Seismic Xbox Game Pass upgrade could change the way you game forever

Microsoft is reportedly working on several big upgrades to its Xbox Cloud Gaming service to make it run closer to playing games on local hardware. And that could include a bump in resolution and frame rates.

Currently part of an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, Xbox Cloud Gaming offers 100s of games that players can stream over a data connection to multiple devices. This includes phones, tablets, Smart TVs from Samsung and LG, and even Amazon Fire TV Sticks.

As long as you have an Xbox controller or Bluetooth equivalent, you can play a whole host of big name games, as well as many you might not have heard of before. Some even come with touchscreen controls, for playing on an iPhone, iPad or Android device without a dedicated gamepad.

Day one releases are available on the service too, even the likes of the recently released Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 +4, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. While subscribers can also play many of their own purchased Xbox games through the cloud.

In fact, it's a well-rounded, extremely accessible service that works well as an accompaniment to conventional console and PC gaming. It just isn't quite ready to replace them.

That's where the upgrades come in.

Renowned Xbox expert Jez Corden of Windows Central believes that Microsoft is currently working on next-gen technologies and features for Xbox Cloud Gaming to make it a more attractive rival to traditional gaming platforms.

A reduction in latency

He suggests that a further reduction in latency is key, with measures being taken to eliminate the lag between controller motion or button press and the action being shown on screen. One of those is to release a new Xbox Wireless Controller that connects directly to the a home network when playing cloud games, rather than needing to send control codes to a device, which are then sent on to a remote server.

By cutting out the middle-man, so to speak, it'll help reduce latency. This is something Google attempted with its failed Stadia service, and Amazon achieves with its Luna gamepad.

In addition, Corden claims that Microsoft is considering switching the hosted games to PC versions rather than Xbox. This could enable the games to be more scaleable in terms of settings, while servers could be faster and less hamstrung by console technology.

When it comes to console exclusives, they could run through emulation.

It could also allow the service to offer higher resolutions and frame rates. Xbox Cloud Gaming is currently locked to 1080p at up to 60 frames per second, whereas Nvidia's major rival, GeForce Now, offers an Ultimate tier with up to 4K and 240fps streaming (albeit not at the same time).

This would be dependent on users' own network connections and an increase in bit rates, but it's doable – as Nvidia has proved.

Xbox Cloud Gaming subscription

The other route that Corden suggests Microsoft could go in is to launch new, cloud only payment plans.

You can currently only subscribe to Xbox Cloud Gaming through Game Pass Ultimate, which doesn't really make much sense if all you want is to play games on a Fire TV Stick. In that case, you don't need a library of games to download onto an Xbox Series X/S or PC, nor many of the other benefits membership adds.

GeForce Now has three tiers – Free, Performance, and Ultimate – with different levels of streaming quality and priority access. Microsoft could adopt similar in the future.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is still just in public beta mode at present – it has been since launch – so enhancements and upgrades could come with a push to a final release model. Certainly, with non-gaming manufacturers like LG and Samsung adding the service to their TVs, there's a market for more casual gamers to enjoy the latest and greatest without needing dedicated hardware.

Maybe if the changes are as seismic as hoped, some of the more dyed-in-the-wool gamers will consider it too.