Microsoft is looking to become the Netflix of Gaming in the next few years. The company is aiming to use its streaming platform xCloud as a way to accomplish this. To appease investors, Microsoft needed something new and I think this may be it for the time being. This new idea to become the best of video game streaming raised some eyebrows from investors this week.
The idea of Microsoft’s xCloud streaming service is to have games readily available to you whenever and wherever. These could be a library of content totaling over 2 billion games. This idea as analyst Kirk Materne agrees with could,
“Align the best with Microsoft’s long term goals and opportunities.”
The streaming service allows for games to stream to any TV, laptop, tablet, and even smartphones. This range of devices is close to what we saw from Google with Stadia at their presentation a few weeks back. The big difference is Microsoft has yet to make their controller accessible from any screen. Stadia allows for their specific controller to work with any screen it is pointing at using a Google Chrome base. But that isn’t the only competition they have.
PlayStation has been for a few years now using their PlayStation Now as a platform for streaming games, old and new. PlayStation Now is Sony’s way to bring games from cloud storage and over 250 games can be downloaded to a player’s PS4. The PS Now library is extensive but without the expansive option to play games on smartphones and tablets, players still need a Windows PC or a PS4 to play with PS Now.
It was shown at e3 2019 this year Xbox unveiled their new combination of Xbox Live and Game Pass. They also showed some fantastic games that everyone is still playing or wanting to play again. 60 games total were revealed to go along with their Xbox Game Pass and Live bundle. The main point Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella brings up is,
“We have a huge back catalog, which is: We have our own games.”
This huge library of games for Xbox will undoubtedly make them a contender for a streaming games service. Tell us what you think about the Microsoft xCloud streaming platform as the way for the future of gaming below in the comments.
