Microsoft is moving towards the cloud. The building blocks for this include a streaming box and regular new releases. Game streaming remains the group's great future perspective, in which “Xbox” will increasingly be detached from specific platforms.
Microsoft now owns 23 studios that are working on new games for Xbox. You should publish “at least” one new game per quarter. This “steady flow” of new entertainment offers across all genres aims to keep the Xbox Game Pass and the cloud offer Xbox Game Pass Ultimate attractive. The publications are the counterpart to “Amazon Originals” or “Netflix Exclusives”. In line with this, Microsoft is evaluating new sales models for the Game Pass, which enable the purchase of consoles and a subscription for a monthly price, i.e. a combination of software and hardware subscriptions.
Streaming with full steam ahead
Other announcements also show that cloud gaming should be the future. Microsoft is working on integrating the “Xbox experience” directly into smart TVs. Only one controller should then be required to play. In addition, streaming via the browser will be possible in the coming weeks. Tests have been underway under iOS and Windows 10 since April. The data centers behind them are also being equipped with new hardware;
In the course of the year, Cloud Gaming will also become part of the Xbox app on PC and part of the Xbox console. There it should, among other things, allow games to be tried out before a possible download and thus create added value. Microsoft is not only concentrating on the software. The Xbox division is also working on a streaming device that allows access to the service with any television or monitor without requiring a console or other hardware. In principle, this is how the company builds “Stadia hardware”.
What success the Game Pass can show in absolute numbers remained open in the current versions. Figures were only used to demonstrate the advantages of the Game Pass for publishers, for example through longer game times or access to users who, on average, invest significantly more money in in-game shops. The fact that only such messages are sent in the run-up to E3 and that classic games are on the sidelines also speaks for itself.