As Xbox prepares for the launch of its next-gen consoles, the company might already have additional console hardware in the works to be released in the near future. Speaking to Stratechery, head of Xbox, Phil Spencer teased this possibility and more.

“I think you’re going to see lower priced hardware as part of our ecosystem when you think about streaming sticks and other things that somebody might want to just go plug into their TV and go play via xCloud,” Phil Spencer said. “You could imagine us even having something that we just included in the Game Pass subscription that gave you an ability to stream xCloud games to your television and buying the controller.”

In the same interview, Phil Spencer teased the idea of an “Xbox Game Pass Platinum” tier which guarantees access to new Xbox hardware.

As The Verge noted, this being Spencer’s first public mention of streaming TV sticks for xCloud implies that such devices might soon be released.

What do you think of the idea? Would you get a streaming stick for xCloud?

SOURCE

 

[Silent_Gunner]

They're just going all in on this, huh? At least their plan includes support for playing games the traditional way!

 

[StrayGuitarist]

Personally, I’m gonna go out screaming and kicking in this whole steaming thing with gaming. As a person to whom preservation is incredibly important, I hate the concept with a passion. I already avoid digital copies of games wherever and whenever I can, but I’d take digital downloads over some random server you have to hope is up and perfectly functional, not to mention not under too much strain to ensure a half decent gaming experience..

 

[tech3475]

Personally, I’m gonna go out screaming and kicking in this whole steaming thing with gaming. As a person to whom preservation is incredibly important, I hate the concept with a passion. I already avoid digital copies of games wherever and whenever I can, but I’d take digital downloads over some random server you have to hope is up and perfectly functional, not to mention not under too much strain to ensure a half decent gaming experience..

I rather like the Xcloud approach, i.e. it’s an optional bonus included in the subscription.

I’m not fond of streaming, but if it’s an extra I’ll give it a shot.

 

[StrayGuitarist]

I rather like the Xcloud approach, i.e. it’s an optional bonus included in the subscription.

I’m not fond of streaming, but if it’s an extra I’ll give it a shot.

I do like that concept, having it be an optional thing that you can choose. I’m still not gonna go for it, though. Not to mention how it makes me uncomfortable that they could be using that as a way to "Ease people into it", a concept I'm kind of upset with.

 

[NeroAngelo]

Sadly it seems to be the future of gaming, as much as I hate the idea and prefer offline ownership.
to be fair to MS, their infrastructure is top-notch, and the cloudx service is actually quite good, unlike other services *cough* Stadia *cough*

 

[godreborn]

This may be a stupid question, but whatever happened to major nelson?

 

[Veho]

Game streaming services like this are akin to video rental stores (or more recently video-on-demand). All the same drawbacks (you don't own the game/movie, if the store/service closes you're boned, and so on), but they offer access to a library of titles that you can rent and consume for a short while, and the business model has been doing fine. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but there are a lot of people who are happy with such services.

Now the lag and connectivity issues on the other hand...

 

[Kraken_X]

This may be a stupid question, but whatever happened to major nelson?

That got me wondering too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hryb

I think he is still around: https://majornelson.com/ . Some people said he died in 2012, but I think the actor that the "Major Nelson" gamertag was named after died instead. https://majornelson.com/2012/11/23/from-one-major-to-another/

 

[pedro702]

this just make owning an xbox even more useless, when they will let you pay a tiny amount and use a controller on smart tv to play all their exclusives, imo they are trying to kill the consoles so they can make money with only subscriptions, i bet this is the last xbox generation for sure console wise.

they will become a service.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Game streaming services like this are akin to video rental stores (or more recently video-on-demand). All the same drawbacks (you don't own the game/movie, if the store/service closes you're boned, and so on), but they offer access to a library of titles that you can rent and consume for a short while, and the business model has been doing fine. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but there are a lot of people who are happy with such services.

Now the lag and connectivity issues on the other hand...

Except that Blockbuster didn't depend on the Internet to be functional, let alone good.

 

[SecureBoot]

I like this idea. People hate on streaming, but like it or not, it is becoming mainstream. I prefer it as a supplement to plain ol hardware rather than a replacement, but times are changing. You either change with them or get left behind.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

I like this idea. People hate on streaming, but like it or not, it is becoming mainstream. I prefer it as a supplement to plain ol hardware rather than a replacement, but times are changing. You either change with them or get left behind.

Good thing backlogs exist and are usually always available.

 

[SecureBoot]

Good thing backlogs exist and are usually always available.

heck yeah. I'm only 18 but was born in a time where if video games just stopped being made right now, there's enough to last a lifetime.

 

[godreborn]

That got me wondering too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hryb

I think he is still around: https://majornelson.com/ . Some people said he died in 2012, but I think the actor that the "Major Nelson" gamertag was named after died instead. https://majornelson.com/2012/11/23/from-one-major-to-another/

yeah, Larry Hagman died a few years ago. I liked him in I Dream of Jeannie and the new Dallas, which I watched with my mom.

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

I will never support streaming.
I can only buy physical and to a much lesser level, very very well-managed digital (Steam, GOG and maybe PSN are the only decent ones). Having posted that, Steam has gone very downhill so yeah.

 

[godreborn]

major nelson was sort of like xbox's Reggie, whom most people liked as a spokesman for the company. the last thing I remember him from was when he was showing off the adjustable dpad for the 360 controller, which btw was a piece of shit. I don't remember him at all for the xbone.

 

[eyeliner]

major nelson was sort of like xbox's Reggie, whom most people liked as a spokesman for the company. the last thing I remember him from was when he was showing off the adjustable dpad for the 360 controller, which btw was a piece of shit. I don't remember him at all for the xbone.

The last I remember him was when they dug out all those ET cartridges.

 

[wiindsurf]

I work in the cloud industry and the cloud gaming concept blows my mind in the worst possible way.
They are basically saying they are happy to absorve 300+ watts of power consumption and heat generation for every single gaming session in the world, just because they can? This is many more orders of magnitude the power consumption per user of existing non-gaming cloud systems - for simple comparisons purposes, these same 300 watts could otherwise serve 10 to 100k users, if not more, on your average traditional non-gaming cloud system.
Soon these companies will be buying most of the world's energy resources, holding all of our intellectual property, and controlling all aspects of your social life, just because they can!
This concept should be made illegal, I'm not joking... there must be caps on how big and wide these corporate blobs are allowed to grow.
This is insane...

 

[pikpol]

I work in the cloud industry and the cloud gaming concept blows my mind in the worst possible way.
They are basically saying they are happy to absorve 300+ watts of power consumption and heat generation for every single gaming session in the world, just because they can? This is many more orders of magnitude the power consumption per user of existing non-gaming cloud systems - for simple comparisons purposes, these same 300 watts could otherwise serve 10 to 100k users, if not more, on your average traditional non-gaming cloud system.
Soon these companies will be buying most of the world's energy resources, holding all of our intellectual property, and controlling all aspects of your social life, just because they can!
This concept should be made illegal, I'm not joking... there must be caps on how big and wide these corporate blobs are allowed to grow.
This is insane...

They actually bought 100% of the energy produced from a solarpark here in the Netherlands instead of the energy going to the local houses.
Only to power data centres. Google has done the same thing.

Apart from that, I think they already said something about Samsung TVs. So I think he is just saying here that xCloud is coming to Samsung TVs and they probably release a stick for those without a Samsung TV.
So when you have a Samsung Smart TV, you only need a controller to play.