Richard Leadbetter: "It's no coincidence that less than one week after Google announced Project Stream, Microsoft has broken cover with more details on its own streaming platform, dubbed Project xCloud. The core idea behind both platforms is the same - and very familiar to longer term readers of this site. Rather than buy a console and play games on it, titles are hosted on the cloud instead."
Free games? In THIS economy? Well, in exchange for your eyeballs at least. (Figuratively, not literally... although don't give them ideas.)
What you need to know
• Microsoft Gaming CFO Tim Stuart recently described how in the future, you may be able to view ads to gain access to Xbox Game Pass.
•Recent Xbox Series X|S code strings we've seen seem to corroborate this, with the ability to earn 15 minute blocks of Xbox Game Pass access in exchange for watching ads.
•Game Pass across PC, Xbox, and Cloud features hundreds of games in exchange for a low monthly fee.
Hmm..... I used to earn GP by way of searching with Bing but I hear the rewards program is being revamped. I still earn points but it seems they did change the amount you get per search. I dont know how i feel about this. It sounds like they are going the Youtube route where right in the middle of something you are enjoying, an ad pops up and you have to sit through it (if it does not have a skip option after 5 seconds).
I pay for my GP access, so this wouldnt really bother me but I can see it affecting plenty of others. It reminds me of the rumor about how some game companies (EA, Ubisoft) were toying with the idea of running ads before you ever get into the game. Like the old days of renting movies from Blockbuster and not being able to skip the previews (yes, some DVD had a non skip option for previews). I pay for stuff so i wouldnt have to deal with ads, but even now they are encroaching the very things i pay a premium for.
This whole thing is just..... a bad idea.
@babadivad
Yup. You'd have to pop in the DVD before going to the bathroom, grabbing a snack, etc
Such a shame cause even if you don't think this is a big deal what's next they put ads on ultimate gamepass and the free one gets more. This is disgusting. Yes even if Sony goes this route I'll feel the same. We got enough ads in this world ffs
“even if Sony goes this route I'll feel the same”
This isn’t a “both sides” issue. Sony has never had ads on the PlayStation Home Screen but Microsoft has laden Xbox’s Home Screen with ads since the Xbox 360. Microsoft has put ads on Windows 11 OS! Microsoft is basically the bad guy from “Ready Player One”.
I know that hence the key word If. Sonys never given an indication of this where as ms definitely has.
I mean, it's not never, but it's not like Xbox. Sony has promoted things with icons on the XMB, it's just really rare.
They could do GP free with ads, GP £20 per month without ads, which one would the casual/hardcore choose ?
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We're just having our eyelids forced open more and more every day it feels like.
You don't say?/S
You mean the company that puts ads on the dashboard, tried to force a camera on Xbox One to push ads is experimenting with ads for game pass access? No. You must be joshing. Lol
Wouldn't put it past them.
Getting people locked into subs and advertising to them is what passes as innovation at Microsoft.
At least they're keeping Sony on their toes with the threat of competition
Microsoft has launched a new Bing feature that lets you experience Xbox Cloud Gaming supported games just by searching for it.
It's not a bad way to earn points. Esp if you do a lot of searching for stuff. I haven't had to pay for Gamepass in over a year because i am constantly earning enough points to pay for it. I've had upwards of 161k lifetime points and currently only 2k away from another free month of GPU.
At Xbox, we’re always looking to make gaming available to more people in more ways. So today, we’re announcing that Xbox Cloud Gaming will be available in more places with the Logitech G CLOUD Gaming Handheld when it launches in North America on October 17.
I can pretty much do the same thing with my steamdeck. I get that MS doesn't need to make their own dedicated portable... not anymore. this unit for $300 looks to be pretty decent for other stuff as well, not just xcloud gaming.
Fact that you could get a steam deck for $100 more and play a wide variety of games without an awesome network connection... Dunno, this device could be ok for around the house I guess, but for a lot cheaper imo. Like $150
The portable market is dead unfortunately. Phones pretty much ended that as we know it. Going from 150M+ units sold for the DS to only 75M or so for the 3DS is why Nintendo combined markets, Phones chewed right into it.
I agree with you for the most part, but the switch has been really successful and I think I read somewhere that hardly anyone plays it docked, so it's not being used as a hybrid but I could be wrong.
You're right in that the market is WAY smaller than it used to be
It would be even better for MS to make GamePass/MS store work on the steam deck. That way you're not locked into just their marketplace. But for an Xbox fan (I don't mean this in a bad way) I can see how a windows based portable that just plays PC game pass/MS store games would be a neat thing indeed
to your comment above, I dont play my oled switch docked. to me its a waste of that screen. If i want to play docked i will use my sons regular switch model.
Cloud gaming on a handheld, hard pass... Cloud gaming is still pretty terrible even on a dedicated, cable connected device let alone one connecting over wifi. Sounds like someone in charge at Logitech loves the buzz word “cloud” and demanded a handheld be made regardless of whether it was a good idea. I’ll stick with my steam deck.
Well it works great for me. I guess on cloud gaming depends on your net, servers and how far are you from servers. Dunno where the servers are located here in Argentina, but works great for me, feels like is faster response time than playing regular games online with 50-60 latency.
as long as they are offering something to stream that the masses want, yes.
as long as they are treating their gaming section like an unwanted child, no.
but my take is they are making more than enough money with their sports licenses in north america.
I called it. I knew xbox would also have their cloud service. Game streaming is still young and being limited by Internet speed, but anyone with a decent internet connection knows PS now is actually works and not as bad as some xbox fans make it out to be. I would hope they are gonna say this is gonna be better and streaming is cool, but due to what I already said they will be on par at best. Only time and tech will improve this, but right now it isn't as bad.
Well, how well was their “cloud power” for Xbox one? If they can not enhance a game that is mainly hardware built, how well will they do with streaming a game?
Yes, eventually it will “work”... but for a software/digital giant like Microsoft... so far they are batting a zero with their cloud goals and I would approach said scenario with hesitation
A report has just out about internet providers struggling with all the people streaming from Netflix. How’s this going to work with lots of people steaming games?