Slings and Arrows
Banned
I'm not an insider, so.... 
Microsoft 'fire stick' to be announced at E3
- Thread starter Slings and Arrows
- Start date
- Rumor
And you don't need much education to guess it either.
It has been pretty damn obvious for a couple of years now that the 'end game' will include gaming with a thin client on the TV and not a giant console.
jhjfss
Member
didn't phil himself confirm this?
www.theverge.com
Xbox chief hints at TV streaming sticks for xCloud
Additional tiers of xCloud game streaming could be on the way
www.theverge.com
Jaysen
Banned
Yes.
iJudged
Banned
dcx4610
Member
The beginning of the end for consoles. An XCloud stick with GamePass + a packed in controller for TVs will be the Netflix for the next gen of gamers. Microsoft just has to work out deals with TV companies to pack it in and get people used to using it.
Once internet speeds improve, it'll be seamless. I'm still a physical media collector for movies but most people are more than content with the quality of streaming a movie and I think games will get there sooner than rather later. Dark days ahead...
Once internet speeds improve, it'll be seamless. I'm still a physical media collector for movies but most people are more than content with the quality of streaming a movie and I think games will get there sooner than rather later. Dark days ahead...
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Makoto-Yuki
Banned
we haven't seen this before not from someone like Microsoft. Sony or Nintendo haven't done it either.
wait, are you using Stadia as an example? lolol
Krappadizzle
Member
With how quickly that pretty much all gaming tech H/W sells out, consoles, GPU's, etc, local hardware to play shit on isn't going away any time soon. It may happen much further down the road, and if the tech is their, most people won't care. It's not a problem we'll have to worry or think about for at least 10 years at a minimum. No need for doom and gloom quite yet. Access to high-speed internet still isn't very common for quite a LARGE population of the market.
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Stadia's issue isn't the tech. Its the business offering and the fact its the only delivery method for their games.
Also they have no killer app
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Makoto-Yuki
Banned
lol it's not "doom and gloom".
don't underestimate how cheap people are. a stick that will probably cost £30-50? that'll sell like crazy. shit, add in the cost of a controller at £40-60 and even that still works out much cheaper. a lot of people will happily pay £70-110 instead of £350-450 for their hardware. the cheapest modern console out now is the Switch at £200 (Switch Lite) and even streaming would work out cheaper than that.
gamepass is like £11/month so you could buy yourself an xCloud stick and get 21-34 months (roughly 2-3 years) of gamepass for the cost of just a console itself not including any games or subscriptions.
sure there will be people who are enthusiasts (like most people on this forum) who will swear by local hardware and discs but just look at the music and movie industry. streaming rules now but of course you still have enthusiasts that swear by cd, vinyl, dvd, and blu ray. those kind of people will stick around but it will become a niche market. for the majority/causal market streaming will be good enough in terms of quality/price.
as for internet, maybe the USA is still behind in terms of internet but the rest of the world is internet has good enough internet to stream some games. it's really not that much more demanding than watching a YouTube video.
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Krappadizzle
Member
You're almost assuredly right. It'll happen. Just not anytime soon. The infrastructure just isn't there and won't be there for quite a while. Stadia is a prime example. You could get Stadia and access to a ton of games. Hell, Google sent me a Chromecast 4k, a controller and 3 months for FREE, literally didn't pay a single dime and I still don't use the shit. It's just not a good experience right now. My internet speeds are great and I still hated it. Most people don't even have a quarter of my speeds across the country. Local hardware isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So yes, you are being doom and gloom about it. Or very premature to bemoan it at a minimum.
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Makoto-Yuki
Banned
i think you're wrong. if MS put out a streaming stick i reckon it'll sell like crazy. for some countries the infrastructure isn't there but that won't matter.
stadia's business model can't be used as an example. you need to buy the hardware and still buy the games on top of a subscription. also, google isn't known to supporting services so you can't blame people for not investing in it.
again, you are here on this forum so likely you aren't the market that streaming is aimed at. you might think it's shit but casual players will not give a shit if it means they are spending less. in my own experience streaming is great. i've used plenty of services and it's been an enjoyable experience. the issue for me is the library quality. you can bet i'd have kept my PS now subscription if there were games i wanted to play because otherwise games played just fine over my internet. when i can play xCloud over my iPhone you can bet i'll be using that instead of buying an Xbox.
Krappadizzle
Member
I think we are just gonna have to disagree. Again, Stadia was giving away the hardware for free and access to a ton of shit and no-one uses it. And you are absolutely right that Google has a long history of not supporting hardware they release. Granted I'm sure that MSFT's name behind a push would pull in a lot of people alone and they are already close to releasing Chrome support for Gamepass/Streaming as it is. But it's all supplemental as again, I think you are overestimating the infrastructure of the U.S.(and almost assuredly the rest of the world) in regards to high-speed internet. If you are in a MAJOR city you might have speeds that support a good time, but if you aren't, most people will try it once and go back to playing local shit. I DO think it'll happen in the far-off future(10 years or so) but it's not gonna happen anytime soon. I think we just sit on opposite ends of the argument and only the future will tell.
AphexTwunt
Member
It's a fucking no-brainer and a great move
Nhranaghacon
Banned
10 more minutes until others chime in with "technology to achieve this wont ever exist".
Meanwhile, in reality - yes it will, and rather soon - and once MS applies ML to all data transfer speeds - look out.
And funny that people are trying to compare a games service with no actual incentive aside from cloud gaming, which Nvidia was already doing years ago - to a game service that
is actually building games specifically for and putting hundreds of games up for free on that service. Lol.
Meanwhile, in reality - yes it will, and rather soon - and once MS applies ML to all data transfer speeds - look out.
And funny that people are trying to compare a games service with no actual incentive aside from cloud gaming, which Nvidia was already doing years ago - to a game service that
is actually building games specifically for and putting hundreds of games up for free on that service. Lol.
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mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Man you CRAZY!
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Some of you guys have no idea what gamers actually want.
Nhranaghacon
Banned
Gamers want the most powerful hardware possible, if they solve cloud gaming in the next few years (and they will) it will allow gamers
to play on the fastest hardware possible at all times.
Suddenly every device will be capable of turning into thousands of Super Computers by way of in app purchase. Everyone wins.
to play on the fastest hardware possible at all times.
Suddenly every device will be capable of turning into thousands of Super Computers by way of in app purchase. Everyone wins.
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kutthoat5150
Member
ISPs will slow this tech down with data caps still a thing. I hate having to worry about crossing Comcast shitty limit with the multiple streams I always have going on in the house.
dcx4610
Member
It was 8 years ago that people flipped out that the Xbox One was going to be digital only. 8 years later, digital sales are beating physical sales and both Sony and Microsoft have digital only versions of their consoles and no one said a word about it.
The average consumer cares about convenience. Those of us that care about going on a gaming forum are the NICHE market. If someone can open an app on their TV, subscribe to GamePass and play 100s of games with a controller that is included with their TV, that is what they are going to do. Your average consumer doesn't care about spending $500 on a console or cares that it has 16GB of memory and X number of teraflops. That's for the diehard consumer.
I talk to people now that have never purchased a DVD or Blu-ray. Their whole life is Netflix and streaming. I guarantee that gaming as a service and streaming will be the future. I do think PCs will survive and be the last place to play hardware based games but you're fooling yourself if you think that Sony and Microsoft don't want an all digital an eventually an all streaming future. That's where their future and the money lies.
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Dr Bass
Member
I was going to bold your last statement, then realized I would need to bold every single statement you made.
"Stadia's issue isn't the tech" - The tech will never be as good as local play. Latency is important in games, and network latency is a thing. It doesn't matter as much for some games, but unless the tech works perfectly for ALL games, I see that aspect of it as being a non-starter. You can't have a situation where you think "well I can play rags, and maybe some adventure games on XCloud, but I need to play my fighting games and racing games on the Xbox." It introduces complexity into the consumers life, and consumers want to push an "on" button and have things work.
" Its the business offering and the fact its the only delivery method for their games." - How is this different from what people are saying in this thread? "This is where it's all going." People are making the argument that Microsoft is about to get to where multiple past companies have failed before, but this time it's going to work because ... ?
"Also they have no killer app" - You're right. I forgot Microsoft has been burning up the charts with their killer software offerings.
Who here on this board actually wants this? We can't even properly stream UHD movies (compared to their quality on disc both in video and audio) yet. Until it is 1:1 lossless, with zero and I mean zero discernible difference in play and quality, this is a complete non-starter IMO. The experience matters. This is not going to give you the best experience.
joking 
Kev Kev
Member
why would anyone want unnecessary hardware? i mean yeah there will always be a niche that does, but if it can all be done on a fire stick that is what people will go for.
Krappadizzle
Member
Your argument is made bunk by the fact that they still make games physical and blu-rays for that matter. They didn't replace anything, it was in addition to. Supplemental. And most aren't arguing that it won't happen, most believe it will. It just won't replace anything, and even if it were to replace something, it won't happen for a VERY long time.
12Dannu123
Member
An Xbox Streaming stick that can install all Xbox apps natively and stream Game Pass will be a massive seller. Especially if they sell at $50-$150.
That's something that Sony is way behind in competing. Sony is simply too behind in Cloud gaming and getting the business model to compete in that market.
That's something that Sony is way behind in competing. Sony is simply too behind in Cloud gaming and getting the business model to compete in that market.
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ozz ex machina
Member
I'll get one. I never thought this was a bold prediction. If i remember correctly before series x/s were announced it was heavily rumoured one of the devices would just be a stream stick.
Dabaus
Banned
I know, hence the comment. We were told 12 teraflops were the end all be all of power but now xcloud is. Its just endless goal post moving. 12 teraflops was never going to matter because Series S will hold the X back, like many devs have already said. Glad Xcloud is further illustrating it was all empty marketing hype and fluff.
Chukhopops
Member
How does having a streaming device correlate to the power of the main console? Are PCs weak because you can use Steam Link or Nvidia Geforce Now?
Nikana
Go Go Neo Rangers!
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
- No one was anti digital sales. They were against a digital only console being the ONLY option.
- We shouldn't be talking about the average consumer here on GAF. First, because we don't know what the average gamer wants. And 2.....we aren't the average.
- Gaming as a streaming service will be "PART" of our future yes. But you are acting as if it'll be the main way people play in a few years and that's 100% wrong.
Because it can't be done all on a Firestick. How many stupid console battles do we have on GAF about native 4K vs. Faux K? How many battles have there been on GAF for PC players on Nvidia GPUs vs. AMDs? Like lets be real here. The majority of gamers today will still prefer dedicated hardware.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
To be honest......why would Sony need to compete super hard in "THIS" space? They are already doing overly amazing where they are now. For me, I want them to push PSVR2 big time in 2022 and 2023 to help open that market up to more people. And hopefully in 2024 they'll have a wireless add-on for $99 to REALLY push VR to another level.
reinking
Gold Member
Or the death of streaming games. If they launch something like this, even for free, if the experience is not good for the masses it will be killed in the media and no amount of Microsoft social media marketing will be able to drowned it out. I hope they do not jump the gun on something like this. It can be good in the future if ISPs get their act together in the US. It could also backfire.
WelshBluebird
Member
I don't get why MS would bother with the stick for this. There's enough smart sticks you plug into your TV already. We don't need another one. Just make the software and have it available for everyone.
HeisenbergFX4
Member
Its been talked about for quite awhile Mike even telling me from a couple of years ago they floated the idea of having individual sticks for individual monster games to be able to take your game with you anywhere like Minecraft or Fortnite.
Totally waiting on the Gamepass streaming stick seems like a great move
Totally waiting on the Gamepass streaming stick seems like a great move
Hitchyhero
Banned
Every streaming service I've tried has been awful and I don't understand why as I have good Internet speeds , low ping and great WiFi coverage.
Xcloud as been the best of all of them but still nowhere near good enough to use it solely with no other device. I'd only ever use this type of device if I'm visiting relatives for a week or so. I couldn't use it at home.
Xcloud as been the best of all of them but still nowhere near good enough to use it solely with no other device. I'd only ever use this type of device if I'm visiting relatives for a week or so. I couldn't use it at home.
Dabaus
Banned
It doesnt, and thats my whole point.
MrSarcastic
Banned
And it's going to be called: Xbox Series SS (Super Sad)
IntentionalPun
Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Who is saying xCloud is the end all be all of power?
graywolf323
Member
$20 seems insanely optimistic on pricing, most of these sticks cost $40-50
Dabaus
Banned
If xcloud can run series x games at the same resolutions and frame rates, (Big assumption on my part) the the xbox consoles need not exist.
IntentionalPun
Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
That's rather silly as streaming games is never going to be perfect. Packet loss is a thing.. my mom microwaving my tendies and messing with your wi-fi is a thing.. the fact that any given person will have a totally different ping to a datacenter, and even that person's ping can change over time due to internet conditions is a thing.
Selling "xCloud on a stick" is probably a long way out for MS. It'll be an optional thing for people to use from GamePass, for the fraction of games it supports. And if it is coming soon.. good luck to them w/ the support for such an idea lol
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Duchess
Member
Also, this:
Edit: this is taken from the Switch version of Control, which runs on The Cloud(TM).
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THE DUCK
voted poster of the decade by bots
One thing about them launching thier own stick vs existing - they can minimize lag to the controller itself, and they can make sure the wifi is beefy, even maybe make sure it has ethernet either on it or as an add on.
That said the experience needs to be pretty darn good, I haven't always seen that myself with xcloud so far. Maybe I'm just unlucky or too picky.
That said the experience needs to be pretty darn good, I haven't always seen that myself with xcloud so far. Maybe I'm just unlucky or too picky.
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