Microsoft is hoping to usher in a new era for game streaming with its Project xCloud game streaming service. The folks in Redmond, Washington gave us an early look at Project xCloud back in early March and is positioning it as a cross-platform service that will work on Xbox One consoles and even smartphones. Instead of having to install games on your device, those with a stout enough internet connection will be able to stream them directly with minimal lag.
Today, Microsoft gave an update of sorts on Project xCloud, and its efforts to provide “seamless compatibility” for playing games anywhere. The service will work with just about any existing game without modification. However, Microsoft is working with developers to make sure that games that are currently in development and future titles will be fully optimized to take full advantage of the streaming platform.
“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,” writes Microsoft’s Kareem Choudhry, who serves as Corporate VP of the Gaming Cloud.
To that end, given that the Xbox One can play games from both the original Xbox and the second-generation Xbox 360, Project xCloud has the “technical capability” to stream a library of over 3,500 games. According to Microsoft, there are another 1,900 games that are currently in development, which would give Project xCloud an amazingly large [potential] library of games that will be accessible from just about anywhere.
At this time, Microsoft says that it is building out Project xCloud data centers across 13 Azure regions. The end goal is to have the datacenters close to major game development hubs across the globe. With this in mind, there will be a heavy emphasis in having servers up and running in North America, Europe and Asia.
Microsoft has also given its employees an alpha version of Project xCloud that they can test from home to provide meaningful feedback on how to improve the service for an eventual public release.
