Microsoft has announced a bold new plan to enter the world of video gaming streaming, via Project Xcloud – a rather ambitious sounding new service that wants to get more people playing Xbox One games than ever before.
On paper, it sounds as if this service will work the same as any other game streaming endeavour, as Microsoft aims to bring console-quality games to your mobile, tablet, or laptop/desktop PC.
Microsoft confirmed that it’s currently testing out Project Xcloud and hopes to open the service up to public tests next year. Hopefully by then they’ve come up with a better name for it, too.
The company wrote in a blog post:
Today, the games you play are very much dictated by the device you are using. Project xCloud’s state-of-the-art global game-streaming technology will offer you the freedom to play on the device you want without being locked to a particular device, empowering YOU, the gamers, to be at the centre of your gaming experience.
Microsoft also suggested that developers will be able to support the service with “no additional work”, and that the team is developing “a new, game-specific touch input overlay” for controller-free playing.
Of course, there’s also the question of how Microsoft will actually find the power to stream console quality games to mobile devices. In addition to custom built hardware for for its data centres, it also looks like the company has research teams dedicated to find ways to combat latency, so it’s clear they want this to be the real deal.
With public trials set for next year, it looks like Microsoft are gearing up to take on Sony’s own PlayStation Now streaming service with something far more ambitious.
If you needed more proof that streaming is the future, even Google have gotten in on the action with their own streaming service for AAA games.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.