatever web browser you’re planning on using. So, if you wanted to add the udev permissions to Chromium, you would use org.chromium.Chromium.

3. Go to Xbox Game Pass in Your Browser and Install it as an App⌗

Open the web browser up and direct it to the Xbox Cloud Gaming webpage. Sign in to your Microsoft account if you haven’t already. Inside the URL box, there should be an “Install” icon to the far right. Click on it, and select “Install”.

Xbox Game Pass will open in a new window. Close it for now.

4. Add Xbox Cloud Gaming as a Non-Steam App⌗

Now that Xbox Cloud Gaming is installed as an app, it should be listed under “Lost & Found” within the Application Launcher. If not, scroll all the way down under the “All Applications” category. Right-click the app and select “Add to Steam”.

Xbox Cloud Gaming should now be in your Steam library.

5. Run the App in Fullscreen⌗

By default, when the app is launched, it opens up in a window. We want this to be in fullscreen, so add this to the game properties:

--start-fullscreen

Right-click the non-Steam app -> Properties -> And append this to end of the Launch Options box. So it might look something like this:

"run" "--command=brave" "com.brave.Browser" "--profile-directory=Default" "--app-id=some gibberish" --start-fullscreen

6. Get Gaming⌗

Should be good to go! You can go back to Game Mode and launch Xbox Cloud Gaming directly from Steam. It might be worth changing the gamepad template to “Gamepad with Mouse Trackpad”.

I haven’t found a way to use the in-game Guide button with the gamepad, but you can still make use of it by tapping the top-left corner of the screen and then tapping the Xbox icon.

While you’re at it, you may want to bring the TDP and GPU clock speeds all the way down. We’re only streaming, after all.

7. (Optional) Get Artwork⌗

While Microsoft might have you download their artwork and have Steam use it, there’s something a bit easier: SteamGridDB. You can use SteamGridDB to get artwork all through Game Mode, without having to use a keyboard and mouse.

So your library might go from this:

To this:

A few weeks down the line I may have an overview of how well Xbox Cloud Gaming on Deck and desktop, so stay tuned.