Microsoft may not be putting all their eggs in the cloud-exclusive basket the way Google is doing with Stadia, but there’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that xCloud is still a huge focus for them. At their recent GDC 2019 panel, they went into detail about their vision for the upcoming streaming service, while also giving out some information on how their infrastructure is going to enable them to work toward their ambitions.
Windows Central’s Russell Holly and Easy Allies’ Daniel Bloodworth both put up updates on their respective Twitter pages, which included details from the Microsoft panel. xCloud, it seems, is aiming to become a user-friendly platform that essentially allows you to “play the games you want, with the people you want, on the devices you want.” To serve as illustrations of the same, Microsoft showed off how custom controls will work for Xbox games that you might be playing on your touch screen devices, including the likes of Dead Cells, Cuphead, and Forza Horizon 4.
Microsoft also talked about the infrastructure they have in place for xCloud, which includes, all across the globe, over 135 Edge sites, 54 Azure regions, and north of 161 km of fiber. xCloud also purports cloud awareness, which allows games to “make targeted modifications to enhance gameplay while streaming.”
There’s plenty of other interesting information to be found in the tweets below. Clearly, xCloud is going to be a huge push for Microsoft in the coming months and years, and how well they kick things off isn’t something we have to wait too long to find out- public trials begin later this year, after all.
https://twitter.com/russellholly/status/1108777295060172800
https://twitter.com/russellholly/status/1108780828761350144
https://twitter.com/russellholly/status/1108781179770044418
Custom controls for Forza pic.twitter.com/8mj19ruKfq
— Daniel Bloodworth (@dbloodworth2) March 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/russellholly/status/1108782295329075201
https://twitter.com/russellholly/status/1108782915624689664
MS current Azure centers pic.twitter.com/AxEjI1Ibk8
— Daniel Bloodworth (@dbloodworth2) March 21, 2019
— Daniel Bloodworth (@dbloodworth2) March 21, 2019
Default touch layout but adaptable per genre/ developer pic.twitter.com/LiSQP3r2uj
— Daniel Bloodworth (@dbloodworth2) March 21, 2019
Menus adapt to controls mobile users expect pic.twitter.com/lsW7smgSNr
— Daniel Bloodworth (@dbloodworth2) March 21, 2019
https://twitter.com/russellholly/status/1108785823720206336
https://twitter.com/russellholly/status/1108786157024763904
