The streaming wars are on (kind of) with Google’s Stadia just launching and Microsoft’s xCloud coming to the public next year. While the two services aren’t exactly the same, in essence they represent the industry moving down a path of streaming being a major part of gaming. If you had any doubt that Microsoft had high hopes for xCloud, today we found out they are looking at software just for the service.
Stevivor was part of a group interview at X019 with Microsoft’s Kareem Choudhry. While Choudhry said there was no exclusive announcements to make at this time, he confirmed there were talks with both first party studios and third party partners about creating software exclusive to the xCloud service.
“In terms of [Project xCloud] exclusives, we’re in early talks with first- and third- parties, but we don’t have any announcements to share,” Choudhry said. “New content and IP takes eighteen months to two years [to develop].”
It’s interesting, especially since Microsoft has shifted away from exclusives as of late, letting all their IPs come to PC and even a few to Nintendo’s Switch. But with the advent of streaming services, it seems inevitable that such exclusives will come. Stadia already has an exclusive title and exclusive content for existing games, for instance, so it’s only a matter of time.