Microsoft launched Xbox Cloud Gaming in 2020 with great fanfare, but the company’s stated goal to push cloud gaming even further has run into some technological setbacks as well as ongoing conflicts with Google and Apple over multiple issues. But now a new report indicates that Microsoft is making a renewed effort to extend the reach of Xbox Cloud Gaming.
A report released earlier this month stated that Microsoft will soon be testing its ability to let Xbox owners stream any game in their library even if it isn’t on Game Pass. According to The Verge, that’s just the beginning of Microsoft’s plans. The company is reportedly looking to add even more cloud-gaming features and introduce direct-to-cloud controllers.
The report credits the developer of the Better xCloud app for discovering Xbox’s direct-to-cloud controller support, which apparently isn’t quite ready to be rolled out yet. For now, Microsoft’s priority is said to be focused on improving the visual quality of its streams in a bid to make it possible to play Xbox games without a console that can perform at the same level as the Xbox Series X|S. There will supposedly be forward momentum for allowing higher bitrates on Xbox Cloud Gaming “soon.” However, fixing and upgrading Xbox Cloud Gaming’s ongoing latency issues will reportedly take more time and “require more powerful hardware.”
If Microsoft can deliver on all of those changes and give console-free gamers a comparable or better experience to having an Xbox Series X|S, then it seems likely to further erode the sales of physical consoles. Microsoft and Sony have both released digital-only consoles this generation, but if Microsoft really can remove the need for a physical console altogether then that might shake up the industry even more–although it didn’t work so well for Google’s Stadia.
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