Screens are everywhere and users use them wherever they are. Under this premise, Microsoft broke the console mold to take advantage of the omnipresence of these devices through the cloud and Game Pass. The move is not fortuitous and represents a step away in the so-called console war.
According to analyst estimates, the Xbox One, launched in 2013, has sold about 50 million units, however, Sony’s PlayStation 4, introduced in the same year, has sold 116 million consoles. Given this scenario, Microsoft decided to launch Game Pass in 2017, a subscription service that allows you to play online without the need for a console.
“With Game Pass we are really redefining the way games are distributed, played and shared. Content is the force that drives its growth, “said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, during a presentation to the media, where he also highlighted that after the arrival of this service to the browsers of various devices, such as the iPhone or iPad,” the The value of the subscription will transcend from the console to the PC or mobile ”.
The incorporation of the cloud into the video game ecosystem represents a relevant change for both creators and users, since according to Microsoft figures, Game Pass subscribers play 30% more genres and 40% more titles .
“(Users) are exploring things they wouldn’t do otherwise and creators love this. It’s an amazing way to build community, ”said Sarah Bond, vice president of experience and ecosystem for game creators. Something in which Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, agrees, who points out that this platform “has become a true discovery engine for the entire industry.”
And while delivering a cross-platform experience to users is a differentiator for Xbox through Game Pass, the focus, as Nadella pointed out, has been on the content they offer gamers. That is why it makes sense that since it took the direction of Microsoft, the company has bought more than 15 video game studios, including Mojang – creators of Minecraft – or more recently Bethesda.
It should be remembered that the “Netflix of video games” model has been implemented by other technology companies such as Google, through Stadia. However, the results have not been as expected, since from the beginning the focus was on the experience of playing without the need for a console and not on the titles.
Derived from this initial failure, the company determined. “Building the best quality games from scratch takes many years and a significant investment. And the costs are increasing exponentially ”, argued the company in February of this year.
However, in recent weeks their perspective has changed. In mid-May, Nate Ahearn, Stadia’s marketing manager declared that the project is “safe and sound”, in addition to that during 2021 they will receive more than 100 new games and the relationship with studios such as Electronic Arts, Capcom, Ubisoft will be accentuated. or Square Enix.
Apple, for its part, has also encountered obstacles in the way of Arcade, since it has not managed to generate major titles on its platform or franchise games that attract users specialized in gaming or casual. It is worth mentioning that on June 2, two months passed without the company including a new title to the platform.
Faced with this gap, another of the most relevant Xbox movements will be to be able to play Game Pass titles on Apple devices through the browser. “A phone that can only play Angry Birds (…) can now play Halo with full fidelity. This is what the ‘play wherever you want’ concept looks like, ”said Karen Choudhry, vice president of Cloud Gaming at Xbox.
For the Xbox executive, “gaming in the cloud is the next natural step for us in these 20 years of evolution.” Therefore, the service that is now in beta for some countries will arrive in Australia, Brazil, Japan and Mexico later this year, in order for people to play from the cloud in an Edge, Chrome or Safari browser, he confirmed. .
This initiative, Choudhry predicted, would represent a growth of 1,000 million users in 26 countries of the world for Microsoft, but it would not mark a limit for its consoles, because although the development of the cloud has been marked, it will not stop its desire to generate new ideas on consoles.
In addition, those who are users of the payment service and have an Xbox console, later this year they will have the possibility to try the games before downloading them, which for Xbox is part of a push to integrate xCloud in the consoles and in the app from Xbox on PC.
“The cloud is critical to our hardware and Game Pass plans,” said Liz Hamren, vice president of gaming experiences and platforms at Xbox. “But no one should think that we are slowing down our core console engineering. In fact, we are accelerating it and working intensively on new equipment, some of which will not come to light for a few years ”.
