Home Gaming Microsoft’s Project xCloud will stream PC and console games to mobile devices through the cloud

Microsoft’s Project xCloud will stream PC and console games to mobile devices through the cloud

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xCloud

Microsoft – and Xbox’s future – is probably somewhere in the cloud. There’s already speculation that the next Xbox will stream games from the internet, although there’ll still be a traditional console available. Google’s doing something similar, already testing the ability to stream brand new games through a browser.

Microsoft has now given us a glimpse of how things could work, with the unveiling of Project xCloud. Right now, it’s about giving mobile gamers the same worlds and gaming experiences that you’ll find on consoles and PCs, just beamed to smaller touch screens through the cloud – but it’s not a stretch to imagine this being the backbone of a future console.

“The future of gaming is a world where you are empowered to play the games you want, with the people you want, whenever you want, wherever you are, and on any device of your choosing. Our vision for the evolution of gaming is similar to music and movies — entertainment should be available on demand and accessible from any screen.”

Microsoft, of course, realises that streaming games in a way that both looks great and plays well is a challenge, but not one they think they’re unable to tackle.

“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.”

So how do they provide this? Through Azure, of course. Interestingly, the blog includes South Africa in its image of the supported Azure centres, so it’s likely those promised datacentres will be coming sooner rather than later.

Map shows 54 dots around the world and is labeled "54 Azure regions"

“With datacenters in 54 Azure regions and services available in 140 countries, Azure has the scale to deliver a great gaming experience for players worldwide, regardless of their location.”

Last Updated: October 8, 2018

10 Comments

  1. Kromas

    October 8, 2018 at 15:37

    The Cloud is so fluffy!

    Also in south africa you will experience the buffering feature that comes along with it. 😛

    Reply

  2. Pieter Kruger

    October 8, 2018 at 15:39

    Azure datacentres should be up in SA by year end I think, will change things locally, forthe better!

    Reply

  3. kieker

    October 8, 2018 at 16:16

    https://twitter.com/Shadow_Official has been doing it for a while. But having basically unlimited funds will help Microsoft and Google get to the forefront of developing this technology very quickly.

    Reply

  4. Gr8_Balls_o_Fire

    October 8, 2018 at 16:33

    Unless you have a proper controller, playing the game on your mobile phone will be USELESS.

    Reply

    • G8crasha

      October 9, 2018 at 09:46

      That is my biggest pet peeve – trying to play using screen controls!!!

      Reply

      • Gr8_Balls_o_Fire

        October 9, 2018 at 10:33

        Whose bright idea was it to think that this could work? Some marketing graduate i’ll bet

        Reply

  5. G8crasha

    October 9, 2018 at 09:43

    I am curious to see what the average person’s data needs will be in 10 year’s time. A couple of gigabits a second per person seems realistic enough.

    I suppose this is the logical progression of gaming.

    Reply

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