According to a new report, the servers for Microsoft's cloud streaming service Project xCloud will be upgraded to Xbox Series X hardware in 2021. We're learning this courtesy of The Verge editor Tom Warren, who explained that the cloud service will still be powered by Xbox One S blades at the launch of the new system:
The report also mentions that the service is still on track for a full launch on Android later this year, and that Microsoft is experimenting with bringing PC games to Project xCloud as well. As already revealed by Xbox Head Phil Spencer back in April, Project xCloud will also be a part of Xbox Game Pass "at some point in 2020."
Furthermore, Microsoft is apparently testing an internal xCloud client for PC. It reportedly doesn't support actual PC games, but instead allows users to play Xbox One games via the cloud through their computer. Nothing has been mentioned about this officially, so we don't know when it'll be released.
Looking forward to the full launch of Project xCloud? Let us know your thoughts below.
[source twitter.com, via theverge.com]
Comments 4
Being a server engineer, I had no idea, and feel like it's really cool that they use Xbox one S in the form factor of a blade for X cloud! I really want one of these now, even if I don't have a blade chassis to put them in lol
Service works great now cant wait to try it with much more powerful hardware, definitely good news!
I wondered if the rumoured 'Lockhart' may be used to replace the S in the servers. If it has the same basic hardware - albeit with a lower spec GPU, it could still be perfectly suited to running the same games as the Series X and stream games at full HD - is there really a need to stream at 4k?? I even thought that the Lockhart may even be designed purely for that purpose - not for releasing to the public.
I guess if you want to add any extra bells and whistles that maybe sacrificed by dropping down to a 4Tflop GPU (other than resolution), then maybe a 12Tflop GPU would be needed but that does seem a bit OTT for the vast majority of handheld devices. It seems that the Lockhart would be a better fit and why I thought it may well be used to replace the S in their servers to continue bringing Xbox games to xCloud.
The lower specs would still need to be planned for and tested, hence the leaks but the fact its not been mentioned by MS and the fact that all first party games for the next year or two will run on an XB1S and of course the 6TF XB1X, it seems perfect for the xCloud servers where Resolution is less likely to be a necessity. 1080p on a small screen mobile device seems ample and of course won't require such large bandwidth to stream.
I wonder when about in 2021 this is planned. They seem quite slow in rolling out xCloud overall, so I'm imagining this upgrade coming at the back end of next year.
It's not a bad thing that they're taking their time though. This is a service they'll absolutely want to get right when they do fully launch it.
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