We get a lot of questions from readers via email and social media. Every once in a while, those questions inspire us to write a longer post to share our response with the entire community. We recently got a question from reader Yasin that did just that. Here’s the question and our response.
Question from reader Yasin
Today, as an xCloud gaming player, I would like to ask you an important question.
As you know, cloud gaming was previously attempted by Google, but they were not successful. What are your thoughts on the future of cloud gaming? Do you think cloud gaming will rise to a very important position in the gaming industry and become a large market? Will cloud gaming remain a permanent part of the gaming industry?
And finally, I would like to ask this: on social media, people keep speaking negatively about Xbox, and as you know, Game Pass prices have increased. How will this situation affect xCloud? Microsoft will not shut down xCloud, right?
Cloud Dosage Response
Thanks for reaching out! We love hearing from readers and cloud gaming users.
We are quite bullish about cloud gaming here (which is probably not surprising). While Google Stadia’s closure was a major setback for the ecosystem, plenty of other services have picked up the mantle. These include Xbox Cloud Gaming, NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW, PlayStation Cloud Gaming, and Boosteroid.
We were obviously quite enamored with Google Stadia and were optimistic to the end. However, to put things in perspective, Xbox Cloud Gaming currently delivers more game streaming hours every 1-2 months as Google Stadia did in its entire 3 year lifetime based on our own estimates of Stadia usage. Xbox just shared that they saw 45% year-over-year growth in cloud gaming.
While we don’t think Cloud Gaming will completely replace local PC/console gaming, we see it growing to become a major place people play – on par with those other options.
Negativity on Social Media can definitely be draining. We attribute much of this negativity to people’s resistance to change. People hate change. But, change comes nevertheless. And, things are changing pretty rapidly in the gaming space – moving away from the console war model of the past (including console exclusivity) and towards a future where people can and will play on all the different screens in their lives (smart TVs, phones, tablets, laptops, Chromebooks, infotainment centers, handhelds – using Windows, Linux, Android OSes + more).
Xbox’s strategy and cloud gaming more generally are two specific topics that can elicit negative reactions from people who are afraid of change. Unfortunately, negativity tends to get amplified on social media. But, if we were in the Xbox leadership’s position, we’d be doing the exact same things they are doing: bringing the Xbox ecosystem (store, subscriptions, APIs, friends lists, achievements etc.) to more devices and screens.
We wouldn’t worry too much about the negativity. Microsoft has a lot of experience in the gaming space (unlike Google), has lots of data to guide them, and has a good grasp on how things are changing. While Xbox may be leading in this change, Sony is clearly following – we see them now regularly releasing games on PCs and slowly increasing the accessibility of their own cloud gaming service.
Short story: we do see a lot changing in the gaming space, but there is little to no risk “Xbox” as an ecosystem goes away and Xcloud is abandoned. Xbox is evolving to meet gamers in more places – via PC, and on all those other screens we mentioned above via cloud gaming.
Ja, irgendwann ist xcloud tot.