Xbox Makes Cloud Gaming Push
Xbox wants to bring its games to as many people, and screens, as possible. “At Xbox, our mission is simple: bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. To achieve that, we aspire to empower everyone to play the games you want, with the people you want, anywhere you want” said Will Tuttle, Xbox Wire Editor in Chief.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft said “Gaming is fundamentally aligned with our mission as a company.” “When you talk about Xbox’s mission to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet, which I absolutely love, that is precisely aligned with Microsoft’s mission, which is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”
Xbox will be working on multiple fronts to make this happen. First, they will be partnering with TV manufacturers to get an Xbox app loaded on as many televisions as possible. Meaning that all anyone will need is an Xbox controller to play a game. For anyone who already has a TV they are happy with, streaming sticks capable of providing the experience will be available for purchase.
Second, Xbox will look to leverage the ubiquity of browsers on computers, tablets, and phones. Cloud gaming on the browser will be available to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. The browsers that have support for this are Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Apple’s Safari. Unfortunately, it seems as if Mozilla Firefox users will be left out in the cold here. Hopefully it can gain support in the future.
Microsoft is working on the final steps in beefing up its data centers to make it the best experience possible. Upgrading all of their hardware with Xbox Series X gear, so gamers can get a taste of all of the improvements of the newest generation of consoles. The Xbox app on PC will also be integrating cloud gaming.
This is a full court press by Phil Spencer and co. to widen the Xbox audience, and it looks like they have the full backing of leadership at Microsoft. It will be interesting to see how they approach their messaging in regard to the Xbox Series X. Will they try and minimize and focus on the play anywhere aspect of cloud gaming?