Microsoft Would like Project xCloud to Have Exclusive TItles
Microsoft is talking to first-party and third-party studios to create exclusive titles for their game streaming service, Project xCloud. Microsoft’s Kareem Choudhry explained that although the company is enthusiastic about securing exclusives for xCloud, there are no official titles to confirm as of now. Although the service doesn’t have exclusives yet, the game streaming service will apparently run 3,000 games for launch. Project xCloud has been in public preview for certain regions and is expected to receive a rolling launch everywhere in 2020.
Through the Xbox SDK, Project xCloud games can detect while it runs whether it’s being streamed or not. Microsoft made the confirmation of xCloud exclusive titles during XO19 in London where several games were announced for the Game Pass service. “In terms of (Project xCloud) exclusives, we’re in early talks with first- and third- parties, but we don’t have any announcements to share,” said Kareem Choudhry. “New content and IP takes eighteen months to two years (to develop).” We’re presuming third-party titles are more likely to be exclusive to the service as Microsoft would benefit more from Xbox Scarlett having the solid exclusives.
The functionality of the specific API’s that have been added to the Xbox SDK is apparently cloud aware, “to make any changes that they want, specific to streaming, things like changing the font sizes or changing some of their networking code to account for the fact that the server is in a data center.” There are a number of games available through Google Stadia right now but it didn’t have 3,000 titles available at launch so if Project xCloud delivers in a bigger way, it could bite into the player base of Stadia.
Are you excited to see what exclusives end up on Project xCloud or are you just looking forward to trying the existing library of 3,000 games? What franchise would you like to see get an exclusive title for the game streaming service? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Stevivor