Microsoft Reassures Xbox Cloud Gaming Will Not Overshadow Console In New Interview

While Microsoft remains adamant to establish its video game division on its respected Xbox platform onward this console generation, the same company is also striving for new heights with Xbox Cloud Gaming. Most recently, the firm shared that the cloud initiative is to establish an extended library for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers starting later this year to access your purchased games aside from those available through the service.

Additionally, Microsoft just released its first implementation of console gaming via cloud for Samsung televisions. In that, users can access the new Xbox TV application which enables users to play games without a console in the living room. Moving forward, Microsoft plans to further establish this console-less pursuit for gaming with Project Keystone: a streaming puck-like device that you plug into your television and start playing.

However, despite the overlap from Xbox Cloud Gaming and the success it could bring to Microsoft reaching a broader audience, the firm presses that this will not overshadow the already established console platform.

I love consoles — this is just another route, another option to open up gaming to other people. It’s not that one is a detriment to the other, this is more of a rising tide, and it’s a really good place to be in to offer all these different opportunities. There’s still PC, and there’ll be new form factors that come out in future.

Pav Bhardwaj, Xbox Game Pass Senior Global Product Manager

He adds, “Consoles are beloved, and cloud gaming is just a great alternative. […] Some people are always going to love playing on consoles, having a console in their living room to download and have that experience.” Additionally, Bhardwaj went on to elaborate that the industry has evolved with readability of newer technology to meet the same precedent as other streaming services when it comes to games.

“Compared to eight years ago, things have moved on so much in terms of bandwidth, technology… but at the same time, people’s expectations have also increased in parallel with that. I think we’ve got to the inflection point where we can deliver cloud gaming services through Smart TVs in the same way that Disney+ or Netflix is delivered, at that level [of quality] — and you don’t need a console. That’s the magic of the experience.”

Are you excited for the future of gaming from Xbox Cloud Gaming?

Source: gamesindustry.biz