Microsoft’s digital game streaming service hit a big milestone today as Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, announced that the service has finished the “takehome release” phase. Essentially, developers are now allowed to test the service out in their actual homes as opposed to in a controlled lab environment.
With the announcement of this major milestone, Microsoft confirmed that they are still on track to release the service for public testing by the end of this year. Once the streaming service reaches public testing, it will be interesting to see how the streaming market shapes out, especially with Google planning to release Stadia at the end of the year.
With E3 just around the corner, we likely will have to wait until then for more information regarding the streaming service. Questions surrounding price, the date when public trials become available, and more might be answered on the Xbox stage this year, as E3 is the biggest event in gaming and receives media attention even outside of the gaming industry.
If things go according to plan for xCloud, the service should help Microsoft see a big boost in Xbox Live subscriptions as the service begins to tap into the mobile gaming market. Microsoft has already shown off Forza Horizon 4 on xCloud and is promising “console-quality gaming on any device.” Hopefully that promise will be fulfilled and people everywhere will be able to have access to classic Xbox franchises such as Halo and Gears.
What are your thoughts on xCloud? Will you subscribe to it? For more Xbox news, be sure to stick with us here at Bring Your Own Games.
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