Microsoft to launch xCloud streaming free with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in September | The Verge and Xbox Wire

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Bernkastel

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You will get more from your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. Finally, today we're announcing that this September, in supported countries, we're bringing Xbox Game Pass and Project xCloud together at no additional cost for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. With cloud gaming in Game Pass Ultimate, you will be able to play over 100 Xbox Game Pass titles on your phone or tablet. And because Xbox Live connects across devices, you can play along with the nearly 100 million Xbox Live players around the world. So when Halo Infinite launches, you and your friends can play together and immerse yourselves in the Halo universe as Master Chief—anywhere you go and across devices.
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www.theverge.com

Microsoft to launch xCloud streaming free with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in September

xCloud won’t be the final name for launch
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
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Made sense for them to merge. Quite a bit sooner than I expected tho! This could also be a big deal for all digital consoles that have to work with limited download speeds. Uninstalling and reinstalling is much faster than deleting and redownloading.

Microsoft also delisted 1 Year Xbox Live Gold subscriptions from their website. New package deal incoming?
 
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That is fucking huge. I can't believe that...i was stressing a little about 15 bucks a month recently and they keep adding to it. Did we ever even get an IOS beta? I need a dock for my phone now
 
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Wow. Huge value proposition there.


Sony said:
Made sense for them to merge. Quite a bit sooner than I expected tho! This could also be a big deal for all digital consoles that have to work with limited download speeds. Uninstalling and reinstalling is much faster than deleting and redownloading.
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Definitely, will be interesting to see if Sony respond in kind for the discless SKU and PSNow which would also be nice.
 
dorkimoe said:
That is fucking huge. I can't believe that...i was stressing a little about 15 bucks a month recently and they keep adding to it. Did we ever even get an IOS beta? I need a dock for my phone now
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Yes there was an iOS beta, i used it. But because of some Apple store rule, they only had MCC available on it.
 
This will actually get me to try more games on the service now that I dont have to wait or take up precious hdd space just to see if I like a game.
 
Interesting they called out ultimate specifically. Have to imagine there will be a way to use it without GPU?
 
Always expected the killer deal was gonna be Gamepass + xCloud. Though was hoping to be able to select only what I need - Gamepass basic (PC only) + xCloud.

Wonder what countries are supported?
 
Very nice. Almost as if they're gearing up for xCloud to be a big deal, say, on some new cheap streaming-only hardware or something.

:pie_thinking:
 
Sony said:
Made sense for them to merge. Quite a bit sooner than I expected tho! This could also be a big deal for all digital consoles that have to work with limited download speeds. Uninstalling and reinstalling is much faster than deleting and redownloading.

Microsoft also delisted 1 Year Xbox Live Gold subscriptions from their website. New package deal incoming?
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There's been rumors they're planning on getting rid of Xbox Live's subscription fee altogether. If that happens they would likely roll it into GamePass as they're doing with xCloud. So the price of Gamepass might go up, but you still pay for them together a good deal less than you would separately.

That would be a very big deal if it ends up happening, and I'd be interested to see Sony's response in that case. They kind of managed to slip in "oh yeah PSN now has a monthly fee" back in 2013 with no one giving too big a fuss because 1): MS was already charging for Live and 2): All the negative publicity around XBO allowed Sony to capitalize and I believe they mentioned the PSN fee only after they mentioned the system price xD.

But yeah, overall this is such a great deal and will allow for leveraging of the technologies for game design capabilities that can prove to be extremely interesting.
 
nice!

can't wait for my XSX + GamePass Ultimate!

£11.99 a month? shit that's awesome. pretty much the same cost of Netflix 4K.
 
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That was 100% expected, no? Nevertheless, I'm waiting to see how xCloud performs, it's stream quality, input-lag, how it stacks up vs Stadia etc.
 
Phil not holding back on this one. :messenger_beaming:

" You won't be forced into the next generation. We want every Xbox player to play all the new games from Xbox Game Studios. That's why Xbox Game Studios titles we release in the next couple of years—like Halo Infinite—will be available and play great on Xbox Series X and Xbox One. We won't force you to upgrade to Xbox Series X at launch to play Xbox exclusives. "
 
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This is amazing, and the most sensible way to get it into peoples hands. Nobody wants to pay for this shit standalone after Stadia. Having it as a bolt on is genius.
 
This is awesome. xCloud on console and phones will really help sell GamePass Ultimate, and will really allow Xbox to begin to compete more with PSNow
 
ZywyPL said:
That was 100% expected, no? Nevertheless, I'm waiting to see how xCloud performs, it's stream quality, input-lag, how it stacks up vs Stadia etc.
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I think they said it would be a part of Game Pass but people did not expect it to be added in for free.
 
Vasto said:
" You won't be forced into the next generation. We want every Xbox player to play all the new games from Xbox Game Studios. That's why Xbox Game Studios titles we release in the next couple of years—like Halo Infinite—will be available and play great on Xbox Series X and Xbox One. We won't force you to upgrade to Xbox Series X at launch to play Xbox exclusives. "
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I don't get this mindset. Phil knows we WANT new consoles, right?
 
MrS said:
I don't get this mindset. Phil knows we WANT new consoles, right?
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Yes we the hardcore do. But some of my friends only buy consoles when the first real price drop hits which is years later. They know those people exist and will end up making up a big chunk of the audience eventually.

They still get to play new games without having to upgrade day1, which is good for them.
 
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AV said:
Very nice. Almost as if they're gearing up for xCloud to be a big deal, say, on some new cheap streaming-only hardware or something.
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I think I read a while back that the main target is going to be emerging markets where they don't necessarily have a broad consumer to dedicated hardware takeup. So, places like India, but they do have large uptake in phones and smart TVs - ultimately it could also be the target market for Lockhart (if the thing actually exists)

www.telegraph.co.uk

Why India is the next frontier for gaming giants

During Microsoft’s glitzy Xbox showcase in London last month, gaming boss Phil Spencer revealed that the company would roll out a trial of its cloud gaming service in India.
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

Microsoft despite lagging behind Sony do have a long term strategy. If you've just opened up an entire market of IP which can be enjoyed on phones etc. then it can't be bad right. We might turn our nose up at scaling games across hardware or streaming in general but plenty of people won't. MS have to demonstrate here that they stil want that premium in house experience though and more importantly, they can deliver it.
 
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MrS said:
I don't get this mindset. Phil knows we WANT new consoles, right?
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This is directed to parents specifically who get really mad with the idea that kids are forced into upgrading to a new console right away, especially after buying the previous gen's console on Black Friday for $200 the previous year.
 
Vasto said:
Phil not holding back on this one. :messenger_beaming:

" You won't be forced into the next generation. We want every Xbox player to play all the new games from Xbox Game Studios. That's why Xbox Game Studios titles we release in the next couple of years—like Halo Infinite—will be available and play great on Xbox Series X and Xbox One. We won't force you to upgrade to Xbox Series X at launch to play Xbox exclusives. "
Click to expand...

I'm loving the confidence they're showing. Not necessarily to say that they'll "win" in a sales count but it just seems like they are happy with being able to do their own thing since Phil took over full control.
 
Does anyone know the list of countries where xCloud will work? I asume the ones currently tested, but who knows.
 
This is why PS now annoys me so much.
Seriously Sony could have been ahead on this YEARS ago.
All they need to do is add phone / tablet support and add some more high profile games to it. And bam. And cheaper than what xCloud will be available for to start with too.
 
T-Cake said:
Hmm, no mention of a Windows 10 client though. Wonder what happened to that.
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I hope it's still coming, would be great to jump into a game on a PC that can't handle running things locally. I'm hoping they add this to Xbox consoles at some point as well, would be great if you want to try a game without downloading, if you like it you can always download and get the best visual (if someday they really got the resolution bumped up it might even be the best visual on some of the consoles).

The mobile streaming does nothing for me personally, I like a bigger screen (I know I'm the rare non phone gamer).
 
WelshBluebird said:
This is why PS now annoys me so much.
Seriously Sony could have been ahead on this YEARS ago.
All they need to do is add phone / tablet support and add some more high profile games to it. And bam. And cheaper than what xCloud will be available for to start with too.
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Sony doesn't care about making their consoles worthless... If you want to play their games, buy a PS5
 
WelshBluebird said:
This is why PS now annoys me so much.
Seriously Sony could have been ahead on this YEARS ago.
All they need to do is add phone / tablet support and add some more high profile games to it. And bam. And cheaper than what xCloud will be available for to start with too.
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They are selling more than enough and are pushing new hardware while MS isnt
 
Sounds good to me!

I'm all paid up for the next 2 years for gamepass ultimate. Got a fair few 3 months + 3 months free vouchers stacked on top of each other. Never paid full price and hopefully never will if the deals keep appearing.

£5.50 a month instead of £11 makes an already great value proposition even better!

Yeah I'm boasting about how cheap I am, what of it!? :P
 
Game Pass Ultimate is such an amazing value
 
Sounds like something they could have kept for the games showcase but I suppose they're not worried about having enough mic drops during the event.

I don't think anybody can now objectively doubt that MS offers customers the most for their money of all console manufacturers. Just prove that your first parties can compete and it shouldn't even be a debate where customers are best treated. If it was any other industry sector they would have the highest market rate but like Pachter said, "people behave towards consoles like towards political parties".
 
Wait Game Pass Ultimate is Game Pass for PC right? Which means...if you have a Microsoft Surface...oh my god.
 
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