Xbox's Phil Spencer Wants xCloud on Other Consoles | Game Rant
The Head of Xbox has not given up on bringing xCloud to as many platforms as possible; including consoles. Phil Spencer has high ambitions for the future of cloud gaming, and he sees Xbox as a company that is at the forefront of that charge. Spencer and his team have worked hard to bring countless games to Xbox Game Pass and to push the xCloud platform to as many devices as possible. But according to a recent email, he doesn't seem to be quite done yet.
Xbox's cloud-based service is currently running on PC and Android devices. xCloud also is running on iOS via a web-based preview program thanks to a workaround that the Xbox team spent quite some time developing. In fact, this appears to be exactly how Spencer's comments about getting xCloud on as many platforms as possible came about.
Email communications have popped up between Phil Spencer and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who is right in the midst of the massive Epic vs Apple court case. Just as Fortnite was taken off of iOS devices, Spencer's xCloud was unable to get pushed through the standard App Store (after once having been approved during an early access beta stage). The web-based approach seems to work for iOS users after hard work, but more interesting is the idea that Spencer wants to bring xCloud to more platforms, including consoles.
In emailing Sweeney, Phil told the CEO that Xbox wants to expand its cloud streaming to other consoles. He specifically mentions that he hasn't given up on bringing that service to other platforms. Early last month, there was an apparent rumor that Nintendo and Microsft had struck a massive deal, and many still wonder if this could be that xCloud and Xbox Game Pass will find their way to the Nintendo Switch.
At the highest levels of [Microsoft] we are committed to pushing on these policies and continuing to expand our console platform capabilities
The xCloud service ties directly to the extremely valuable Xbox Game Pass; a service that continues to grow thanks to the Microsoft acquisitions, partnerships with third-party developers, and more. The idea of having a massive library of "free" games with a subscription is tantalizing. Throw in the idea of being able to play those games without even needing to download them and it is something that is very eye-opening to many players. One thing that is interesting is that currently, xCloud is not even on an Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S console. So perhaps before Phil and company think about bringing the service to Nintendo, PlayStation, the Epic Game Store, or anywhere else, it should be available to Xbox console gamers.
Source: IGN
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