Project xCloud looks to be highly interesting, and it could actually give Microsoft a leg in the door of the future of gaming before anyone else gets there. However, some, including myself, have raised the point of competitors like PS Now, which, if acting fast enough, could nullify that first mover’s advantage. What does Microsoft think about this?
Speaking at their financial call with investors in the wake of their recent fiscal report, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the advantage Microsoft has with xCloud is the existing cloud infrastructure and platform Microsoft already has. And indeed, to be fair, Azure is one of the market leaders in the global cloud computing segment.
“The advantage we have with streaming is, we have a massive cloud advantage,” he said. “And so we’re going to bring obviously what we’re doing with Azure, Azure networking, all to bear in ensuring that Xbox and xCloud is one of the best workloads for it.”
I can definitely see this, because no other company, other than maybe Google with Project Stream, is as well equipped to handle the infrastructural demands of the cloud streaming market as Microsoft is. Whether or not this translates into meaningful market cachet for them is something that remains to be seen—but for now, their statement hardly counts as controversial.
