Microsoft’s XCloud could have an edge over Google’s Stadia

At GDC, which is one of the biggest game developer conferences in the world, Google finally unveiled the pricing model for its “Stadia” game streaming platform which it had announced just about a month ago. Google claimed that there will be a starter pack for the “founders” edition which would include a Chromecast Ultra, a Stadia controller, 3 months of the subscription service and a game. On top of this, users, will also need to purchase the games for the streaming platform which was a strange way of going about things. Google also announced at launch it will only has 31 games with two exclusives, though it will ramp this number up when the service launches to the public later this year. This leads me to believe that Microsoft’s incoming XCloud service could have an edge over Google’s platform. Microsoft demoed the XCloud service at E3 last night and it also has a tentative release date for October. Let me explain why.

1. Microsoft’s decision to stack its Azure data centre’s with Xbox One X racks could play dividends to rally initial developer support as most games are being developed for its platform. This would mean that game designers wouldn’t need to make their games for a new spec of hardware and software. From the get go, one can expect 100% backwards compatibility with Microsoft’s entire library of games which include even the Xbox 360 using Xbox Game Pass. Google just has 31 games and just 2 exclusives.
2. Streaming services mean that you’re not buying content, you’re renting it. Google’s model for Stadia seems strange where you need to buy expensive games, which may note even stream at the level of performance that high end consoles like the Xbox One X. This could be a flawed model as Microsoft’s streaming platform is long rumoured to demand for one fee per month lumbsome. Though it must be said, neither Microsoft or Sony have announced what will be their pricing models for their game streaming platforms.
3. Microsoft has the most global cloud network on the planet, with the most edge compute nodes. Google isn’t as well equipped as Microsoft when one talks about last mile connectivity for its cloud network which would again give XCloud a huge edge over Stadia. Microsoft has also announced that users will be able to use their Xbox consoles as a private server to stream games while they are on the go which further gives XCloud an advantage over Stadia.
4. The way Microsoft is envisioning the future of gaming is by taking into account of the ways people play their games which is mobile, on the console and online. Project Scarlett which is its next generation Xbox project will support 8K graphics with frame rates up to 120 FPS, which goes well beyond the capabilities of Stadia. Sony is also going to offer similar specs for the PlayStation 5. As Microsoft is going to be managing the cloud for Sony as well, one can imagine more game developers jumping ship for XCloud as it will have better base level data enter hardware apart from supporting the current best console paradigms.