According to emails that have now leaked, thanks to the ever-ongoing FTC v. Microsoft case, we know that Microsoft has serious plans to stream PC games through its Xbox Cloud Gaming service by leveraging its Azure servers.
The email in question is between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer. It was sent in July 2021, just days after rumours started that Google would be turning Stadia into a white-label cloud gaming service for developers to run their games on.
A transcript of the partly redacted email chain reads:
“Seems like they will have a leg up because their stuff is more generic Linux VMs + Network…. But I am assuming we will do the same for Game Pass PC – right?” – Satya Nadella
“Google has the ability to reuse their Linux cloud hardware and yes as we stream PC native games from an Azure GPU SKU we would have more re-use scenarios to recoup costs” – Phil Spencer
“Phil is correct. Sarah Bond and I in partnership with Jason’s team are driving a suitable Azure SKU… as part of a series that will serve the customer demand we see externally for IAAS and to run our xCloud PC streaming stack.”
All this shouldn’t be a surprise, as Microsoft promised that Xbox Cloud Gaming would support your existing game library by the end of 2022. However, that deadline came and passed without an update.
Microsoft has also scrapped plans for a dedicated subscription version of Xbox Cloud Gaming.
However, earlier this year, Microsoft dropped hints about PC games being available on Xbox Cloud Gaming when they signed a 10-year deal with Microsoft to bring Xbox PC games to EE customers.
EE is a British mobile network that’s said to be building out a cloud gaming service; however, seeing as we’ve not heard anything since in the way of development, it’s likely that Microsoft is closer to the finish line with its Azure service to stream PC games.
Also, in the emails that leaked, Phil Spencer revealed his thoughts on Stadia by saying:
“I honestly think Google is in the process of just trying to turn Stadia into a Google Cloud SKU and do away with their first party consumer service. Google is a massive and aggressive competitor but honestly I’ve been surprised by their lack of progress with Stadia. To date our #1 competitor here is really nVidia with GeForce Now. But we keep our eye on both Google and Amazon with Luna.”
In January of this year, Google officially announced the shutdown of its Stadia service, so it’s yet to be seen if Microsft will see this as a warning sign or if they’ll push to take advantage of this gap in the market.
What are your thoughts on cloud gaming? Let us know in the comments.