With games becoming more and more storage consuming, and GPUs being priced at exorbitant rates, cloud gaming seems to be the solution of the future. Microsoft, much like many other companies, has its own answer to this growing trend, called the Project xCloud. The company has announced its roadmap for its cloud gaming service, saying that it will add support to more platforms very soon.
The company revealed today, that Cloud gaming (beta) with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will be coming to iOS and PC in the upcoming year. Microsoft’s cloud Gaming service, Project xCloud allows users to play X-box games on non-Xbox platforms. The game originally runs on a server in a data center near the player and the video gets streamed on the player’s device. The interactions done are also relayed with the server without much delay. The quality of the experience depends on the quality of the internet connection being used to play the games.
This solves two issues: First, it solves the problem of exclusives. Second, in case you don’t have a PC powerful enough to run graphic intensive games like the upcoming CyberPunk 2077, all you need is a good internet connection.
The company said that from Spring 2020, the company will provide access to games from Xbox Series X|S, PC, Xbox One, Android device, or Windows PC and iOS device via the cloud. The cloud gaming service also does not require a separate subscription, it is added to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which is available for the amount of $14.99 per month. It also provides access to a huge library of games.
The users can play the games using the Xbox app which is available on PCs and will be accessed via a web browser. However, Microsoft still has no plans for the service being able to be accessed by Mac users. Users of iOS devices would be able to play the games using a mobile web browser. By this, the company aims to provide a seamless experience to a wide range of players- “whether it’s playing Minecraft Dungeons with your Xbox friends using touch controls on an iPhone, or jumping into a Destiny 2: Beyond Light strike on a Surface Pro when you have a break between meetings,” the company said.
Microsoft also revealed that it will introduce the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service to new markets like Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico. The company recently launched a preview program of Project xCloud in these areas.
