Here Is What You Need To Know About Microsoft Xcloud And Google Stadia

Cloud Gaming

Cloud gaming aims to revolutionize player experiences by making high graphics, power-driven games accessible on cheaper devices. Essentially, instead of buying high-end, powerful gaming equipment to play games like Devil May Cry 5 or Dark Souls, you can play it off the company’s cloud, and all you need to do is have a good internet connection.

The input of the mouse, keyboard and game controller are all fed into the cloud, and it responds by carrying out those commands, much like a video you can interact with. One can simply plug a cheap streaming console and game controller into their TV and play whatever they want. Services like PlayStation Now and GeForce Now have made their games available for streaming.

The recent competitors

Google and Microsoft have announced their cloud gaming systems a long while back, but it is yet to be released. Here’s what we know about each of them.

Excerpts about Microsoft XCloud

Microsoft’s selling point for their streaming service, Microsoft XCloud, was accessibility, i.e. bringing your games with you wherever you go. One could easily use their phones or tablets to access Xbox one games. They had announced their service at E3 (a video game trade show) 2018 but did not elaborate too far on it.

Later in the year, the demo for the cloud service was made available. This was a revolutionary moment, where it showed gamers around the world hope for this technology that Microsoft had been working on for years, might soon become a reality.

They have been testing the XCloud within the company, allowing employees to test it at home. At download speeds of 10mbps, Microsoft claims it can work with 4G cellular networks as well as the upcoming 5G cellular networks. During the demos, latency was prominent in the responsiveness of the controls, in that there was a prominent lag in between the command and the action.

All Xbox games can be played from the Xbox One console, which means over 3.5k games will be available. Very little is known about XCloud other than Microsoft will begin public trials in 2019.

Google Stadia

Google’s selling point for their service was being a console replacement. Google Stadia allows you to play the latest games via the cloud on almost any device with the Google servers doing all the heavy lifting. You need not even download or install anything, Google Stadia can run on the Google Chrome browser.

With Chromecast Ultra, you can project it onto your TV once it launches. Google promises 4k resolution provided you have 35mbps internet speed.

Google opened a closed beta test for “Project Stream”, that allowed players to play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey on their Chrome browser, and right after that, they revealed their gaming service along with full playable demos at GEC 2019. Stadia had already released a Bluetooth controller that cuts down on latency since the only complaint with the demos that Google had offered was that there were lags.

Parting thoughts

With Google Stadia releasing in November 2019, users will have ample opportunities to get the best of both worlds in the truest sense of the term!