Reading our Backbone One review, you can see we’re big fans of the controller, which essentially turns your iPhone into a Nintendo Switch look-alike. With this official partnership with Xbox, the functionality has been greatly expanded upon.
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Backbone + Xbox: What’s new?
The benefits will be immediate for both seasoned Backbone veterans and newcomers alike. Xbox integration is tightly wound into the Backbone experience, from the inclusion of a Game Pass feed in the UI to support for capturing and tagging Xbox Cloud Gaming footage, and sharing it as a link for people to watch. This will all be made available as a big update to Backbone’s app, so expect an update on our review of the Backbone One soon. For newbies, any new purchases of a Backbone One (opens in new tab) come with three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Backbone + Xbox: Does this affect anything else?
One of the things we loved about the Backbone One was the integration of multiple gaming services across the biggest players in the market. You didn’t have to choose between PlayStation remote play or Xbox, you just got them both. But now they are in Microsoft’s corner, does this impact compatibility with games and services outside of the Xbox ecosystem? When I asked, Backbone confirmed this won’t affect compatibility and the One controller will continue to work with any game or service on the iPhone including “PS Remote Play, Xbox Game Pass and Apple Arcade.”
