Microsoft announced Project xCloud in October 2018 billing it as “the future of gaming.” Project xCloud is designed to allow gamers to “play the games you want, with the people you want, whenever you want, wherever you are, and on any device of your choosing.”
Now, Microsoft has provided additional details about the project, how it will work and the technology that powers it.
The heart of the technology is Microsoft’s Azure datacentres located around the planet and hardware that shares common components with Xbox One consoles.
Project xCloud
Project xCloud blades have been deployed to 13 Azure regions already with the initial rollout focusing on North America, Asia and Europe. Development teams around the world, including Capcom and Paradox, are also able to test games from the project too.
Additionally, this testing can be undertaken without having to port the game to another platform. Obviously, this could be a huge timesaver for developers and could potentially reduce development costs as well.
The big news is that Xbox One is able to play over 3,500 games across the three Xbox generations. This means that Project xCloud has the potential to stream each and every one of those games on day one without any modification by the developer.
In other words, developers will be able to dramatically scale their existing games across devices, with no additional development, no additional code base maintenance and no separate updates.
When a developer updates the Xbox One version of their title, those updates will also apply to all versions available on Project xCloud without any additional work.
With so many games already available and more than 1,900 in development for Xbox One, there’s huge potential for gamers to utilise Project xCloud for future titles.
Finally, the Xbox Developer Kit has been updated and enhanced to include streaming support. The brand-new “IsStreaming” API gives games the ability to determine whether they’re streaming or not. If they are streaming from the cloud, they can use features and functionality that improve the overall experience.
Microsoft says;
Project xCloud is an exciting journey that we are all on together. We can’t wait to invite the community to provide feedback, help us shape it and participate in development in a very open and transparent way.
Stay tuned for more on Project xCloud.
