Microsoft is making its own Xbox game streaming devices for TVs

Today, Microsoft expanded on its ambitious plans for gaming. As usual, this includes Xbox Game Pass and its various SKUs, but more importantly, part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is game streaming. And if you’re a Microsoft watcher, then you know that the cloud is where it’s at. Microsoft has a ton of plans to bring Xbox game streaming to more devices.

 As part of today’s announcement, a big push is once again that the Redmond firm wants to bring its game streaming services to anywhere that you are. For one thing, Microsoft is working with TV manufacturers to build the service into their smart TVs. With that, you wouldn’t even have to go and download an app to start playing AAA console games on your TV, let alone get new hardware.

But if you don’t get the app on your smart TV, Microsoft is going to have new hardware for you. While this has been rumored quite a bit in the past, the company confirmed today that it’s actually working on an Xbox game streaming device, which will turn any TV into a game streaming machine. Microsoft didn’t confirm the form factor, but this seems like something that would be a dongle, since it’s really not meant to do anything else.

That’s not all, because this was actually a pretty big announcement. Cloud gaming is set to launch in more regions, including Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan; that will happen later on this year.

Most of the announcements are pretty vague, like confirming a cloud gaming device but not actually saying anything about it. Another example is that Microsoft says it’s exploring more subscription options for Xbox Game Pass; this sounds more like something that will exclusively offer Xbox cloud gaming, but at a lower price point.

One specific piece of news to come out of the announcement is that later this year, Xbox game streaming will be available in the Xbox app for PC. This was something that was promised a while back, but when Xbox cloud gaming for PC launched, it was through a browser experience. Now, you’ll get a native app. And finally, Microsoft is in the “final stages” of upgrading its datacenters to Xbox Series X consoles, so when streaming, you get the best that the firm has to offer.

The post Microsoft is making its own Xbox game streaming devices for TVs appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/3v9JAI1
via IFTTT