It’s E3 week, the time of the year when the game industry discusses the titles set for release in the coming weeks and months. It’s a shiny pageant of trailers, teasers, and demos, with each game reveal touting that it’s the next big thing. Ahead of all this, Microsoft outlined the future of the Xbox platform. It was a quick focus on how we’ll be playing games rather than what we’ll be playing. Part of this new design strategy was outlined in a Q&A with Xbox head Phil Spencer and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
“As a company, Microsoft’s all-in on gaming. We believe we can play a leading role in democratizing gaming and defining that future of interactive entertainment, quite frankly, at scale,” said Nadella.
That democratization involves making Xbox available in more places via the power of the cloud. But for various reasons, the console will remain king.
Game Pass Everywhere
Xbox’s future is increasingly reliant on Xbox Game Pass, the company’s gaming subscription service. Game Pass began as a digital library for Xbox players: You pay a monthly fee to download any game from a vast, changing catalog. Microsoft stirred its first-party games into the pot, and then sweetened things by making deals with third-party publishers to bring their titles to Game Pass.
This was followed by Project xCloud, a beta streaming service folded into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as Xbox Cloud Gaming. The rebranded Project xCloud lets you stream Game Pass titles to PC, as well as Android phones and tablets. It heavily relies on Microsoft’s own Azure cloud platform, so it seamlessly syncs data across devices. For example, you can play Gears 5 via the cloud, download the full game to your Xbox Series X, and enjoy carried-over progress. Assuming your mobile connection can handle it, you can play a few minutes of Control or SnowRunner while commuting. It’s an intriguing glimpse into gaming’s future. Microsoft wants to let you play anywhere.
You Are the Center of Gaming
Microsoft’s recent announcements expand on that “play anywhere” ethos. Xbox Game Pass is coming to more platforms, and the service’s cloud gaming feature is finally exiting beta. In addition, Microsoft is testing the Xbox streaming app on iOS devices, and working on adding the app to smart televisions. Microsoft will also build its own streaming devices so you can play streamed Xbox games on your TV without a console, similar to Amazon Luna or Google Stadia. Imagine loading Red Dead Online or Yakuza Kiwami 2 on your Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire Stick 4K within seconds; it would be easier than choosing an Uber Eats meal. That convenience is Microsoft’s goal.
The company is already integrating cloud game streaming into Windows PCs, and the feature is eventually coming to Xbox consoles. In addition, Xbox Cloud Gaming is set to receive a server-side upgrade that uses Xbox Series X hardware rather than the older Xbox One hardware.
“The cloud will allow us to completely remove these barriers to play worldwide,” said Phil Spencer in the Q&A. “Of course, there’s still a place for consoles and PCs and frankly, there always will be, but through the cloud, we will be able to deliver a robust gaming experience to anyone connected to the Internet, even on the least powerful, least expensive devices, devices people already own. And with the cloud, gaming players can participate fully in the same Xbox experience as people on local hardware.”
The Console Isn’t Dead
Microsoft has ambitious plans for the future. As Spencer notes, the consoles aren’t going away for the foreseeable future. In a presentation shown to select media members, Microsoft revealed that it’s already working on its next console.
“Cloud is key to our hardware and Game Pass roadmaps, but no one should think we’re slowing down on our core console engineering. In fact, we’re accelerating it,” said Liz Hamren, CVP of Gaming Experiences & Platforms for Xbox in the presentation, according to Eurogamer. “We’re already hard at work on new hardware and platforms, some of which won’t come to light for years. While we continue to expand in PC and mobile, console remains our flagship experience.” By positioning cloud gaming as an add-on to that core console experience, Microsoft can succeed where Stadia stumbled.
The truth is that the United States’ internet infrastructure is pretty great in some places, but shoddy in others. Game streaming requires more bandwidth than video, running in both directions to minimize latency in gameplay. Not everyone has a fast or consistent internet. Plus, some people have low data caps.
For the foreseeable future, most people will play disc-based games, or download titles to their hardware to ensure a smooth, uninterrupted experience with little latency. This is especially true with twitchy genres, such as first-person shooters or fighting games. Right now, cloud gaming is best positioned as a supplemental experience.
Microsoft’s moves are about expanding the Xbox platform’s reach. The company wants to touch more people by lowering the barrier of entry from several hundred dollars to almost nothing. That’s why Microsoft is going strong on Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming. Still, it’s not neglecting its own hardware.
A New Path
It’s clear that Microsoft understands this, too. “More recently, if you couldn’t spend hundreds of dollars on a game console, potentially thousands of dollars on a high-end PC, you simply couldn’t participate in the global gaming community in a significant way,” said Spencer in the Q&A.
Games are key. Microsoft must shore up its own releases, which is why it purchased several high-profile studios, including Bethesda, Obsidian, and InXile Entertainment. On that note, Microsoft announced that it plans to release at least one new first-party game to Game Pass every three months. Great games are the spice that makes Xbox Game Pass such an excellent meal.
We’ve entered a generation where the console manufacturers have adopted vastly different strategies. Sony is on the most traditional route, with a powerful, expensive console, and some of the best new games (like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart). Nintendo has its hybrid Switch, a weaker platform, but one that’s playable at home and away from home. Microsoft has various Xbox consoles, a strong PC focus, and the Xbox Game Pass subscription service that finally provides that “Netflix of games” the industry has been looking forward to for some time.
Xbox’s eventual future—one of cloud gaming for all—is a tantalizing one, but the console still has lots of life.
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