Project xCloud will support all digital Xbox One games

Project xCloud is Microsoft's upcoming game streaming service. While we haven't heard many details about how it'll work and factors such as latency, we do know that public trials should begin in 2019. However, a description posted on the Game Developers Conference (GDC) website gives us some insight into the project. GDC is the world's largest professional game industry event, with five days of learning, inspiration, and networking. It'll take place from March 18 to March 22, 2019 in San Francisco.

[RobLoPR]

Cant wait 😬😬😬

[fr0sty]

Comments in here seem to be quite different than the reception PSNow got for doing the same thing...

[AnthonyDavis]

Yea with 80ms total input lag. Maybe even 100ms or over because people play Xbox on TV, not monitors.

[Zeref]

Maybe because PSNow sucks? I tried it yesterday and the compression completely destroys the video quality to the point of being basically unplayable unless you want to torture your eyes. Input latency was surprisingly more than acceptable though for single player games at least. And loading times were acceptable.

I also tried Google Cloud Stream and it was much better in every way.
Judging by the tech that they're using to build xCloud it's going to be even better than Google Cloud. I can see myself playing Single-Player and Co-op games regularly like this.

[chiefJohn117]

Psnow sucks do to the lack of top current gen games

[Razzer]

Streaming, in general, sucks.

[Kavorklestein]

Although I do not know how well xcloud is going to work, something tells me the way Microsoft is going to do it will be much more user-friendly, and latency will most likely be far less than what PS Now can offer, and well beyond what PS Now offered when it launched. I don't think it has much to do with bias as to do with evolution in the ability to provide a lower latency gaming experience through streaming, and I'm hoping that that's what x Cloud brings to the table.

for me, that's why I'm excited.
and actually has nothing to do with bias for me personally, as I am a person who has not only used PS now but also onlive when it first came out back in the day. I think both were great in their own way, but I anticipate xcloud to be better optimized and to perform better all-around. Not to mention internet speeds have increased a lot and have become cheaper since then

[--bienio--]

Nice

[AngainorG7X]

Personally i'll stick with the traditional next gen Xbox but i'm excited about this service's potential. It needs years though to become mainstream (if ever) but there has to be a start i guess in order to see what happens

[battlegrog]

I dont aggree, If it works it will become popular fast. I mean netflix took time but it was the first of the kind.Now music and other streaming services pop up fast and become popular. So if it works it will thrive as the new way. I for one need this way. Ps now is absolutely no example to be running off. Its very small scale old system that they simply bought. This is massive scale companies developing new tech out of servers they own .

That being said i hope sony figure one out too

[Zeref]

you're contradicting yourself. You say it will become popular fast and then went on to say Netflix took time.

This will take time. No matter if it works or not. Truth is, this is completely new Territory. Will people really take to playing console games on their phones? Or are they satisfied with Flappy Bird and Clash of Clans?

The marketing of this needs to be top notch as well. It can't be something that only core gamers know about. Like game pass was for a long time until recently.

[Jakens]

For this benefit of digital to pay off, it's kind of nice to hear.

[Skankinruby]

Is that a controller connected to a smartphone? If so gotta admit that's pretty cool.

[Thundercat77]

Where have you been these past years? This is nothing new. This has been done with Android and Sony's Playstation controller a very long time ago.

[Skankinruby]

Lol hiding under a rock I guess, I had no clue this was a thing

[tontontam0]

He had the same reaction when xbox one was released with bluray.

[TheUndertaker85]

Uh, no. To use a PS4 or PS3 controller on Android you would need third party apps like SixAxis. Sony has not and likely will not add first party drivers. Yes, they will sync but try the functionality without a third party app.

PS3 controllers in particular are quite janky on most outside devices.

[tontontam0]

"Uh, no. To use a PS4 or PS3 controller on Android you would need third party apps like SixAxis. Sony has not and likely will not add first party drivers. Yes, they will sync but try the functionality without a third party app.

PS3 controllers in particular are quite janky on most outside devices."

UH no, you can using an xperia phone, technically android but sony made the function exclusive to sony phones.

[Amplitude]

@TheUndertaker85

Sorry man but you're literally just wrong and so are all your thumbs ups lol. If you bluetooth connect a PS4 controller to an android device you can play games with it and even navigate the android menu.

[TheUndertaker85]

@Axecution: https://play.google.com/sto...
SixAxis Google Play Store

https://m.androidcentral.co...
See “Potential Issues”
Side note: They actually state using a Xbox One controller is more ideal on mobile

[DillyDilly]

Its called BlueTooth

[TheUndertaker85]

Bluetooth does not instantly add drivers for all devices. Sony does not provide drivers on third party devices.

Thus the need for things such as Xinput and SixAxis.

[Darkborn]

It's funny because this has been happening this entire Gen. Sony would innovate something, use it for years, and it would eventually come to Xbox and its all of a sudden a new amazing thing.

[Zeref]

Sony didn't invent mobile controllers lmfao.

[Darkborn]

I never meant just this in particular.. But look up the PlayStation features, and look up the xboxs.. Including crossplay, ps3 has been using it for like 10 years, but suddenly since the messiah Phil Spencer has it on Xbox, it's the next best thing.

[Kiwi66]

The Xbox 360 had crossplay also so it wasn't just the ps3 that had it

[rob-GP]

Of course it will ‘support’ them all. It’s just custom servers madenout of Xbox hardware. The thing is, it won’t ‘provide’ every digital game. It will most likely have a small selection, like Gamepass. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s literally the same games as gamepass.

Look at PSNow. That can ‘support’ Lon digital games, but they don’t put them all on it either due to licensing and some devs valuing their games at more than a few pennies.

[Zeref]

You don't seem to understand what xCloud is.

xCloud is a service that will "provide you access" to all games that you own digitally or games that you have via gamepass via the cloud.
*notice how I put provide you access between quotes.

It's all about having access to your games. You can play your games(Owned Games or Gamepass) on anything that has the xCloud service on it for ex. PC,iOS,Android or even the Switch(rumor).

I imagine it's going to be tied to GamePass and in addition to gamepass games you can also play games that you own. So it won't be an extra subscription service. However you still need to actually buy the game(or have gamepass if it's on gamepass) to play it if it's not on Gamepass or if you don't own it.

So this is completely different than what PSNow does. IThey don't need to pay licensing because they already have it(xCloud runs on regular Xbox Ones after all) And it doesn't take anything away from developers. In fact it's the opposite, It allows people that don't have an Xbox to buy their game which allows them to tap into a larger market the 2billion large smartphone market and PC.

They could also tie it to Xbox Live gold. But then people that don't own an Xbox wouldn't have any games to play except free to play games or GwG of that month. So it makes more sense to tie it to gamepass or both.

TLDR;
Imagine having an Xbox in your pocket. You still need to pay for the games and services like gamepass. Just not the console.

[rob-GP]

So it's not a rental service where you pay monthly for a set amount of games, it's basically the PS4 Remote Access application, but on mobiles? So you have to own the games yourself - so buy them individually digitally on the service, and then you get to remote play them from their own servers?

If so, then yeah - that's not what I was thinking it would be. However, it's kinda what PSNow was during beta - as that was going to be a flat rental fee or you could obtain individual titles to play whenever and wherever you want outside of the rental package.

If it is just a remote play app then I can see Sony releasing their own remote play app on mobile devices as they already have the service and function built into every console out there - there are already unofficial apps on Andriod and iOS which lets you remote play your own games on your own devices. All you need is at least a 5Mb (500kb/s) upload stream at home and it works perfectly.

[rainslacker]

TY MS PR Department.

You also seem to put a lot of faith that when MS does finally release, that it's going to work great, and as they say. I'm curious why you'd do that, considering that MS is going to face the same logistical issues that Sony does when it comes to streaming games. There's a whole big internet out there, and a bunch of ISP's, that MS has no control over.

[Zeref]

it's not as simple as an app for remote play. Sure it achieves relatively the same but those apps work far from perfectly. This has dedicated Xbox consoles in their server farms streaming down the games.

[rob-GP]

yeah, but that's what remote play is - only you're streaming it from your own console. The difference here would be that the Xbox servers are supposedly Xbox on S consoles, I can stream my PS4 Pro and get the downsampled enhancements (not that it matters much over streaming). It all comes down to latency though - if MS doesn't have these servers worldwide then it will be a very small portion of people who can access it - look at PSNow, it's been out about 4 years and only a handful of locations can get it

Now I fully understand what it is though, I don't get why people are making out like it's something that's never been done before - As I said, Sony has had both methods for years and others like GeForce have similar services and there have been numerous services where you can pay and basically rent a remote PC with decent GPUs so you can stream games from them which you buy via your own Steam account.

[SkippyPaccino]

You can't believe everything you read on a Microsoft page... We all remember xbox one x "uncompromised 4k" & " high fidelity VR" which got deleted prior to launch...

Microsoft have made career this gen of over promising and under delivering. The questions we should be asking is "Did they know when they posted those things that they were never going to deliver on those promises?"

[NeoGamer232]

LOL. If you believe everything any company says you need serious help.

Look at the PS3 promises:

https://www.wired.com/2013/...

[dekke]

well that BC was true at least on 60gb edition aka fatty ..tho it didnt play all ps1 games such asFFVII 2nd cd didnt work at all :P

[Xb1ps4]

That's nice.. really wish they would put the same amount of effort into its games though..

Yea... I'm bummed about cd3

[Atticus_finch]

They're a bit late or Psnow is way ahead of it's time.

[Zeref]

Does PSNow allow you to play God of War(or any game that you own) on your phone?

[Atticus_finch]

I don't need Psnow for that, I have an Xperia Zx3. And you can stream to any Android phone. Old news.
I guess MS can't wait to get you guys on the next Hype bandwagon, a la Cloud.

[Sophisticated_Chap]

I XCloud allows you to stream digital games that you already own to a smart phone, tablet or an under-powered PC, then this is going to be a great option. I will always prefer digital downloads over streaming, but it would be nice to have the option, particularly if you are traveling.

[littlezizu]

Ps4 already allows this and it's free.

[SocialDanny123]

How is that any different from Xbox to Windows 10 Streaming?

Remote play and XCloud are different implementations.

[Zeref]

No it doesn't....

[SocialDanny123]

It's not free. You need a PS4 to run Remote Play, defeated its purpose, Microsoft's implementation means that you don't need to purchase a console. You could if the article is correct, simply purchase the content and it will run on a mobile device etc.

[littlezizu]

Well you could already stream your all your ps4 games both disc and digital to mobile thru remoteplay and it doesn't require ps now. It's free only require internet connection of 2mbps above speed recommended is 5 or above.
Officially available to sony xperia phones and unofficial app to do it available on both android and iphones. Also you can use dualshock to play games or use custom setup of yours.
So sony already ahead in this tech they need to market it better.

[SocialDanny123]

Microsoft had Xbox One to Windows 10 Streaming since 2015.

[littlezizu]

PS4 has been doing this since 2013 launch.

[Zeref]

With xCloud you don't need to own an Xbox. And you can use it anywhere. Not just with your wifi. It's not like remote play.

Also it doesn't suck.

Besides that. Xbox has the same thing, you can remote play Xbox to windows 10 PCs/Tablets.

[rainslacker]

"Also it doesn't suck. "

And you know this based off your extensive use of the as of yet to be released or even beta tested service?

[littlezizu]

Ps4 allows you to use it everywhere,
Distance from my home and work is 10 miles. I used remote play to platinum persona 5, DQXI recently along with continue online mp in Monster hunter world and Uncharted mp.
Also it is awesome , one of best feature of ps4 no one talks about.

[Zeref]

That's literally a lie. Unless you used some 3rd party hackittogether job(Which is also possible on Windows 10). There is no official way to play outside of your own network.

And I doubt it works as well as you say it does.

I tested PSNow recently and even that doesn't work well. Video compression ruins the experience.

[rob-GP]

okay, I answered your other comment then I saw this one... I guess you've never used remote play? The PS4 remote play works anywhere in the world. You don't have to be on the same network - that's the Xbox version.

I used to remote into my PS4 from work and play it there on my breaks until they closed off their wifi and I still regularly remote in and play games when I'm at my parents via their laptop. It's the same with the PS Vita, if you have a strong enough signal, you can remote play your PS4 on the go with the handheld - I've even done this by using my phone as a wifi hotspot over 4g and it works fine - you just have to ensure the upload speed at your house is above 5Mb/s (500kbs)

[franwex]

I’m not sure why there’s confusion here.

If you buy the game on their store, like the same game that was downloaded to your Xbox hardrive. You would be able to stream the game on your phone later.

Hope that clears it up.

[DillyDilly]

So we wont need an actual Console for this just an Live account ?

[HighPlayer28]

Very excited about this tech.