Xbox has kicked off its X019 gaming event in London with a raft of announcements that will help gamers play the latest titles whenever and wherever they want.
Project xCloud, the game streaming service that lets users play their Xbox game on mobile devices, is being expanded; the Xbox Game Pass library will get 50 new titles for players to enjoy; and there was gaming news from studios such as Rare, Obsidian and 343 Industries.
Thousands of Xbox fans flocked to the Copper Box Arena in London for X019, a fan event that was being held in the UK for the first time, to play the latest titles and get hands-on. The three-day event kicked off with a special episode of Inside Xbox and FanFest, which announced that Project xCloud, which currently uses Xbox One controllers and runs on Android devices, would run on Windows 10 PCs and support the DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller and game pads from Razer.
Xbox is adding more than 50 new titles to the service, including Madden NFL 20, Devil May Cry 5, and Tekken 7. Project xCloud is currently being previewed in the US, UK and Korea, but will be rolled out to more markets in 2020, such as Canada, India, Japan and Western Europe.
Kareem Choudhry, Vice-President of cloud gaming at Microsoft, said Xbox will also “bring game streaming to Game Pass”.
“We’ve seen a trend that music and video have transcended the device they’re on,” he added. “You can access any music or video, whenever you want on any device you want. Gaming has traditionally been defined by the device it’s on, but we see that melting away. There is a very clear signal that consumers want access to great content regardless of the device they’re using.
“We see streaming as a phenomenal opportunity to give users more ways to play and for our partners to reach more players.”
He said testing of the service was going “incredibly well”, and Xbox was continuing to gather feedback from users. They had already seen some interesting trends; people who play Halo, for example, are spending a third of their playing time on xCloud and two-thirds on console.
Meanwhile, Rare, the maker of the hugely popular Sea of Thieves, unveiled a sneak peek at its next game – Everwild. Meanwhile, its pirate-themed adventure title will get a new, free update on November 20. The Seabound Soul is a new Tall Tale quest that sees players join forces with Captain Pendragon to uncover the mystery of the Ashen Dragon and reveal the secrets of a sinister new threat. The update also introduces firebombs, which can be thrown or loaded into cannons to set enemy ships alight.
Fans at X019 could also play eagerly-awaited titles such as Minecraft Dungeons, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Grounded – a first-person, co-op survival game from Obsidian that will launch in Spring 2020.
Other news announced at X019 included 50 new titles for Xbox Game Pass, including the Final Fantasy franchise, Age of Empires II, The Wither 3: Wild Hunt, Tekken 7 and Darksiders III. Minecraft Dungeons and Microsoft Flight Simulator will also join Game Pass. You can sign up for Game Pass Ultimate, which also includes Xbox Live Gold and Spotify Premium, for just £1 for your first three months.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be released on PC for the first time, starting with Halo: Reach on December 3.
