Microsoft is bringing Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming to smart TVs, so users don’t need a console

[Elvis P]

Microsoft is bringing Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming to smart TVs, so users don't need a console

More gamers will be able to access Microsoft's Xbox without having to buy consoles.

www.cnbc.com

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[Rodgerwilco]

Pretty cool step towards video games becoming more and more accessible!

 

[aleshemsky83]

There was rumors of a dongle, I'm surprised they did an app before google stadia.

I'm surprised Stadia hasn't done this, theyve really mastered input lag, everyone should try Destiny 2 on Stadia (no sub required) to see how good the input lags gotten.

That said the image quality is horrendous.

 

[Apex Predator]

This would work out to be so much cheaper than buying the console right?

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

There’s a dongle in development but I don’t think it’s coming anytime soon.

 

[JaegerDice]

If Sony doesn't get their shit together on this Games as Service thing, they're going to get left in the dust.

The number of people for whom the up-front investment on a new console represents a significant barrier to entry is huge... it's why every single console sees a surge in growth with every price drop.

For players to have an option whereby they pay the equivalent of a netflix subscription, buy a $50 controller and can play a huge library of games across their tv, their phone, their computer, etc...

Sony is going to wake up one day and find that the Playstation is the only box that plays Playstation games, but every other box in the average household plays Xbox games for a 10th the price.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

If Sony doesn't get their shit together on this Games as Service thing, they're going to get left in the dust.

The number of people for whom the up-front investment on a new console represents a significant barrier to entry is huge... it's why every single console sees a surge in growth with every price drop.

For players to have an option whereby they pay the equivalent of a netflix subscription, buy a $50 controller and can play a huge library of games across their tv, their phone, their computer, etc...

Sony is going to wake up one day and find that the Playstation is the only box that plays Playstation games, but every other box in the average household plays Xbox games for a 10th the price.

Yup, they've been getting overwhelmed in the game-streaming service by Microsoft big time. Sony needs to hope their tiered subscription service really takes off and I think they need to prioritize trying to follow microsoft in making them stream-able without a console like this.

 

[aleshemsky83]

Yup, they've been getting overwhelmed in the game-streaming service by Microsoft big time. Sony needs to hope their tiered subscription service really takes off and I think they need to prioritize trying to follow microsoft in making them stream-able without a console like this.

Believe it or not, Sony has been waaaaay ahead of Microsoft in streaming. It's just that literally nobody knows what PS Now even is. Marketing and messaging is like 90% of the battle and Sony has really lost that battle.

 

[x Tame Impala]

How is my smart tv supposed to handle all the processing power needed to play a modern videogame?

 

[Jovavic]

How is my smart tv supposed to handle all the processing power needed to play a modern videogame?

Your current TV won't, it'll be introduced in new Samsungs. Which ones? Probably not the cheap ones.

Best thing about this is being to use Sony controllers to play Xbox, my dislike for the bumpers is massive.

 

[Osprey]

How is my smart tv supposed to handle all the processing power needed to play a modern videogame?

It's not. Microsoft's servers will handle it and stream the rendered picture and sound to you like a movie, which your TV can already handle. Your TV just needs to send your controller inputs back to those servers, which doesn't take much processing power. I'm guessing that the reason that Microsoft is rolling it out only to newer TVs, though, is latency. Your TV doesn't need to process much, but it does have to do it fast enough that there isn't too much input lag.

 

[JaegerDice]

Your current TV won't, it'll be introduced in new Samsungs. Which ones? Probably not the cheap ones.

Best thing about this is being to use Sony controllers to play Xbox, my dislike for the bumpers is massive.

The processing power of the TV is irrelevant, it's literally handling 0% of running the game proper.

The only thing that matters is how good your internet is what the bandwidth cap on your TV's wifi and/or ethernet port are.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Somewhere many years in the future this will be a viable option. Right now the best you will get is a poor experience with a crappy resolution and unstable framerate.

 

[Beau Knows]

Somewhere many years in the future this will be a viable option. Right now the best you will get is a poor experience with a crappy resolution and unstable framerate.

I certainly wouldn't want to play an FPS or anything like that on this, but some genres likes strategy games or turn based RPGs should be very playable.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I play a good bit with Xcloud on my phone with a backbone. Works great for games like Forza or single player games (third person, top down, etc) but do not like it for anything first person or shooter, especially online.

This is a cool idea and breaks down the barrier for entry into Gamepass even more. Not likely to buy a new TV anytime soon but usually go Samsung anyway.

 

[JimmyApples]

If Sony doesn't get their shit together on this Games as Service thing, they're going to get left in the dust.

The number of people for whom the up-front investment on a new console represents a significant barrier to entry is huge... it's why every single console sees a surge in growth with every price drop.

For players to have an option whereby they pay the equivalent of a netflix subscription, buy a $50 controller and can play a huge library of games across their tv, their phone, their computer, etc...

Sony is going to wake up one day and find that the Playstation is the only box that plays Playstation games, but every other box in the average household plays Xbox games for a 10th the price.

IMO, the race is already over, and Microsoft knows it. Microsoft views their gaming competition as Google and Amazon, not Sony.

Since the XSX/PS5 dropped, Microsoft has only been putting out HALF the consoles they were capable of - saving the chips to upgrade their streaming services and beginning to perfect streaming as the #1 way to game.

Sony just dropped a new service and a ton of their games are unplayable due to their shitty streaming servers. You can play a next-gen game better on your phone, than a PS3 game on your PS5. Let that sink in.

 

[aleshemsky83]

IMO, the race is already over, and Microsoft knows it. Microsoft views their gaming competition as Google and Amazon, not Sony.

Since the XSX/PS5 dropped, Microsoft has only been putting out HALF the consoles they were capable of - saving the chips to upgrade their streaming services and beginning to perfect streaming as the #1 way to game.

Sony just dropped a new service and a ton of their games are unplayable due to their shitty streaming servers. You can play a next-gen game better on your phone, than a PS3 game on your PS5. Let that sink in.

I kind of doubt this considering xboxs -- especially series S but even X consoles -- have been in pretty decent supply lately and series Ss were available all throughout the pandemic.

Sony streaming servers are likely under load because EVERY title is available for streaming. Xbox only has a portion of gamepass games available for streaming.

 

[93LEAFS]

Yup, they've been getting overwhelmed in the game-streaming service by Microsoft big time. Sony needs to hope their tiered subscription service really takes off and I think they need to prioritize trying to follow microsoft in making them stream-able without a console like this.

As a longtime PlayStation gamer who has owned all their consoles outside the handhelds, Sony can't compete with MS on this front. MS is one of the biggest companies in cloud services. The only companies with the cloud capacity to go head to head with MS on this front are AWS or Google (could also add Ali Baba of non-Western based companies).

Pretty sure the new Microsoft CEO (who I believe comes from the cloud services area of MS) is all in on gaming right now due to the fact he sees that is where Xbox can finally be the industry leader in the game market after they considered exiting the hardware business after the disastrous launch of the X-box One.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

As a longtime PlayStation gamer who has owned all their consoles outside the handhelds, Sony can't compete with MS on this front. MS is one of the biggest companies in cloud services. The only companies with the cloud capacity to go head to head with MS on this front are AWS or Google (could also add Ali Baba of non-Western based companies).

Pretty sure the new Microsoft CEO (who I believe comes from the cloud services area of MS) is all in on gaming right now due to the fact he sees that is where Xbox can finally be the industry leader in the game market after they considered exiting the hardware business after the disastrous launch of the X-box One.

I've also been a PS guy my whole life and I have to absolutely agree with you. I'd like to see them have a strong presence, but I'm not very confident that they're going to be able to keep up ground.

The new structure of the subscription service is nice, though. However the catalogue could be much better.

 

[JaegerDice]

I kind of doubt this considering xboxs -- especially series S but even X consoles -- have been in pretty decent supply lately and series Ss were available all throughout the pandemic.

Sony streaming servers are likely under load because EVERY title is available for streaming. Xbox only has a portion of gamepass games available for streaming.

The Series S wasn't as crunched by pipeline issues because it uses older chipsets.

It's also been widely reported that Microsoft invested heavily on their own pipeline and processes years ago, in addition to straight-up paying manufacturers for priority off the manufacturing line through the pandemic.

It's part of the reason the Xbox Series consoles has been outselling PS5 in major markets like the US and the UK, despite demand for the PS5 being higher.