For those who may be unaware Project X cloud is a new project that Microsoft is working on. Basically in a nutshell, you’ll be able to stream any xbox game from your phone, much like google announced with google stadia.
When using Project X cloud one thing you’ll be sure to notice is that it runs pretty smooth for the most part. There are no drop in graphics or framerates whatsoever. “A key element for us is our partnership with Azure. Azure gots the worlds largest global data center footprint and that allows us to have co-location of our servers near all the major population centers” said Bill Stillwell. That allows them to have the fastest connection to allow you to stream your game without much lag. And they are still looking for ways to even more improve your experience when using X cloud.
One question you may be asking yourself is how much will this run my data? Or will I need wifi to use Project X cloud. Stillwell said “We’re running an internal take home with our microsoft employee right now we run it on both 4G and Wifi. And we find that we take about the same amount of bandwidth video distribution service would.” So in theory it would take the same amount of data as it would to stream a video on your phone. They believe that no matter how flashy the game is, with all sorts of colors or anything like that it’ll still run smooth.
There’ll be one of two ways to use this streaming service. One being what they showcased so your xbox will serve as a personal server. And the other will be using Project X cloud to actually stream the games. As of right now it’s unclear if they will make an app to use X cloud due to it still being in development. And if you decide to use the console streaming anything you own digitally you’ll have access to stream.
According to Stillwell the announcement of Stadia didn’t play a part in project X cloud at all. “Not at all, I think the industry is seeing a shift and that’s why you’re starting to see this kind of news cycle pick up. But we’ve been working on streaming technology for a long long time.” Said Stillwell. It just so happens that stadia had beat them to the punch line when it came to showcasing their works first. They don’t believe this will end physical consoles they solely want this for the consumers to have more than one way to game. “We started the cloud work in parallel with Project Scarlett and in fact I am excited about the next generation of consoles. And I see consoles being a mainstream product for a very long time” said Stillwell.
As of right now they haven’t announced what kind of device will be needed to use Project X cloud and that’ll be announced sometime in the future if you’ll need any at all.
Project X cloud was a really ambitious idea and it seems to be that they know exactly what they’re doing. It’s going to be fun to see this fully when it finally rolls out to the public.
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