Microsoft took the stage to discuss project xCloud at its Xbox E3 2019 press conference. Microsoft’s new game streaming service is set to bring game streaming to consoles in October. Not much was revealed about the platform but a regular theme in recent gaming talk is that game streaming being the future of the industry Microsoft have taken notice of this possibility and decided to make its own contribution to the future of game streaming. The Microsoft game streaming service project seeks to deliver console-quality games to PC, consoles and smartphone devices.
Players will have the ability to connect their Xbox One controller to supported devices. Smartphones will be accessed via Bluetooth and a small attachment pairs the controller and the phone together. Touch controls will also be at hand for those that don’t own an Xbox One controller. Eventually, they aim to make streaming available on 4G networks.
Whether or not game streaming is the future of the gaming industry remains unclear. However, if we look to history as an indicator for what’s to come then it’s inevitable. Both music and movie streaming services have replaced physical media. Streaming platforms like Apple Music, Netflix & Spotify have proved successful and changed the entertainment industry forever. And now we’re seeing a slew of highly successful, large, multinational companies announce their attempt at capitalising on the seemly inevitable shift. We have google’s Stadia, Ubisoft’s Uplay+, Bethesda’s Orion Cloud and now the Microsoft game streaming service project, xCloud.
This is one of the biggest Microsoft announcements this year. Only to be trumped by the reveal of Microsoft’s next-gen console platform entitled “Project Scarlett”
