Microsoft has been pushing to make Xbox a more accessible platform, and this initiative saw one of its biggest leaps forward with last month’s introduction of the company’s xCloud streaming service to Xbox Game Pass. This allows users to play current-gen console games on mobile devices that normally wouldn’t be able to support them, but it’s also possible that this could be taken even further to make next-gen Xbox games playable on current-gen hardware.
Right now, xCloud (or Cloud Gaming With Xbox Game Pass, as Microsoft officially calls it) is currently limited to Android devices. There are also plans to bring it to iOS devices by 2021, but Microsoft isn’t planning on stopping there. Earlier this month, Xbox chief Phil Spencer confirmed that the company is looking into bringing xCloud to PC and consoles at some point down the line.
Spencer elaborated on this during a lengthy interview with Kotaku that touched upon things like the Xbox Series X’s launch, Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Bethesda, and more. On the topic of xCloud, he expressed his commitment to bring the service to Xbox One, allowing current-gen users to play next-gen games without having to buy a brand new console. “When we think about Xbox One, absolutely, we think it could be a good way for us to bridge generations and be able to let people play those games,” he said.
That being said, Spencer stressed that, for the moment, Microsoft is prioritizing getting cloud gaming on PC and iOS first, so it will likely be a while before Xbox One users can take advantage of xCloud’s capabilities. Luckily, according to Spencer, it shouldn’t be too long of a wait, as he said, “I don’t think it’s years off. It’s just work to get done. We know how to do it.”
In recent years, one of the Xbox brand’s biggest selling points has become allowing players to access Xbox games in a growing number of ways on a growing number of different devices. Aside from Game Pass and xCloud, Microsoft has pushed its Play Anywhere initiative which makes first-party games and a number of third-party titles playable on Xbox One and PC (and soon Xbox Series X) with a single purchase.
Microsoft has even been willing to let formerly console-exclusive indies like Cuphead and Ori and the Will of the Wisps be released on the Nintendo Switch. However, Spencer told Kotaku that this might not be able to continue, stating that “it doesn’t feel sustainable” to keep releasing Xbox games on other consoles. Making it sustainable, he said, would require bringing a full Xbox experience to those consoles, complete with features like Game Pass, which is something that competitive platforms “aren’t really that interested in.”
Source: Kotaku
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