Following the festivities of Microsoft"s X018, Microsoft"s top gaming man, Phil Spencer, took the time to talk to the local press about the company"s vision for gaming. Alongside his thoughts on topics like the Xbox Game Pass, he also touched on how he thinks game streaming is going to affect the gaming landscape henceforth.
The company announced Project xCloud, its take on game streaming, last month, but Spencer isn"t touting it as a game-changing technology you"ll find in every home, at least not yet. According to him, Microsoft looks at game streaming as just another option it wants to provide gamers, just like it sees its Xbox Game Pass subscription as just one more choice for gamers that exists alongside the traditional approach of buying games outright.
In its announcement for Project xCloud, Microsoft boasted its years of experience with networking and gaming technologies as the reason why its service will have the best gaming experience with the lowest latency. However, as Spencer himself acknowledges, streaming platforms simply cannot compete with a dedicated gaming PC or console at the moment and won"t be able to for quite a while. "...I think for years and years the best way to play a game on a console will be to download that game and play it. The same thing on PC," said Spencer.
He also suggested that despite competitors like Nvidia, Sony and Google already having either commercially available products or working prototypes, mass market adoption for game streaming services is likely years away. For Spencer, "it’s about giving you a choice as a player, not about replacing what you do today."
Source: LevelUp.com via OnMSFT