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Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gets Project xCloud cloud gaming on Sept. 15 for $14.99/ month

Yahoo Finance Video
Updated

Microsoft announced its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate would come complete with the tech giant’s Project xCloud cloud gaming platform. The combined service would cost $14.99 per month and give gamers access to play over 100 Game Pass titles via Android smartphones and tablets. Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley joins The Final Round to discuss.

Video Transcript

- All right turn our attention now to what's going on in the world of Microsoft that is not related to TikTok. Dan Howley, this one right into your wheelhouse. I think we've discussed before how great a deal the Xbox Game Pass is, and Microsoft making some changes. I guess you could call it to the Xbox platform. Is that fair, ahead of the launch of a new Xbox coming up for the holidays?

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, just so people know the Xbox Game Pass is a stupid good deal. I promise I'm not shilling for them. It just really is that good. It's $14.99 a month, and you get unlimited access to more than 100 games through the Game Pass.

Now what Microsoft is doing is adding its Project xCloud cloud gaming platform to that at no additional cost. So if you are a Game Pass subscriber, or you want to sign up, you'll be able to play Xbox One games on your Android smartphone and tablet.

Now there isn't an available iOS app, so you won't be able do it on your iPhone or iPad. Presumably that's coming. Microsoft is working on a beta for that right now, but obviously there's been issues back and forth in the past with Microsoft and Apple as far as the App Store goes. We've seen that with other gaming companies, so they're still working through those.

But this really is a massive deal, and when it does launch on September 15, it'll be the true start of cloud gaming. Google tried to do cloud gaming with its Stadia. That's still available, but it hasn't had too much success. Nvidia is also offering its own cloud gaming platform, but again, it's not getting the same kind of success. And they have had issues getting access to some publishers' games.

So what Microsoft is doing is offering all of its first-party studio games, that's Halo, Gears of War, Sea of Thieves, titles like that, day and date on Game Pass. That means the day that they're available in stores or for download, you'll be able get them through Game Pass and then play them on whatever device you can when the final version of Project xCloud comes out later. So you'd be able to do it on your smart TV, your computer, your tablet, smartphone, I don't know, smart fridge at some point, maybe virtual toilet. Who knows? But this is going to be a product that will really revolutionize the way people game.

And so you mentioned in the next version of the Xbox, the Series X, Sony is going to launch their PlayStation 5. Those are for more developed countries really, I think. That's where they're going to be marketing those, that and PC games. You'll see that the Series X going to America, Europe, Asia, but what they're doing with this cloud game initiative is trying to reach consumers that don't have the money to get a console, while still getting them into the Xbox ecosystem of gaming.

So think about India. Smartphones there are one of the main ways that people access the internet. If they're able to use Project xCloud, then that means that Microsoft can add to its giant army of gamers through the cloud. So that's really the thought here.

It's a huge convenience for people like me, because if I'm on-- my wife's using the TV or I'm in a car or something and I want a game, I can do that and vise versa. But it really is about extending the umbrella of gaming to people outside of just traditional console and PC gamers. And Microsoft has its Azure servers, so really they are extremely well set up for this to succeed.

- And, Dan, I was just going to ask you that, because you have to have a really high connection to be able to play games on your Droid phone.

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, look, you can get basic Android games on your smartphone. And a lot of people do play them. I personally don't. It's just something that I would rather be on a console or a PC and get a more immersive experience. Now that's what they're trying to bring to smartphones.

Google Stadia, by the way, does the same thing, but what sets Microsoft apart is their huge collection of Azure servers throughout the world. So that means that latency will be to a minimum, hopefully. As more people get online. we'll figure out how that goes.

But then they also have that large collection of first party studios. Google doesn't have first party studios outside of one that developing. Nvidia doesn't have first party studios. So what it means is Microsoft is able to develop its own games and then offer them on that platform. And I think that's really what's going to help set it apart from competitors. Sony, by the way, is working on its own cloud gaming platform, and that will run, of course, on Microsoft's Azure.

So Microsoft's going to win no matter who makes out like a bandit in the cloud game space, because Azure is going to succeed. But this is really, I think like I said, that the true start of cloud gaming.

- All right. Great job, everybody, we got their whole Microsoft segment without talking about the TikTok deal. We'll table that conversation for tomorrow, because I'm sure there'll be news on that front.