Xbox Chief Phil Spencer Hints at an xCloud Streaming Stick

Microsoft has teased a Chromecast-style dongle for xCloud, a video game streaming service that currently comes bundled with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. From a report: In an interview with Stratechery, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said: "I think you're going to see lower-priced hardware as part of our ecosystem when you think about streaming sticks and other things that somebody might want to just go plug into their TV and go play via xCloud." A few moments later, he added: "You could imagine us even having something that we just included in the Game Pass subscription that gave you an ability to stream xCloud games to your TV and buying the controller." These remarks were part of a conversation around Xbox All Access. Unlike Sony, Microsoft is offering a 24-month payment plan for its next-generation consoles, the Xbox Series S and X. As part of the deal, customers gain access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes a library of downloadable games on PC and Xbox hardware, as well as streamable titles via xCloud. Spencer revealed that the Xbox team has debated internally whether All Access should be pitched as 'Xbox Game Pass Platinum' instead. He then talked about a plan that gives you "some kind of hardware guarantee" when new consoles are launched. "We did that a little bit with Xbox One last year," he explained. "Where if you got into All Access, you were guaranteed to get front in line when the Series X came out. People didn't know the name [of the new console] at the time, but yeah."

Most ISP will not be able handle 4K for an node

[Joe_Dragon]

Most ISP will not be able handle 4K streaming like that when say most homes on the same cable node are all trying to use it at the same time.
Also about the local server farms? Will you need to buy Platinum Plus GOLD to be able to play any time you want as you don't to just have Platinum where at peak times you need to wait and there are max session times.

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[riis138]

I was thinking the same thing, especially in middle/rural America where 10mbps down is considered "fast"

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[kamapuaa]

I guess people living in middle America will have to play their xcloud streaming video games in 1080p or (gasp!) 720p.

The horrors!

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[Computershack]

Most ISP will not be able handle 4K streaming like that when say most homes on the same cable node are all trying to use it at the same time. .

And yet xCloud is already up and running and working on cellular phones.

So basically...

[Anonymous Coward]

So basically they're saying that they're going to have this stick for streaming, but if you want to handle it locally you might as well just cram the stick up your asshole and call it happy fun time? Why does everything have to be streaming? It isn't efficient and doesn't scale well.

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[nightflameauto]

The main reason all these companies want streamed everything is for the sweet, sweet monthly payment. Video games are particularly stupid to do through a cloud/stream service as they tend to need big power AND fast pipes to the video and audio, along with near instant response to user input. I'd imagine it's rare even for larger cities to have fat enough pipes for more than a few people per neighborhood to be playing some massive 4k FPS or something. In the midwest? Forget it.

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[tlhIngan]

The main reason all these companies want streamed everything is for the sweet, sweet monthly payment. Video games are particularly stupid to do through a cloud/stream service as they tend to need big power AND fast pipes to the video and audio, along with near instant response to user input. I'd imagine it's rare even for larger cities to have fat enough pipes for more than a few people per neighborhood to be playing some massive 4k FPS or something. In the midwest? Forget it.

xCloud comes with Game Pass, so

An xcloud steaming pile of sticks ?

[dargaud]

You sure about the spelling of 'sticks' ?!?