Microsoft has a panoramic vision of how the future of the video game should be, and its slogan of putting the player at the center of the experience is much more than a slogan : it is a declaration of intent that is becoming clear day in and day out. with concrete facts.
Officially, Microsoft not only bequeaths to Xbox Series X a brutal catalog of classic and recent games thanks to backward compatibility, but it will extend the life of Xbox One, the console that was launched in 2013, in an unlimited way, thanks to its game in Cloud. That is to say, the hardware will not be an obstacle to play the next blockbusters of the house.
What does that mean? Although, we already have that during the first years of Xbox Series X all the games produced by Xbox Game Studios will be released on Xbox One and the two next-generation Xbox (in addition to PC), now that commitment is redoubled by opening the door to systems launched almost a decade ago to future own and third-party innovations.
And in this sense, the three key pieces of Microsoft’s true long-term project are successfully aligned: the Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming and the Edge browser.
How previous-gen Xbox will keep getting new games
The question is asking itself: although games like Halo Infinite or Forza Horizon 5 are being developed to work on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X, the day will come when the 2013 console will not have the capacity to offer the same interest and capacity to developers. That’s where the new Chromium-based Edge browser comes in.
Although, it is clear that Edge is not the most popular web browser, its new version for consoles already available for Xbox Insiders – and with an open source base – adds key components when it comes to understanding Microsoft’s approach to the idea of bringing next-gen titles to the console released in 2013.
We have already tested the capabilities of Edge and evenwe have played Stadia and Friv gamesthrough the console browser. And it’s really amazing how easy it is to start games without having to configure your controller. To which must be added the possibilities of plugging in a keyboard to the front of the console.
The second key factor is Xbox Game Pass and how it gives access to Xbox Cloud Gaming in browsers. Although an open beta is currently being held on Android, the number of subscribers who can continue their games both on iOS and through Google Chrome, Safari or Edge is increasing. And the best part is that the process to start playing is not much different than choosing a movie on Netflix.
Finally, what completes the process is Smart Delivery, the system with which Microsoft allows us to start the game in the most optimized version of the game for the system we are using. Adapting to the capacities, adjustments and controls of our PC, the hardware of our console or the versatility of the cloud.
Although Smart Delivery is already a reality , both the new Edge browser and Xbox Cloud Gaming are in the testing phase, so the quality of the games and stability must still be quite polished in order to obtain that clear experience. and fluid that we hope to find in current games.
That said, when it manifests itself in browsers, and if our internet connection is good enough, we will see how the Xbox One will become one of the most affordable windows to enjoy next-generation games .
Four nuances about Xbox One cloud gaming
With the above in mind, the system with which new generation games will arrive on Xbox One also has nuances that make it unique and that, inevitably, will require playing in new ways and will shape the catalog of games to which we will have access. .
Only what’s on Game Pass can be played on Xbox Cloud Gaming. And not to everything
Currently, there are hundreds of games available on Xbox Cloud Gaming of all genres and they all have one common denominator: they belong to the Game Pass catalog. This means that if a game disappears from the service we will no longer have access to it.
In other words: Xbox Game Pass is a subscription whose maximum claim is its dynamic collection of games . New titles come in every month and others come out, but those produced by Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda and, if you have an Ultimate subscription, those from EA always remain.
Thus, the day a game that is exclusive to next-generation consoles is no longer available, we will not be able to continue playing. But, on the other hand and in fairness, we couldn’t have tried it any other way on Xbox One either.
To this must be added that many key Microsoft games are not currently available on Xbox Cloud Gaming, including the Age of Empires or Minecraft saga. But, logically, if they end up entering the service we can play them.
Internet connection is mandatory, and quality is no longer optional
The second of the nuances obeys pure logic. Through cloud play, the Xbox One eliminates the hardware barrier, but becomes totally dependent on another: our internet connection.
At this point in the game we have become accustomed to having games with a mandatory connection. And despite the fact that today Internet access is something to a large extent standardized (if not, you could not read those lines) what we must keep in mind here is that we must have a decent connection. Both to be able to enjoy the most powerful games and for multiplayer games.
Returning to the previous example, it will always be better to be able to enjoy a game over the internet than not to be able to do so. But it also does not hurt to remember the advantages of playing through the cloud, including the elimination of updates or that it will not be necessary to juggle with the storage of our console.
Hardware will be key to getting the best gaming experience, at least for now
We do not expect to see PC photorealism reflected or remotely equaled in games like Flight Simulator or Forza Horzon 5 on Xbox One, and we do not expect it to manifest itself in the short or medium term when playing through Xbox Cloud Gaming. In part, because the infrastructure that is being used for cloud gaming is based on the hardware of the Xbox One S. But also because the best experience and quality of the game will continue to be found through the hardware.
It is no coincidence that Microsoft has assembled the most powerful console and has been breaking down the barriers that divide the desktop and desktop gaming communities for years: the might and strength of Xbox Game Studios and the newly acquired Bethesda is manifested in greatness and ambition. of its key projects, including brutal open worlds, fantasy and science fiction RPGs take advantage of state-of-the-art hardware, and multiplayer experiences that must be played with the highest possible frame rates.
That said, the quality of the cloud gaming service is expected to progressively increase. At the moment it is in a testing phase. But it is expected that sooner or later there will be an infrastructure capable of offering really satisfactory results. Able to outshine hardware? Seeing the capacity of the new graphics cards and processors we doubt it, although we do not rule it out.
However, on all Xbox One models the games will look the same
One of the interesting aspects of Xbox Cloud Gaming is that, unlike Smart Delivery, there is no distinction of the version of the game when it comes to running it. In other words: we don’t know when and to what systems Perfect Dark will arrive, but if we play through the cloud Joanna Dark will look the same, whether you bought the Xbox One that came with Kinect, if you decided to jump to Xbox One X or decided Bet it all on digital with the Xbox One S All-Digital.
It is worth remembering that it is possible to offer ray tracing and even good frame rates per second through cloud play. What’s more, Nintendo Switch already offers it in Control Ultimate Edition. And we are sure that Xbox Game Studios take this into account when making their increasingly promising deployment towards cloud gaming.
That said, cloud games will not only look the same on all desktop systems, but they will have the same load times . One of the things that struck me the most when it came to fiddling with titles like Outriders or Gears 5 after playing them on Xbox Series X is the return of the loading screens . And, in this sense, it does not matter what speed our console can offer: the time that will pass until we start playing will no longer depend on the hardware.
Of course, optimizing the overall gaming experience is something that all developers should address depending on the type of experience they have in hand. Be it Minecraft , Battletoads or games like Avowed or Everwild that still have a lot to show for it.
A new dawn for Xbox One gamers
Getting an Xbox One today is not an absolutely crazy plan. Its price is affordable and its possibilities and catalog, thanks to the Game Pass and backward compatibility, make it a highly amortizable investment in the short and long term . And seeing the future that lies ahead of us, it is not worth getting rid of the one we already have. Even as a secondary system to continue our PC games or Xbox Series X on another TV.
An Xbox One is definitely not the best option to start playing. For a little more, and if we are not attached to the physical format, we can get an Xbox Series S and enjoy its ultra-fast loading times. But, until Xbox Cloud Gaming is available to everyone, the previous generation consoles are, together with the PC or Android devices, an exceptional window to dive into the Game Pass catalog of games or continue our Xbox 360 games.
It is curious that, when we had made the body for the decline of the previous generation consoles, Xbox gave this new impulse to that console that originally hit the shelves with a severe image problem. Once again, Microsoft has broken the deck , and the most unusual thing of all is that, almost ten years after launching Xbox One, we now see them with different eyes. Because the launch of the console was a nonsense.
What we do have clear is that Microsoft no longer depends on the hardware or the units sold in video games, nor does it limit itself to looking only forward: its great plan is to get everyone to play Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5 and the next blockbusters from Xbox Game Studios. And we must admit that the Redmond are making it very easy for us.
