Google isn’t the only company getting ready to launch a game streaming service later this year. Microsoft has announced that it will launch a preview of its upcoming Project xCloud service in October, allowing users to stream over 3,500 games over the internet. Users will also be able to stream games from their own Xbox One to a mobile device, allowing you to use your phone to play console games.

For the first time, Microsoft has provided some details about the game console that will replace the Xbox One. It’s currently going by the codename Project Scarlett, and it’s on track to launch in time for the 2020 holiday season.

Here’s what we know about Project Scarlett so far:

  • Custom processor based on AMD Zen 2 architecture and Radeon RDNA graphics
  • GDDR6 memory
  • SSD storage
  • Support for 8K content, ray tracing, variable refresh rates, and low-latency input

DURING Microsoft’s E3 press event, the company also:

  • Introduced an Xbox Elite Wirless Controller Series 2, coming in November for $180
  • Launched Xbox Game Pass for PC, which lets PC gamers pay $10 per month (or $5/month promotional pricing for a limited time) for access to more than 100 titles.
  • Introduced Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes PC and console games for $15 per month.
  • Announced plans to acquire Psychonauts game developer Double Fine and previewed Psychonauts 2, which is coming in 2020.
  • Previewed 60 new games coming to Xbox.

 

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12 replies on “Microsoft’s game streaming coming in October, next-gen console in 2020”

  2. Brad, the Xbox Game Pass PC is actually $9.99. It will only be $4.99 for the beta period through August, then reverts back to $9.99.

    And Game Pass Ultimate will include Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass PC, and xbox live.

    1. Also the Ultimate Game Pass includes the ultimate editions atleast for Gears 5 and possible future titles, instead of the standard edition in base GamePass.

  3. In before Game Pass is “required”. Gaming as a “service” is one of the worst if not the worst trend in gaming in this century, much more so then MOBAs and “Royale mode” nonsense, even more then the “go all digital and REALLY own NOTHING you pay for” model they are striving for (which the Game Pass is a literal extension of) and dare I say maybe even more then cross platform play……that opens the floodgates to massive cheating on console (locally stored saves on games with massive online persistent multiplayer worlds…..yeah nothing bad can possibly happen there right??) Trying not to be the guy telling people to get off my lawn and turn their crap music down but Im really struggling to see how anyone who knows better, thinks any of these things are positives for the gamer community.

    1. I really don’t miss my vcr or dvd player. Video streaming has been great. As long as prices aren’t too high things are going to be fine. Soon there will be titles who’s binaries will never leave the server room.

      1. When streaming will stop, it all will be gone, like tears in rain.

        1. It could mean the end of game emulation if all games moved to streaming.

    2. I am also in the camp of preferring physical copies of games over digital downloads or cloud streaming. That being said, I think Game Pass and by extension xcloud, are good things for people that prefer digital downloads. For people in that camp, their mind is already made up and game pass simply adds extra value for them.

      As for cross platform play, I really don’t see the downside to that. I’ve always felt it was a huge benefit to everyone as far back as the first crossplay games on the Xbox 360 and PC. Back then I noticed no cheating from either side of the field. There were clearly decent enough anti cheat measures in place already. Crossplay is no doubt a positive thing for the community simply because it expands the number of people you can play with. I’ve always felt restricting a game’s player base to individual platforms was silly. Why can’t Call of Duty players on PlayStation play with Call of Duty players on Xbox? It was an unnecessary artificial restriction designed to keep players locked into a single platform. Want to play with your friends that are on another platform? Too bad, they have to come to your platform or you to theirs. Now that’s no longer the case. I think your concern of “massive cheating” is just paranoia and in practice with all the cross play games available today, there has yet to be massive cases of cheating. Some games even go as far as to even separate controller and keyboard/mouse players in competitive settings.

      1. The larger issue I think many seem to forget is when revenue comes in from digital purchases of otherwise physically available items, that revenue is taken from the physically available version…..and makes it less desirable for companies to generate physical versions in the future. Digital items have ZERO additional risk from not selling. Examples are other physical media like CDs and DVD/BR. Most (id bet 95%+) people who buy digital versions do not also buy physical versions. From a short term business standpoint it seems like a no brainer but in the end the consumer winds up with lesser quality audio in the case of streaming audio, lesser quality video in the case of streaming video and for games we have cases where someone can feel that a song in the soundtrack or an emote or dance move in a game that we paid for, and may have actually had to purchase or otherwise earn in game the emote or dance move, is too controversial or actionable from a legal standpoint, and remove it from our game……because again, we own nothing….

        And before you point out we don’t actually “own” our physical copies we are licensed to use……and you’re right. I do think though that having a physical copy still gives me the ability to ensure I get what i paid for on my terms.

        When i say cross play, i mean PC included. You mention Call of Duty, have you ever played COD multiplayer…..in ANY form…..on PC? if you have, you’d know I’m FAR from paranoid in believing that level of rampant, basically unstoppable level of botting, mods, int hooks, wall clears..etc etc…..being introduced to the relatively “clean” console environment would be a catastrophe. Forza Horizon is another prime example, because of the PC cross play, you can download saves with 100 packs of the rarest cars (some even as yet unreleased) that you can fully put up for sale on the live world auction house, the same one Xbox users use. Don’t forget on console we are paying a service fee already to “ensure” this “fair” ecosystem and they don’t seem likely to endanger that income.

        Xbox and PS crossplay, Im all for it, but leave PCs out of it unless they are willing to step up and do something about the obvious issues.

        1. Actually you do own physical copies of games thanks to the first sale doctrine. For example, should a game’s license expire (eg 007 games or Minecraft Story Mode) the digital copies get purged, in a lot of cases, you also lose the ability to ever download it again, it’s wiped from your account history and in more extreme cases, it’s even remotely wiped from your device. But with physical copies, while new copies may be pulled from store shelves in extreme cases, the second hand market is untouched. You can still buy used physical copies of games just fine at stores like GameStop or eBay. Publishers won’t do anything about that, they’re not going to send a SWAT team to kickdown your door and take away your physical copy.

          Anyways, i’m not denying that cheating exists on certain platforms. Actually, I’d say there’s MORE cheating on consoles than PC. Take a look at any old Call of Duty game on Xbox 360 or PS3 for example, it’s pretty bad there but the PC version isn’t as bad thanks to Steam’s anticheat measures which are clearly more effective than Xbox 360 and PS3’s measures. Even the PS4 has already been jailbroken and you can find cheaters there. But despite that, I still don’t think that means crossplay is bad. No matter what you’ll always have cheaters unless publishers and developers start being more proactive with anticheat measures. There’s more good than bad when it comes to crossplay. Your concerns really only apply to competitive multiplayer anyways. Crossplay for casual players is a huge thing, just imagine crossplay campaign co-op with friends. There’s no concern for cheaters there or in cross play custom games lobbies and so on.

          So would it be more agreeable to you if crossplay were restricted to casual game modes or private lobbies between friends? Cause that’s all i really want crossplay for. Campaign co-op, custom game lobbies, and so on.

      2. I really am not sure there are “physical copies” anymore — not really. Every game I get for my PS4 or Xbox takes forever to install and then download “updates” that are almost the same size as the entire install. Most games are going Gold in beta form and their 0Day patches are required to play, basically turning my disk into an “unlock key” that is inserted to tell the machine I can play the game.
        I agree that physical copies are my preference — I’m just not sure they are a real thing anymore.

        The same thing happened to the PC when Steam was gaining popularity. I’d buy a disk for my PC and it would install Steam and the game “beta”. Then it spent forever patching. Now, everything is just digital, and I am afraid that the same thing is happening to consoles.

        As for Xcloud, at least being able to play an Xbox game on my phone gives it an added benefit. As well, I won’t need to install the game. But man is it going to suck when my Internet goes down or I hit data caps.

        I think his concern on cheating is due to the PC cheaters that use bots to ruin games. With Cross Play, you are inviting those same cheaters to the consoles. Just Google “Fortnite PC cheating” or “Apex Legends Cheating” and you can find videos, sites, tutorials, etc. The companies are actively banning players left-and-right found to be cheating though and it doesn’t stop millions of daily PC players from playing and enjoying the game. So I agree that it is more benefit than not.

        Okay, let the downvotes begin!!!

    3. I can pretty much guarantee that this won’t bring any improvements to overall levels of happiness, but the bean counters will say it was worth it, for lowering to the barrier of entry to “you all have cell phones, right?” and for making cracking games physically impossible.
      And there is merit to cracking games. It’s not pretty, but it’s the only way to archive a lot of them. And in a world without game streaming, it was a deterrent to certain kinds of customer abuse.

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