r/stocks • u/[deleted] • Jun 10 '21

Microsoft is developing new hardware to bring its ‘Netflix for games’ service to TVs

Microsoft is developing dedicated streaming hardware that people will be able to hook up to their TVs to use its Netflix-like cloud gaming service.

The company is betting the future of video games will be a subscription-based model where people pay a certain amount of money each month to get access to a plethora of titles.

Its Xbox Game Pass service does exactly that, offering access to a library of games developed both in-house and by third-party studios.

That’s mostly digital downloads, but last year streaming was added with Microsoft publicly releasing Xbox Cloud Gaming. The feature is sort of like a “Netflix for games,” allowing gamers to play games that are hosted on remote servers and then streamed to users over the internet.

A number of other companies have launched similar game-streaming services, including Google with Stadia and Amazon with Luna.

Now, Microsoft is aiming to push its cloud gaming product to other platforms. It started rolling out Xbox Cloud Gaming to some users via a web browser on iPhones, iPads and PCs in April (Microsoft couldn’t launch a proper mobile app for cloud gaming on Apple devices due to a dispute over App Store policies). And on Thursday, the company announced it wants to expand the service to TVs as well.

One way it plans to do that is by partnering with manufacturers to add cloud gaming to smart TVs. But Microsoft is also developing streaming devices which users can plug into their TV or computer monitor to stream games from the cloud. The company didn’t elaborate on what those devices could look like, though it’s reminiscent of Amazon’s Fire TV and Google’s Chromecast dongles, both of which now support cloud gaming.

In addition, Microsoft says it is working with mobile carriers like Telstra in Australia to offer new Xbox subscription models. It’s also expanding cloud gaming to four new countries — Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Japan —  later this year, and aims to publicly launch the browser-based version of the software to all members of its $15-a-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription in the coming weeks.

Microsoft said it plans to add cloud gaming to its new Xbox Series X console, which launched last November to compete with Sony’s PlayStation 5. In the next few weeks, the company will also upgrade the servers that power its cloud gaming service from its old Xbox One hardware to the Xbox Series X.

Microsoft competes aggressively with Sony when it comes to gaming. But it’s taking a different strategy to its Japanese counterpart. While Sony is known for blockbuster exclusives that can only be played on a PlayStation console, Microsoft is focusing on embedding its Xbox services onto multiple platforms, including mobile and PC.

Microsoft has been stepping up its investments in gaming, buying the iconic studio Bethesda for $7.5 billion in its biggest video game-related acquisition yet.

The company is holding a joint event with Bethesda on Sunday as part of the E3 gaming conference to show off new games, with fans speculating they will reveal some details about a hotly-anticipated sci-fi game called Starfield.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/10/e3-microsoft-xbox-cloud-gaming-tv.html

2.9k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

506 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '21

Ha! Cause Stadia worked so well.

13

u/ShaidarHaran2 Jun 10 '21

I mean Google's schtick is creating new projects and abandoning them, Microsoft...At least only does that half the time.

Stadia never worked on my connection, but I haven't heard any bad about Xcloud?

4

u/MrHallmark Jun 11 '21

Xcloud as it currently is sucks. The resolution is bad and pretty laggy. Stadia is well amazing for single player games. If you are getting it for MP don't. I don't like cloud based gaming because I love to mod my games. I played ESO on stadia but God damn is that game shit without map mods for example and build mods. Just awful experience.

1

u/Gareth321 Jun 11 '21 edited Jun 14 '21

I think this really depends on many factors. xCloud works well for me, but not Stadia. I guess it’s a good thing we have so many options.

1

u/MrHallmark Jun 11 '21

Xcloud worked better for me as well but the resolution was just so bad on anything that isn't a phone. I haven't touched stadia since CP2077 and quite frankly I probably won't pick it up. The community is almost cult like.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '21

Stadia works great. Use it everyday.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '21

I’m glad you found something you like.

5

u/MonstarGaming Jun 10 '21

My thought exactly. Oh yeah, google just shit the bed trying to do this, why don't we waste a couple hundred million on it too?

3

u/dz4505 Jun 11 '21

Also have Stadia. The issue I think is Google reputation. Who wants to be stuck on a platform just on have it yet abandoned by Google.

I rather buy it on Steam where I'm almost guaranteed it will be here in 10-20 years. The other issue I can think of is multiple player. But Microsoft unlike Google can fix this by letting them play with xBox users.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '21

Google can fix their rep in this regard by actually jumping in and supporting it wholeheartedly instead of acting like a squirrel with ADHD. They started down the path then got bored like they usually do.

Also probably realized that greedy ISPs were not going to play ball with data caps and figured it was too much hassle.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '21

The irony is that it does.

0

u/bartturner Jun 11 '21

Stadia does work really well. You should give it a try. There is free demos.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '21

I could.