Oliver Haslam on March 14, 2019, 12:23 pm

Xbox Game Streaming Service Project xCloud Shown Running On Android [Video]

Microsoft has been rumored to have a disc-less Xbox One S in the works, and part of that is the upcoming cloud game streaming service. That service, dubbed Project xCloud, has been shown off.

Microsoft’s streaming service will allow games to be played on devices other than an Xbox or PC for the first time, opening the door for Xbox games to be played on an iPad, for example. Project xCloud allows games to be run in the cloud, and with video sent to a display or app and then input sent back in the other direction. It’s something that has been done before by the likes of OnLive, a service which was bought by Sony and turned into PlayStation Now.

The streaming of games means that they can be rendered on remote machines, which in turn means the device used to play doesn’t need to be particularly powerful. For this to work reliably, a strong internet connection is obviously required, and there are undoubtedly opportunities for connection issues to break the whole service, but at a time where high-speed connections are on the increase, it’s hoped this is a problem that won’t be long for this world.

In this demonstration, Forza Horizon 4 was shown streamed to an Android phone that was then connected to an Xbox One controller via Bluetooth. The result was pretty impressive, and shows just what this could mean for mobile gaming moving forward.

More information on Project xCloud will arrive in the coming months, with a public testing period set for some time in 2019.