Earlier this month, The Verge’s Tom Warren revealed that Microsoft is finally allowing users to stream their own games through Xbox Cloud Gaming next month. Now, Warren has shared additional information on Microsoft’s plans for Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The cloud streaming service formerly known as Project XCloud has long lagged behind its competitors in terms of latency and quality. Whereas NVIDIA GeForce NOW started offering 4K resolution support years ago and Boosteroid has followed suit recently, Xbox Cloud Gaming is still limited to 1080p resolution with low bitrates, resulting in much worse visuals.
According to Warren, Microsoft is taking steps to improve the bitrates soon, which will certainly help with visual clarity. However, he did not mention an actual resolution improvement, so it’s possible Xbox Cloud Gaming will remain stuck at 1080p for a while yet. Moreover, he noted that any latency improvement would have to be tied to an upgrade in the server hardware. It didn’t sound like that would happen any time soon.
Warren also commented on two work-in-progress features that were sort of leaked by the creator of Better XCloud, a free and open source application that improves the XCloud experience on various devices. The first feature is Xbox Together, a way to play games and hang out with friends while inside a browser. The second is a direct-to-cloud controller that could cut on the latency, just like the Google Stadia controller did. According to Warren, while both features were being tested internally, Xbox Together was really just a ‘hackathon project’ that is unlikely to ever be released to the public. The direct-to-cloud controller thing is still being worked on, though, and might be launched at some point.
Overall, Warren reckons Microsoft is once again working hard on Xbox Cloud Gaming. It was, after all, the key in their plan to reach a much bigger audience than what’s otherwise possible just with consoles and PCs. To that end, earlier this week, they proudly announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and Call of Duty: Warzone will all be available for cloud streaming for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
