Xbox Cloud Gaming is adding game invites to the mix; making it possible for you and a friend to stream multiplayer games together.
Cloud gaming, streaming, and the whole lot of that realm have had a difficult launch over the past few years. It exists in a weird place between being the obvious next step for gaming overall, but still not being fully adaptable by the masses.
Various internet providers around the globe still see their maximum speeds hitting around 1Gbps, and a handful offer those speeds only for downloading. Upload speeds are largely different, some as low as 20Mbps. Naturally, this would make it difficult for gamers to rely on internet connectivity in order to stream entire games directly to their consoles.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is the Future
Microsoft seems to want to take charge and lead people toward game streaming by either making it more strenuous for gamers or by showing what can be possible when gaming companies throw their weight behind the idea.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is a relatively new offering for Microsoft. It offers select titles from the entire Xbox library to stream with no extra downloading or configuration needed. For some, streaming games is an advantage over needing to sacrifice storage space. With games getting bigger and more expansive, the download sizes of those games can reach hundreds of GB. Streaming is, to some extent, an answer to that problem.
With Xbox Cloud Gaming, gamers can now load up a game, invite a friend to what they’re calling a “gaming session,” and play together. Microsoft also takes it a slight step further and produces a link to join the session, making it possible for people to share the link publicly on social media to get the most amount of players at once.
Not only that but if you’re an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Member, there are a bunch of new games that have recently arrived, with even more on the way. These include titles such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered, Cult of the Lamb, Hotline Miami, and many more.
The Internet and Xbox: A Love Story
Xbox’s bread and butter has always been its devout dedication to multiplayer games and moreover, online multiplayer. The original Xbox was a noteworthy standout in comparison to the PS2 due to its implementation of Xbox Live and what it offered gamers in comparison. Halo and its multiplayer heavily carried the service to the prominence that it has today.
With gaming sessions being added to Xbox Cloud Gaming, it feels as if Microsoft is trying to reestablish itself as a frontrunner in gaming innovation and networking all at once. In recent years, people have been critical of Microsoft’s decisions in gaming otherwise and how the company seemingly wants their consoles to be seen more as entertainment units than dedicated gaming consoles.
This new addition to the Cloud Gaming service shows a different initiative for the company, however. On one hand, it’s preparing all of us for the future of gaming that will inevitably become commonplace in a few years. On the other hand, it could be seen as something being delivered far too soon with not many being able to fully realize its usability.
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