Xbox unveils cloud-centric strategy: New hardware, servers, regional plans

Enlarge / If you want to play Xbox Game Pass titles on a weaker device, you'll need to sync to the subscription service's cloud library-and Microsoft is bullish that people will do just that from here on out. (credit: Microsoft)

Ahead of Xbox's next major game-reveal event, slated to air online this Sunday, the console-maker's leadership team hosted an hour-long press briefing about how its business has been doing alongside hints of what to expect beyond specific games. Though the presentation was the kind of ham-fisted, Xbox-biased stuff you'd expect from an internal production, it still included a few compelling reveals and statements-and I'm saving you an hour of your life by breaking them out from the rest of the Xbox-and-pony show, now that the embargo has lifted.

Most of the event's biggest announcements, unsurprisingly, revolve around the wildly successful Xbox Game Pass subscription service-and new ways to access its wealth of over 200 games, particularly via the Azure-powered cloud-gaming library (available as part of Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions). That's assuming your bandwidth and monthly caps are up to snuff, at least.

Microsoft's execs confirmed plans to roll out a smart TV app for Xbox cloud gaming, which will allow interested Game Pass subscribers to access Xbox's cloud-hosted games using nothing more than their Internet connection and a compatible gamepad. The presentation didn't confirm which "global TV manufacturers" will support the app or whether these efforts would lead to more streamlined ways to install the service's TV-specific app on existing streaming sticks. (And we have no idea when those apps will roll out; MS didn't offer even a vague estimate like "this year," which means Google Stadia will likely beat Xbox on this TV-specific front.)

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