Microsoft shows off Project xCloud with Forza running on an Android phone

NelsonG · March 13, 2019

Microsoft has shared some more information and the first look at Project xCloud. The company has been working on a cloud game streaming service for a while. Microsoft is preparing the future of gaming platforms with a device-agnostic service that lets you stream games made for the Xbox One.

And the first demo is Forza Horizon 4 running in a data center and then streamed to an Android phone attached to an Xbox One controller via bluetooth.

"Anywhere we have a good network connection, we'll be able to participate in Project xCloud,” Microsoft head of gaming cloud Kareem Choudhry said in the video. While Forza Horizon 4 is a demanding game and an Android phone is a tiny device, it won’t be limited to extreme scenarios like that.

Choudhry compared Project xCloud to a music streaming or video streaming service. When you have a Spotify account, you can log in from any device, such as your phone, your computer or your work laptop, and find the same music library and your personal music playlists.

You can imagine an Xbox-branded service that you could access from any device. Even if your computer has an integrated Intel GPU, you could log in and play a demanding game from that computer. Everything would run in a data center near you.

It’s easy to see how Project xCloud would work with Microsoft’s existing gaming services. The company promises the same games with no extra work for developers. You’ll access your cloud saves, your friends and everything you’re already familiar with if you’re using an Xbox or the Xbox app on your PC.

If you’ve bought an Xbox, an Xbox 360 and an Xbox One, there will be more Xbox consoles in the future. “It's not a replacement for consoles, we're not getting out of the console business,” Choudhry said.

Other companies have been working on cloud gaming. French startup Blade has been working on Shadow, the most promising service currently available. Shadow lets you access a Windows 10 instance running in a data center.

Microsoft wants to associate technology with content. The company already sells a subscription service. With the Xbox Game Pass, you can play Xbox One and Xbox 360 games for $10 per month. Let’s see how Project xCloud and the Xbox Game Pass work together when Microsoft starts public trials later this year.