Project xCloud is one of the most ambitious of ventures Microsoft is currently involved in, with the game streaming service currently in public testing in several markets across the globe.
Close to 100 games are now available to beta testers to take for a test drive at this preview stage.
Redmond initially began proceedings by putting Xbox One S consoles in server blades, but the company has now started to rebuild its server infrastructure with the Xbox Series X.
It is said that the custom-designed AMD Zen 2 processor in this powerful new console is able to run 4 Xbox One S games simultaneously. On top of that, Microsoft has also created a new internal video codec that is 6 times faster than the current external encode being used in the current server blades.
That’s all good for this cloud infrastructure designed for Xbox consoles.
Impressive, even.
But even more impressive is the fact that Microsoft wants to bring PC games to Project xCloud as well. This information has been confirmed by Tom Warren of The Verge, who writes:
“Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that testing has already begun on upgraded xCloud servers, and that Microsoft is even experimenting with dedicated PC server blades for streaming PC games over xCloud. Microsoft’s experiments with PC server blades for xCloud will also likely lead to Xbox Game Pass for PC games being made available through the service.”
It’s not yet clear what kind of PC hardware could Microsoft use for streaming PC games via xCloud.
Xbox consoles have the advantage of a standardized architecture, meaning Microsoft will likely have to opt for a specific set of computer components to allow these xCloud users to enjoy the same gaming experience.
And then there’s also the case of how these games will allow the use of keyboard and mouse.
A lot of unanswered questions, which hopefully the software titan gets around to swift. With Redmond already promising to integrate Project xCloud with Xbox Game Pass, the company’s cloud gaming customers on PC will obviously need a cloud solution.
