Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox will focus on ‘XCloud’ game streaming

I'll go back again to Thurott's statements about MS having worked out a solution that addresses latency. It is commented on in that article, and it's under discussion at Era, but I don't have the techno-chops to discuss it intelligently. However, I do know that MS engineers seem to be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat now and then (e.g., 16x boosts to native resolution on OG Xbox games). Maybe they've got something worked out that reduces the bandwidth and latency issues that people are citing as insurmountable barriers.

Not saying they have a way of reducing latency to zero; obviously that's not the case. But if they've got some scheme that can cut latency substantially, that could result in a product that would appeal to a significant percentage of the market (at least in countries where MS typically sells).

And remember again, we're talking about appealing to the casual $99 buy-in crowd, not to gamers like us.

MS also said the had cloud based gaming ready for this gen too. Hell, Crackdown 3 was supposed to be the realization of this dream. Hasn't worked out as planned. I'm cautiously optimistic for them but the proof is in the pudding so to speak.
 
I don't know if you have ever used PS Now, but when I was on the trial for 7 days I didn't "notice" latency. But then again, I am not "hard core" in the sense of seeing every latent drop, every frame drop and a missing pixel.

Yeah, I played a few games, back 3 or 4 years ago. Lag wasn't really a problem for me. Visuals seemed downgraded a bit, though. Also, those were PS2 titles, which are much less demanding than current (to say nothing of next gen) titles. Also, it was all SP. I am assuming MS's service will be MP-friendly. At that point, you're dealing with latency not just to and from one player, but back and forth between 10 or 20 people.
 
Xbox for example took a huge leap of faith when it first announce the XB1 and all the policies attached to it. Now while those policies were indeed forward thinking and ahead of their time( Digital distribution, Always on console,family sharing etc.) it back fired like all hell on Microsoft, was very negatively perceived and landed them where they are now. MS had all the data in the world to see this was where gaming was going but was still unsuccessful.

But the backlash was because they gave no one a choice. There will be a choice here.

MS also said the had cloud based gaming ready for this gen too. Hell, Crackdown 3 was supposed to be the realization of this dream. Hasn't worked out as planned. I'm cautiously optimistic for them but the proof is in the pudding so to speak.

I'm skeptical, too. I said the same earlier -- that I was not going to necessarily believe Thurott on this point (solving the latency issue), because he seems to be in love with MS. He doesn't sound objective. Otoh, if it's true -- if they have found a way to reduce latency substantially -- that could be a game-changer. Overall, though, I'm in "wait and see" mode.
 
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Yeah, I played a few games, back 3 or 4 years ago. Lag wasn't really a problem for me. Visuals seemed downgraded a bit, though. Also, those were PS2 titles, which are much less demanding than current (to say nothing of next gen) titles. Also, it was all SP. I am assuming MS's service will be MP-friendly. At that point, you're dealing with latency not just to and from one player, but back and forth between 10 or 20 people.
Yeah, I don't personally think it's possible to have a great experience, so it will not be my go to choice for consoles. I will be traditional always. Once that is gone, I will not be buying future devices for gaming.
 
1. Yes I've seen that. Spencer and Guillemot I believe are the big believers in streaming going forward. And while I respect their positions on the issue, one has to argue that its their job to try to predict and be ahead of trends. Xbox for example took a huge leap of faith when it first announce the XB1 and all the policies attached to it. Now while those policies were indeed forward thinking and ahead of their time( Digital distribution, Always on console,family sharing etc.) it back fired like all hell on Microsoft, was very negatively perceived and landed them where they are now. MS had all the data in the world to see this was where gaming was going but was still unsuccessful.

2. You are indeed correct. Internet speeds could increase dramatically in ~ 2.5 years and console manufacturer are adjusting accordingly. However given the lack of competition between ISPs in many areas in the US, there realistically would not be a reason for ISPs increase speeds for many Americans. Not without a significant increase in cost. I'll use myself as an example. I live on the coast of South Carolina. Spectrum/TWC has had a monopoly on the area for years. We didn't see a boost in speed until 2015 when the FCC defined broadband access as 25 down. Until then we were at their mercy of whatever speeds they would provide at whatever cost. Now I'll concede this point, should the FCC redefine broadband as at least 50 down within the next 2.5 years, then MS will be in a great position with their streaming box.

3. Its not for me, but I'd wager its not for a lot of consumers either. Not if the bare minimum to make it work might be 40 down.

4. Maybe, but I'd say MS is looking to expand their ecosystem not just maintain it. In that sense it makes more sense IMO to look at avg household speeds to grab some of those casual fans and then turn the into hardcore consumers.

1. Isn't that like saying "Wayne Gretzky missed a pass before. He shouldn't try passing again". All of these companies make gamble's on the future. None of them are making these gamble's because they're 100 percent certain of the outcome. Taking a gamble on streaming in 2020 just doesn't sound like that big of a risk.

2. Anecdotal evidence is nice but I'm not sure it's relavent in a topic as big as this. Here's what a simple Google search provided. Internet speeds, on average, seem to increase every year despite the "lack of ISP competition".

https://www.statista.com/statistics/616210/average-internet-connection-speed-in-the-us/#0

3. I don't think this is a binary issue. This isn't a "Will work over this number. Will not work under this number". I think we have to keep in mind that we're a very specific and small percentage of the gaming audience. We argue about the PS4s supposed graphical advantage over the XBox One. We argue about 30fps vs 60fps vs 120fps. Things that are meaningless and imperceptible to 99% of the public. Wheras we scoff at a certain amount of input lag, others will most likely not notice, and that threshold is different for everyone. I'm not sure if 50 down is all that different from 40 down for alot of people.

4. Did the XBox One X meaningfully expand their ecosystem? I would argue a $99 dollar streaming box has much more potential to do so than the X ever did.

One more point. This all kicked off for me because of a tinge of disdain I was picking up from certain people. "A waste of resources" they called it. Um, what resources is this exactly chewing up? What could MS be investing in that you're sorely going to miss? This isn't hurting the XBox Scarlet (I would think) and it's not like PSVR. A device that pulled development talent off the PS4 and placed it exclusively on a device that millions aren't going to appreciate.
 
As long as it's not the only way to play the games, I'm fine. If it's the only way, Xbox is dead. Microsoft can't be that stupid.

If it was the only way then there would be no need for 2 different consoles.
 
1. Yes I've seen that. Spencer and Guillemot I believe are the big believers in streaming going forward. And while I respect their positions on the issue, one has to argue that its their job to try to predict and be ahead of trends. Xbox for example took a huge leap of faith when it first announce the XB1 and all the policies attached to it. Now while those policies were indeed forward thinking and ahead of their time( Digital distribution, Always on console,family sharing etc.) it back fired like all hell on Microsoft, was very negatively perceived and landed them where they are now. MS had all the data in the world to see this was where gaming was going but was still unsuccessful.

2. You are indeed correct. Internet speeds could increase dramatically in ~ 2.5 years and console manufacturer are adjusting accordingly. However given the lack of competition between ISPs in many areas in the US, there realistically would not be a reason for ISPs increase speeds for many Americans. Not without a significant increase in cost. I'll use myself as an example. I live on the coast of South Carolina. Spectrum/TWC has had a monopoly on the area for years. We didn't see a boost in speed until 2015 when the FCC defined broadband access as 25 down. Until then we were at their mercy of whatever speeds they would provide at whatever cost. Now I'll concede this point, should the FCC redefine broadband as at least 50 down within the next 2.5 years, then MS will be in a great position with their streaming box.

3. Its not for me, but I'd wager its not for a lot of consumers either. Not if the bare minimum to make it work might be 40 down.

4. Maybe, but I'd say MS is looking to expand their ecosystem not just maintain it. In that sense it makes more sense IMO to look at avg household speeds to grab some of those casual fans and then turn the into hardcore consumers.

All the data in the world, except for the data you can find in 10 minutes showing it is not something gamers want.
 
Weird to see opposition on the optional hardware.

Sony has targeted the same thing and even released a streaming only console, though to be fair their online implementation is totally s***. No doubt they'll have one next gen as well with hopefully a better iteration PS Now.
 
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Its not so much having options being foolish. It just seems like pushing out a product that your base is not adequately prepared for. As Trib said the US infrastructure is not there yet for streaming consoles. There are just too many barriers for this to be a runaway success. As Pharoah said the avg speed in the US is 18 down and 5 up. That's not remotely good enough for a game at 4K or HDR, or at 60 frames per second or higher.

Let's use Nvidia's Streaming service for example.
Nvidia’s service requires requires at least 15 Mbps for 720p at 60fps and 25 Mbps for 1080p at 60fps. If it could handle higher resolutions, the bandwidth requirement would increase accordingly. Which means getting a game to look as sharp as it does on your PS4 Pro or Xbox One X could easily mean needing 30 to 40Mbps. Now if the avg speed is 18.7 that means the hypothetical console right now could only stream 720p at 60fps, bringing us back to the PS3 and 360 days of gaming, resolution wise. Now depending on your source (FCC or Akamai) , either 15 or 25 % of the US doesn't even have access to 25 down, the benchmark the FCC uses to define broadband. So streaming wouldn't be viable for a large minority of Americans.

This doesn't even cover the other big issue of data caps. ISPs AT&T, Comcast, Cox, CenturyLink, Mediacom, Suddenlink, Exede, and HughesNet all incude data caps in their service. And while most are soft caps that include options for unlimited or overage fees, it would increase the cost for the streaming household.

I'm not saying console streaming can't be or isn't the future, it just doesn't seem to be the near future as our infrastructure just isn't ready for it. A service within the next gen console to stream games? Fine. But a stand alone console that can ONLY stream? Doomed to fail from the start and will end up being a waste of time and resources that could have gone elsewhere, IMO.



The FCC uses the benchmark of 25 down and 3 up to define fixed broadband.
but isn't that the same with people who didn't want to go broadband when Xbox first came out and look what happen there.
 
Sony has targeted the same thing and even released a streaming only console

They have?

edit: Do you mean PSTV? I owned one of those little buggers for about 3 months, until I got rid of it. It wasn't a streaming-only console. It worked with the little Vita cartridges, too. You could stream PS4 gameplay, but that's different than the model MS is pursuing because you'd have to own a PS4, and it was just local Wi-Fi.

Oh, I just looked it up, and I was reminded that you could also access PSNow through it. I forgot that. That must be what you're referring to. I don't think that was the main selling point, at least as far as I remember. I think people got it mostly for PS4 remote play or as a way to play old Vita games on their TV. It flopped because most people didn't want to do either of those things all that much.

Anyhow, MS's idea seems like a completely different monkey.
 
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We will see.....in 2020.

Exactly. We’re discussing what’s possible now, but by then they might have a way to really make it work.

Maybe.

If they are really putting a lot of resources behind this, there is huge potential.

I’m curious when they’ll show something, although based off the past 2 E3s, it seems like they will probably have at least something hardware related to show/mention.
 
Their goal is to get people into the ecosystem. If they can get a halfway decent subscription box out there, and bring GP up to the point where it's an attractive option for the $99 crowd, they will really have something.
 
They've been trying to get game streaming right for over 10 years. It still sucks IMO. You will never EVER get the responsiveness of natively rendering on your own machine with something over the internet or even on a LAN.
 
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Their goal is to get people into the ecosystem. If they can get a halfway decent subscription box out there, and bring GP up to the point where it's an attractive option for the $99 crowd, they will really have something.

Yup, scalability across a whole ecosystem. They don’t care what platform you buy their stuff on, as long as you buy it. Casual to hardcore, PC, console, ‘lite’ console, streaming box....everyone can play with/against each other. Buy it on one, play on any.

It’s a pretty huge vision. Time will tell if they can pull it off successfully, but adding a streaming box (that actually works), can really draw in a casual gamer who doesn’t want to drop $300-500 on full console. Add GP and you can play hundreds of games for the price of 2-3 new ones.
 
This isn’t something MS are forcing on people right? They’re still going to be releasing a “normal next gen console? If so, what’s all the drama about?
 
We are still going to have a console that works the same old way. But they have another one for people who might want to try something different.

I don't think its a full 100% streaming service but I do think it a key play.
 
Sounds like they'll be trying to push their original Xbox One vision again. Having it as an option or not won't matter. People are going to prefer having physical hardware and games for a long time. It's different from music and books.

Still don't know how people can read books on a tablet. I've never actually given it a real chance but part of the experience is owning the book in my opinion. Can't ever see a future where everything is completely digital but keep trying Microsoft.
 
Sounds like they'll be trying to push their original Xbox One vision again. Having it as an option or not won't matter.

No, it's not the same at all. Your memory must be fading. Let me remind you of what the "original Xbox vision" entailed: mandatory Kinect, mandatory online check-ins, mandatory DRM, and mandatory restrictions on used game trades/sales. If you wanted an Xbox One without any of that, you were f*cked. No choice. One size fits all, and everybody better get with the program and follow MS's agenda for the future of gaming. That was the "original Xbox One vision."

There is none of that here. And thank goodness. The last thing they need to do is trot out the "original Xbox One vision," which was resoundingly rejected by consumers and which badly damaged MS this generation.

The only thing you might say it has in common is the required internet connection -- which of course it has, because it's streamed content. But even then, it's not mandatory -- if you don't like it, you have another version of the console to choose from.