Many people ask the question if “God of War” is available on Xbox Consoles. The short answer is NO for now but there is a way in the immediate future to be able to play God of War on Xbox as we’ll discuss below.
Is God of War Available on Xbox?
Unfortunately, God of War (2018) isn’t available on the Xbox consoles currently.
In fact, no entries in the God of War franchise have ever appeared on Microsoft’s various iterations of the Xbox. And it doesn’t seem like this situation is likely to change in the near future.
However, you’ll soon see that there is a way to get around this problem through the use of cloud gaming.
God of War Brief History
The first God of War game marked a turning point for gaming as a whole. The first 2005 release of God of War gave PlayStation 2 owners a chance to enjoy a whole new type of gameplay mixed in with enthralling storytelling.
The combination of immersive combat and a refreshingly inventive take on classical Greek mythology took the gaming public by storm.
God of War II would release just two years later. The sequel built on that already strong foundation and solidified God of War as a successful franchise.
The God of War series was so popular that gamers would enjoy a new release almost every year past that point.
There is one surprising quirk about the God of War franchise though. It’s been heavily tied to Sony’s platforms since the very beginning.
These releases spanned Sony’s PlayStation, PSP, and Vita. But for the most part, the God of War series would stay tightly bound to consoles developed by Sony.
The only exception in the franchise’s first era came in 2007 when God of War: Betrayal was released for Java ME phones.
2018 marked another surprising divergence from this trend. God of War: A call from the Wilds was released as a tiny text-based game on Facebook Messenger. It was essentially a prequel story to God of War (2018).
The 2018 God of War release would mark a new start to the franchise as the series protagonist, Kratos, moved from Greek to Norse mythology.
It was a new start in more ways than one as people saw a new mythological setting and the potential for non-Sony ports.
This has led to a lot of questions about the state of the franchise on other platforms. And especially the idea of God of War on the Xbox. In short, can Xbox players play God of War (2018)?
On Which Platforms Can You Play God of War?
At the moment, God of War (2018) has only been released on the PlayStation 4 and Windows.
With a sequel arriving in 2022, it seems unlikely that the 2018 game will see any new ports for some time to come.
However, there have been God of War collections and anthologies in the past. So it’s never absolutely certain what the future might hold. After all, if the series can briefly appear on Java ME phones then who knows where it might show up one day.
Will God of War Come to Xbox in the Future?
People have been hoping for an Xbox port of any game in the God of War franchise ever since its earliest days on the PlayStation 2.
But real hope of playing God of War on the Xbox started to materialize with the rise of cloud gaming.
Cloud gaming can stream gaming content from a distant location to your own gaming device. And, likewise, it can transmit input from your local gamepad to the remote cloud-based streaming platform.
This essentially lets you use a console or PC as a remote display device for a game running on the cloud.
And people began to get their hopes up for God of War support when Nvidia’s GeForce Now was officially enabled on the Xbox’s Edge browser.
GeForce Now lets people stream games they own on Steam to a remote client. This includes God of War as a supported game. And the Xbox’s Edge browser is one of GeForce Now’s supported remote clients.
Basically, God of War is purchased on Steam. The Steam purchase serves as authentication for GeForce Now to prove that you own the game.
GeForce Now will then allow you to stream God of War to supported clients. And you can load the game up using the Xbox’s Edge browser as one of those client devices.
Saying that this is far from an ideal way to play God of War is an understatement. It’s a roundabout solution with all the usual issues involved with cloud gaming.
You’ll only be able to use this method when you have a stable Internet connection. And that connection will need to combine a fairly fast download speed with minimal latency.
But, for all its quirks, cloud gaming is probably going to be the only way to enjoy God of War on the Xbox for the foreseeable future.
Is God of War available on Steam?
The fact that the cloud solution for Xbox works at all is due to the fact that God of War (2018) was ported to Steam.
Sony had been testing the water with Steam ports for a while. But the Steam release of God of War, in particular, marked an important moment for Sony.
The port showed that even franchises that were heavily tied to the PlayStation might appear outside that ecosystem.
At the moment none of the other games in the franchise have seen Steam ports. And there hasn’t been an official announcement about the possibility of a steam port for its sequel, God of War Ragnarok.
However, a Steam port at some point seems highly probable. The Steam port of God of War (2018) was generally well-received.
And the release of God of War Ragnarok on PlayStation shares a similar launch window as Sony’s port of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection to Steam.
The Uncharted release shows that Sony is still quite interested in porting its franchises to PC. So further God of War releases for Steam seems probable.
