Steam Deck: Use Xbox Cloud Gaming (Game Pass).

 Unfortunately, the games of the "Xbox Game Pass" cannot be easily installed on the Steam Deck. Fortunately, many titles are also included in the "Xbox Cloud Gaming" program. So we can simply tinker with a browser our own Xbox app to stream the titles of the Game Pass on the handheld PC.

The games in Game Pass are managed via the Windows own app and the Microsoft Store. Since the Steam Deck relies on its own operating system, you have to take a detour to be able to use the games.

Instructions

The "Xbox Cloud Gaming" service works in Microsoft's Edge browser, which is also available for Linux. In this guide, we turn the browser into a kind of Xbox app. We leave the pre-installed Firefox browser completely untouched, so you can continue to use it as a normal browser in desktop mode.

Install Microsoft Edge

1. Start the Steam Deck and press the [STEAM] button.
2. Select “On/Off” in the side menu and then press “Switch to desktop”.
3. Click on the Start icon and go to "System". Open the “Discover” software center here.
4. Click on the search field in the top left and press [STEAM] + [X] to open the virtual keyboard.
5. Enter "edge". "Microsoft Edge" should now appear in the search results.
6. Close the virtual keyboard with the keyboard icon at the bottom right or by pressing [STEAM] + [X] again.
7. Tap the "Install" button next to the browser.

Repurpose the browser to the Xbox Cloud Gaming app

1. In desktop mode, click the Start icon and go to “Internet”.
2. Right-click on "Microsoft Edge" and select "Add to Steam".
3. The Steam Add Game menu will now open. Tick ​​“Microsoft Edge ” ( if not done automatically) and press the “Selected programs Hi...” button .
4. Now open the terminal. You can find this in the start menu under “System” → “Console”.
5. In order for the Edge browser to understand the inputs of the controller, it needs access via "udev". To do this, copy the following command into the terminal and confirm with [Enter] or [R2]:

flatpak --user override --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.microsoft.Edge

6. In order for the browser to start in full-screen mode like an app and open the "Xbox Cloud Gaming" service directly, we have to adjust the browser's start options. To do this, open your Steam library, right-click on the "Microsoft Edge" entry, and select "Properties" .

7. Under "Start options" you have to insert the following command after the "@@u @@" : All the start options should then look like this:

--window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk "https://www.xbox.com/play"

run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=/app/bin/edge --file-forwarding com.microsoft.Edge @@u @@ --window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk "https://www.xbox.com/play"

Customize controls & play

1. Return to the game mode by clicking on the appropriate shortcut.
2. Press [STEAM], select the "Library" and navigate to "Non-Steam".
3. Select "Microsoft Edge" and click on the controller icon.
4. Click on the current layout and select the "Gamepad with high-precision camera/aiming" layout under the "Templates" tab. The controller buttons are assigned like on the Xbox pad and the right touchpad serves as a mouse for navigating the browser.
5. Now you can click on "Play". When you start Edge for the first time, an introduction for the browser is run through.
6. Quit the application and start it again, then you are directly at the cloud gaming service in full screen. Finally, all you have to do is log in with your Xbox account to be able to stream the "Game Pass" titles.

If everything works, you can also change the name from "Microsoft Edge" to "Xbox Cloud Gaming" or "Xbox Game Pass" (as shown in the images) and add custom artwork to make it look like an official app.

You make the change in desktop mode, but they are then also displayed in game mode. Microsoft even offers its own downloadable graphics package for this purpose.