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While Google has revealed their own game streaming project, currently in a testing phase, Microsoft has decided to show off their alternative as well. Officially announced as Project xCloud, Microsoft promises that this is the next step in gaming, allowing for players to have access to their Xbox One games, anywhere and anytime. Private trials are soon to be underway, with a public trial to occur in 2019, which will showcase how well Microsoft's Azure cloud platform handles high quality game streaming. In the video above, lead developers at Microsoft note that preserving graphical quality, as well as having low latency are highly important to streaming video games, and that their service will be prepared to tackle such issues with ease. Microsoft will have a library of its own games that will be able to be streamed, while making it simple for third party developers to add their games to the repertoire as well, "with no extra work on their part". 5G network support is planned, for the areas that the technology is rolling out in. xCloud will exist as a service to allow console and PC gamers to take their games with them, and will also open a door for a wider audience of more casual gamers to play Xbox titles.

Cloud game-streaming is a multi-faceted, complex challenge. Unlike other forms of digital entertainment, games are interactive experiences that dynamically change based on player input. Delivering a high-quality experience across a variety of devices must account for different obstacles, such as low-latency video streamed remotely, and support a large, multi-user network. In addition to solving latency, other important considerations are supporting the graphical fidelity and framerates that preserve the artist’s original intentions, and the type of input a player has available.

Source

 

[FateForWindows]

Consoles are still gonna beee... a flagship experience. Y'know, you're gonna have that immersive, high-fidelity experience with your amazing sound systems, it's all right there...

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!

 

[kumikochan]

Hatvabout those with metered connections?
4g data plans can't accomodate the amount of data such service requires.

For example:
12 euros monthly gets you about 2Gb traffic over 4G.
I assume a service like this eats that in 30 minutes, tops.

i get around 20 gigs for that amount here so

 

[Kioku]

In 10 years, Nintendo will introduce their own service. People will cry because it won't allow them to stream their previously purchased titles, and pay for it regardless.

Seriously, we are not at a point where networking is practical enough for a "play anytime, anywhere" game service like this. If anything we haven't progressed much further than when OnLive was a thing.

 

[Justinde75]

Again, the idea *sounds* good, but alot of people don't have huge mobile data/actual good wifi. Alot of people won't be able to have a good experience with this, no matter how huge the servers are.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

I believe these services will take off once 5G wireless reaches critical mass. 5G promises enough bandwidth and enough spread to actually make a "play anywhere on any device" streaming service possible.

When you see streaming services like this, like Google's, like PS Now, understand that right now is pretty much an alpha phase where companies are building their infrastructure for when 5G and other wireless networks take the next leap forward. I doubt these services are really viable now, but they could be very soon in the future.

 

[Alato]

I agree that we're some ways off from a perfect cloud gaming solution, especially for anywhere that isn't close to big cities with the infrastructure for such high bandwidth networks.
Also, probably like most of us, I like owning my console and my games and doing what I please with the hardware that I purchased.
And I like playing older games, regardless of the fact that they're not officially supported anymore or even if their developers don't exist anymore.

But I feel like this is the start of something very cool. Not only is it crazy to have the ability to play a library of new console titles on a device as small as a smartphone - without any physical, or even downloaded media (and in the case of where/when 5G is more of a thing, without even requiring a wifi connection), but even developers will have an easier time and won't have to worry so much about packaging their game for a specific media, or about specs limitations on consoles. They'll know their game is going to run and look the same for everyone streaming it.

I'll likely always have some kind of device to play older games and to modify to my heart's content, but I'm excited to see how advanced and how seamless cloud gaming becomes in the not-so-distant future.

 

[Rahkeesh]

No mention here of whether that super secret Scarlet "local processing" tech is involved.

That's the kind of feature we need to really get this to take off IMO. Assuming it can actually work.

 

[Foxi4]

It's a natural extension of the Play Anywhere program Microsoft launched some time ago - the idea is that once you own a game, you get to play it on any Xbox-compliant device. It's not an alternative to physical media, which is great - it just allows you to take your gaming with you wherever you go.

 

[Hells Malice]

Game streaming is an inevitability. It's still in its infancy however, which is why it's not really worth it right now. But once other factors can support it, it'll definitely be the future way to play.

I'm amazed so few people have any semblance of foresight to recognize something so obvious. The two big dogs Google and Microsoft are top of the tech industry, it's very telling they're starting to earnestly attempt to perfect this technology.

 

[Xzi]

It's a natural extension of the Play Anywhere program Microsoft launched some time ago - the idea is that once you own a game, you get to play it on any Xbox-compliant device. It's not an alternative to physical media, which is great - it just allows you to take your gaming with you wherever you go.

Seems like a really half-assed attempt at competing with Switch without releasing additional hardware. I wonder if you could run "xCloud" through Rainway and play Xbox One games on Switch?

Game streaming is an inevitability. It's still in its infancy however, which is why it's not really worth it right now. But once other factors can support it, it'll definitely be the future way to play.

Maybe it's inevitable in certain small countries where internet service is great everywhere. Minus net neutrality and with spotty high-speed ISP coverage, streaming is going to remain niche throughout the US for a long time to come. The only real benefit it provides is being untethered from your TV/monitor and entertainment system, but that's the best way to experience most AAA games regardless.

 

[Deleted User]

Please stop trying to make cloud gaming a thing.

 

[Rel]

If you can stream games you already own this has already outdone PS Now.

 

[Yepi69]

Aren't they supposed to have games first before starting their own streaming service?

 

[kuwanger]

If someone can do it without degrading quality and almost no latency it is Microsoft

That's just another way of saying "it can't be done". Ping time to my own wifi router is on the order of 0.5ms to 11ms with most clustered around 9ms (or ~111 fps). Ping to www.google.com is 14ms to 69ms with most clustered around 22-24ms (or 45-41fps). Ping to www.microsoft.com is 15ms to 24ms with more consistent 23ms (or 43fps). So, if I want to play at 30 fps or if I'm willing to tolerate whatever interpolation crap they use to make it "appear" to be 60 fps (aka degrading quality), then yes it could be "great".

Having said that, I think xCloud is a great name. After a while of using the service, a lot of gamers will push that games eXit the Cloud and it can be an [e]xCloud service. Or gamers will move onto other services that have realized that being able to download the games and play locally is really the only consistently viable option.

 

[Joom]

Please stop trying to make cloud gaming a thing.

Why? This literally harms the industry in no way.

 

[eyeliner]

LOL data hasn't been that expensive for a very long time unless you're on a poor network.

100GB for £20 a month here in the UK with Virgin and Three

That is awesome! I don't have that kind of service. Damn!

i get around 20 gigs for that amount here so

Point taken.
I stand corrected.

 

[mightymuffy]

Agreed with those that it's still a bit early yet - things (pings? ..I'll let myself out..) will only improve to a point where this will be a viable option, but I don't see anyone, not even Google or Microsoft, being able to pull it off to a 'good enough' degree for the masses just yet... 5G etc though, and we're sorted.
I do hope they keep a nice powerhouse of a console available for your home though (which seems to be the case for now judging by recent Phil Spencer interviews) - this also applies to Sony and Nintendo of course... best of both worlds then!

 

[kuwanger]

This literally harms the industry in no way.

With all due respect to game developers, fuck the industry. Cloud gaming harms gamers because its chief design is to turning game buying into long-term game rental at a greater cost. It aims to destroy the second hand gaming market which fundamentally threatens the ability to keep reselling the same game based on nostalgia or in any other way continue to re-extract revenue from the same copy of a game sold to a person. There's very little--I won't say no--advantage to cloud gaming as a platform.

 

[Xzi]

With all due respect to game developers, fuck the industry. Cloud gaming harms gamers because its chief design is to turning game buying into long-term game rental at a greater cost. It aims to destroy the second hand gaming market which fundamentally threatens the ability to keep reselling the same game based on nostalgia or in any other way continue to re-extract revenue from the same copy of a game sold to a person. There's very little--I won't say no--advantage to cloud gaming as a platform.

Exactly. Cloud gaming presents the same problems that digital downloads do, and then it adds more problems on top of that, such as intermittently bad picture quality and input lag. It feels like this is an attempt to make physical games go away faster without any true alternative in place. "Digital download vs digital streaming" is not really a meaningful choice. If they force that on us, a lot of people will have to stick with older consoles/systems.

 

[kuwanger]

"Digital download vs digital streaming" is not really a meaningful choice. If they force that on us, a lot of people will have to stick with older consoles/systems.

It's always sad how prophetic instead of crazy Richard Stallman is.