By Kareem Choudhry, Corporate Vice President – Project xCloud, Microsoft
Our vision for Project xCloud is to empower the gamers of the world to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want. We’re building this technology so gamers can decide when and how they play. Customers around the world love the immersive content from Xbox in their homes and we want to bring that experience to all of your mobile devices.
Since announcing Project xCloud just under a year ago, we’ve been on a journey to create, develop and prepare the technology for gamers. A big step for us was opening up the programme to Microsoft employees – since then I’ve enjoyed seeing people’s excitement and hearing the stories of how they play. At home, I’ve been using Project xCloud to play Sea of Thieves with my kids while they’re playing on the console and PC. Around the office, I’ve seen our team having an amazing time playing Halo 5: Guardians tournaments and Gears 5 campaign on nothing more than a phone or tablet. We saw the same joy of gaming as we shared the experience with fans at E3 and gamescom, and now we’re ready for what’s next.
Today we’re inviting the community to take the next step with us and join the Project xCloud (Preview), coming this October to the United States, United Kingdom and Korea.
Public preview is a critical phase in our multi-year ambition to deliver game streaming globally at the scale and quality of experience that the gaming community deserves and expects. It’s time to put Project xCloud to the test in a broader capacity, with a range of gamers, devices, network environments and real-world use-case scenarios, and this is where you come in. At Xbox, we’ve made it a priority to engage with all of you to help in the creation process. We now want you to play with us and share your feedback on Project xCloud so we can iterate and improve, week after week. Join us, have fun playing, share your stories and feedback, and be part of the journey.
Here’s what to expect from the Project xCloud public preview and how you can register to participate:
If you’re in the US and UK, you can sign up to register today here. We’ll begin to send invites in the coming weeks. With a goal of learning and improving quickly, we’re taking a phased approach to our public preview, starting with a small number of participants to get initial feedback, then opening it up to more and more gamers. If you don’t receive an invite right away, there will be other opportunities; we’ll continue to open up more spots over time.
Xbox launched with Halo, and so will the Project xCloud public preview. It will begin with Halo 5: Guardians, the all-new Gears 5, a fantastic fast-twitch fighter Killer Instinct, and the online adventure Sea of Thieves. This is just the beginning as our content library will continue to grow as the preview progresses.
There are a few requirements to participate in the Project xCloud preview. You’ll need a phone or tablet running Android 6.0 or higher with Bluetooth 4.0; a Microsoft account; a Bluetooth-enabled Xbox One Wireless Controller; and, while not required, we recommend a phone mount for your controller. Project xCloud runs on Wi-Fi and mobile networks in your area.
You will be able to access content through our all-new Microsoft Game Streaming app, available in the coming weeks for Android devices. It’ll be available for all to download, but you’ll only be able to sign in once you’ve received an official invite into the preview.
Mobile networks are an important part of global connectivity today, so we’ll do our best to ensure that gamers have a great experience and Project xCloud is optimized for the widest range of network configurations possible. Earlier this month, we announced a partnership with SK Telecom to deliver Project xCloud to gamers in Korea. We’re also working with T-Mobile in the US and Vodafone in the UK during the preview to learn more about the way gamers play on mobile networks; these are technical partnerships that will help us optimize the experience, but gamers across all carriers are eligible to participate in the preview.
This is just the beginning. We’ll continue to improve, innovate, invite more of you in, add more content, and do it with the community in an open and transparent way. We can’t wait to hear your stories and share more at X019.
