Xbox - Demand For Cloud Gaming Is Minimal

Is this factual? Is this posturing for the CMA/FTC and other regulators?

From the article

“According to Microsoft, Xbox Cloud Gaming on mobile devices has been "unsuccessful," using Fortnite access as an example. Fortnite has been available on Xbox Cloud Gaming for quite a while. When it launched, it was among the first and only times I've experienced queues to access Xbox Cloud Gaming, although I've not seen such server capacity issues since. Microsoft acknowledged that the quality of native mobile games has increased alongside the power of mobile devices.

Coupled with the requirement for an always-online connection, Microsoft indicated that there's "unlikely" to be a "material demand" for cloud gaming any time soon. Furthermore, Microsoft noted that consumer spending on cloud devices accounted for a "de minimis" proportion of the overall pie — a Latin term often used in legal text to describe something too trivial to be even worthy of consideration. The redacted figures pertained to both mobile and PC cloud gaming.”

Hard to say if it's just posturing....but i really hope it's true. Ugh....streaming. Just awful. What a torrid way to play a game. Hopefully they (and Sony and anyone else) stop investing in it. It has a long history of failure after all. It's a stupid idea that can only potentially benefit the publishers at our expense.

Well let me check, let me ask the other 10 companies that have failed at cloud gaming.

@ghostofgolden: That's CMA posturing. Just like I doubt Sony really thinks they will go out of business without Call of Duty.

Demand For Cloud Gaming Xbox Is Minimal

I don't have data to argue for or against but anecdotal evidence indicates that it is not popular.

The way I understand it is that it's not that Cloud is so hot that they're stopping MS from having a bigger part of it. It's that it's so small that MS getting more of it now would make it harder for smaller cloud providers to start up and get into it once it starts picking up. So their argument won't really sway anyone.

That's like saying streaming movies is awful compared to renting DVD's from Blockbuster back in the early 2000's or purchasing physical copies of games rather than buying digitally in 2015. Don't be a contrarian. We all know how those arguments turned out.

Streaming is the future. The only thing slowing its progress is slow internet speeds and the way we transfer data. Technology will improve. Buying hardware in order to play a game will inevitably come to an end whether you fanboys that get off to hardware sales like it or not.

Game streaming is an option. I can easily evaluate a game without the need for a large install and potentially wasting space on my storage. It is not a replacement for traditional gaming.

If you've ever tested out GeForce Now Streaming and then tried Xcloud...

The top tear GeForce now feels almost as good as playing native. Can't say the same for Xcloud. Not even close.

There is one minor, but important, difference between movies and games. Movies are not interactive. Games are. There is a loop that needs to happen quickly from user input to result. Any algoritm or "Magic sauce" they put in to try and alleviate the problem is just more tampering with the user's input. it's bad with a controller. Its absolutely woeful for anyone using a mouse. I'm not even one of the "30FPS is unplayable" people and even I can feel it...it's awful. Not to mention issues with video compression (something that is also really bugging me with movie streaming now.) and losing connection while playing (which is far more annoying than when watching a movie).

It is an awful, truly awful, way to play games and why anyone would shill for it is beyond me. Games streaming is not for our benefit. Publishers want it to happen....that's it. If it really is the future then god help us.

@Pedro: If that's all it's good for though then is it really worth the investment? Demos can also be made. I mean if you download something and don't like it you can just uninstall it.

I use it from time to time, it's most beneficial when I want to play something but don't want to shuffle space on my storage. I also use it on PS Plus Premium for playing older titles only available in streaming. I imagine them saying this though is to minimize concerns with regulators over concerns they have some corner on the market. I don't imagine they'll pull cloud support from their platform of services due to usage, however if it was a trade-off to get the ABK acquisition approved with CMA, I can see them pulling cloud from the UK market to make it happen.

I tried Xcloud on my Xbox One S and it played incredibly well. That was over a wired connection and I have pretty good internet at 500/100. Not sure how well it would run outside of that. Nice to quickly try a game I’m unsure of but honestly can download the game pretty quickly as well. It was great to check out some Xbox Series X games before I got that system.

Have 4090 quality graphics on a $100 Chromebook. Ok maybe not, but definitely better than anything a potato could do natively. Great for impatient kids also. Great for demoing games. Streaming option alongside a download option FTW.

I never stated that is all it is good for just what I use it for. Demos are rare in modern gaming so being able to stream the full version of a game is much easier on developers and more accessible. Spending bandwidth and storage just to test a 50+GB game is silly.

Xbox studios call of duty

Nonsense, let's just ask Stadia... oh wait...

Well, yeah... I tried Halo 5, and the input lag was unbearable. It'll become bigger, and we need companies to lay the foundation, as well as ISPs to actually improve their infrastructure. Mine finally offered a gigabit connection when Bell was starting to lay their fibre.

CMA posturing lmao. These knuckleheads think they’re going to win their appeal.

Anyways, played gamepass on my steam deck and it was a truly awful experience. I hate streaming and the cloud can frig off

I think it's both posture and reality.

@Zero_epyon: So if it doesn't become popular then how would smaller companies even survive?

Somone needs to make it popular for others to then join the market to make it competitive.

Just like how Sega & Nintendo made gaming a thing which allowed Sony to make a console and buy their way to competitiveness.

The CMA's reasoning is dumb. And i'm hoping that streaming dies a horrible death.

Microsoft is already in it. So are Amazon, Nvidia, and a whole bunch of other companies in the U.K. Owning Activision and using them as a way to dominate the cloud sector is what they're worried about. Not only will MS keep 100% of all the revenue Activision games make from cloud providers, but it could also take those games away from those providers once cloud becomes popular enough after those 10-year contracts expire and make it exclusive to Xcloud.

I thought "cloud gaming" was a fairly bizarre hill for the CMA to stand it's ground on.

I get the feeling their research and understanding isn't that in depth.

Cloud gaming needed a study done before they lept to that conclusion. There are so many factors.

The cows want to agree with them, but even they'd have to admit it doesn't make alot of sense.

So there are 3 big companies that are in it, which means they can afford their own infrastructure and license it out at a cheaper rate than MS thus creating competition. And who is to say that CoD doesn't die off in 10yrs? See like the CMA I can do what ifs too. The CMA needs to deal with the here and now, and not what MIGHT happen in 5, 10, 15yrs etc, all i'm saying is their reasoning is BS because no one can predict what will happen in the future, especially not in 10yrs time.

In the end though I hope streaming goes the same way as Stadia.

MS just playing rope-a-dope before the deal gets done. ;o

But I'd be lying if I didn't add...

lolol :P

Almost certainly posturing, I assume they will argue that for cloud gaming to become a significant factor serious upgrades to national IT infrastructure or some technical wizardry will need to emerge and magically improve data transfer rates using existing infrastructure as the reason why the CMA judgement was in error.

Sure... the thing is, just a handful of years ago cloud gaming sucked ass, but now it's much better. In the coming years it will grow more and more prevalent.

Cloud gaming needs a low lag connection. On mobile devices in terms of 4g and 5g, lag is an issue and also that most people do not have unlimited data.

I doubt most Wifi hotspots are designed for high performance usage.

Xbox Cloud gaming is still rightfully in beta. I have a good high bandwidth fibre connection with very low latency and performance is not guaranteed yet.

It is a peculiar complaint form the CMA, because the technology isn't there, the demand isn't there and people don't even know if they want it.

I'll go so far as to say we are way off. The tech doesn't just need to be there, but it has to be a standard that is easy for everyone to get too.

Bias aside, don't people think this is the weirdest part for the CMA to complain about?

Geforce Now has better latency than native XSX.

🤫🤫🤫

You‘re gonna ruin the narrative

I remember bringing this up, and the console fans went silent. A game streaming service with lower latency than a native console in your living room…

Xbox cloud is pretty good for single player games. I use it on my outdoor Samsung TV. I don't a console hooked up to it because of weather considerations, and I'm surprised at how well it performs. MP games are pretty decent too, but I have a <22ms lag on my internet, so i prefer wired consoles.

@ghostofgolden: I use it alot on my steam deck, and xcloud works well overall. There might be a few issues here and there but its gotten better since it first launched. I don't know how much smoother geforce now is...but im guessing most of those people are pc gamers and a good chunk of that audience also has a hard wired ethernet connection. Yeah, my 1.5gb fiber internet wouldn't struggle over ethernet either, whatever turd of a subscription service you threw at it. The difference is wifi is much weaker and spottier.

It will be dropped here in the UK to get the CMA to approve of the deal,no big deal for me personally,I have decent cable speeds and the games still looked and ran average

I've used it many times to try out a game before DL'ing the full a game on GP. Seems to me to work very well, dunno.

currently, cloud gaming is simply a convenience.. Playing games on mobile or low power PCs, being able to try games without waiting on installs, etc..

cloud won't be a true force until casual, mass market, gamers can't tell the difference between playing a game on their PlayStation and playing a game via a cloud app.. that's the curve that Xbox is trying to get ahead of..

but yeah, for now it's a long-term play.. which again makes the CMA decision on the subject so baffling and laughable..

That must make PlayStation having a negative cloud userbase. RIP PS.

I'm one of the biggest Xbox fans there is and I think MS should shut down cloud gaming. I don't think it will ever be a thing.

They should always leave it there as an option for those that want to use it. I was using it on flight last week and loved it. I probably won't use it again for another few months for my next flight, but it will be nice to have. I use it in my hotel room as well on occasion.