The recent trial FTC against Microsoft exposed great revelations of interactive entertainment. Files uploaded in error offer a candid look at future plans for Xbox, including new mid-generation hardware updates and a potential hybrid computing console that could change the future of gaming. The leaked documents show that Xbox Game Pass It is an important part of this plan. Microsoft eventually wants to lead the “Big Three” hierarchy and help lead the industry into a new era of disruption, and wants to use Game Pass to make it.
The following figures are estimates based on a leaked slide presentation from Xbox of fiscal year 2022, which runs from July 2021 to June 2022. Microsoft is currently on its fiscal year 2024 timeline. The information below may be outdated and may not reflect the new 10-year streaming agreements that Microsoft has done with NVIDIA and even Ubisoft in an attempt to please regulators in the merger between Microsoft and Activision. The 110 million figure is also likely to include the conversion of Xbox Live to Xbox Game Pass Core, which represents approximately 11 million subscribers. The CEO of Xbox, Phil Spencercommented on the leaks, saying: “So much has changed.”
In the next 7 years, Microsoft believes that Xbox Game Pass can grow substantially. By 2030, Microsoft wait to Xbox Game Pass have approximately 110 million subscribers. As shown in the documents, the cloud should be a substantial access method for subscribers of Game Pass. According to the slides, Xbox expects around 32 million of its subscriber base Xbox Game Pass be “cloud-centric gamers” who play from a variety of devices, including smart TVs, streaming devices (via apps), low-end PCs, and mobile devices. This is an interesting development considering that Microsoft has repeatedly said that its service Project xCloud has not been profitable or successful in penetrating the mobile market.
Based on the expected growth vectors outlined in the graphs, it is possible that Microsoft can do some drastic things to speed up cloud usage.
Content would be the biggest change, but it can’t just be content from PC/console. It should be cloud-native content, or games and apps made specifically for cloud users. The new experimental game Hideo Kojima for Xbox comes to mind, and it’s likely the first in a series of new games looking to push cloud gaming forward.
The second would be some type of subscription level Xbox Game Pass specifically for cloud gaming.
In the past, it seemed extremely unlikely that Microsoft delete Project xCloud (also know as Xbox Cloud Gaming) of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
These new figures may have changed our ideas a little, and even if xCloud not offered in its own subscription tier, Microsoft could still offer another lower cost tier, perhaps something like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Litewhich includes both downloadable games PC/Xbox as cloud streaming.
The third move is related to hardware. We know Keystone, the standalone cloud console that relies on remote servers for its computing power. But the leaked slides also reveal Sebilean ambitious cloud-based controller that’s basically an all-in-one content delivery/access peripheral that connects directly to Wi-Fi. Sebile It’s basically the answer to Microsoft to cloud-based control of Stadiaand aims to reduce latency and provide stutter-free gameplay across multiple platforms.
The combination of hardware, services and content could help boost cloud gaming in Xbox Game Pass.
As for the other segments, the console is expected to lead with around 58 million subscribers, and gamers of PC They are in third place with 20 million. It is clear that Microsoft hopes to capture some of the more marginal players with its cloud ambitions.
Via: Tweak Town
Editor’s note: All this sounds very logical to me. But, we must also take into account what Phil Spencer said, many things have changed. For a start Stadia It no longer exists, there you eliminate a competitor. The second thing is that these plans depend a lot on the cloud and, after the changes that Microsoft proposed to acquire Activision everything can change even more.
