Quick Take: I don't need a Streaming Xbox, I need game streaming on my PC
2 min. read
Published on
Share this article
Improve this guide
Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser sustain the editorial team Read more
We heard yesterday that Microsoft is working on a new generation of Xbox devices which would be called Scarlett, and which would support the Scarlet cloud, which would let games render mostly in the cloud but in part on the device, producing a latency-free high-quality gaming experience.
Now, this sounds fine and good, but I suspect it’s not exactly what Microsoft needs to win the next generation of gaming wars. I suspect despite Microsoft’s technical wizardry enough gaming review sites will give the edge to fully locally rendered games that “real” gamers will once again go with Sony’s next gen machines. It is likely however that some Scarlett machines will also be high-end and fully powered and that cloud-powered Scarlett boxes could be pretty cheap, and be designed to appeal to the casual gaming market.
I don’t think however Microsoft needs new hardware to take on the casual gamer market. I believe a better solution would be to let Windows 10 users run high-end games on their own cheap laptops using their split-rendering solution. You can, after all, watch the best movies without needing a home theatre setup. This would immediately expand the potential Xbox gaming market from a small percentage of PCs to the whole Windows 10 installed base. It would also allow people to dip into and out of the market without needing to make space for a dedicated box under the TV, and without investment in a stand-alone box or gaming PC/laptop and without the need to set anything up.
It would allow casual users to go from seeing a Forza ad on TV to running the game in 5 minutes rather having to argue with their partner about whose turn it is to use the big screen and why they are wasting their time playing games.
Now this does not stop Microsoft from making a dedicated streaming Scarlett box, but Microsoft could get a lot more value from their near 700 million Windows 10 users if playing the best games would be as simple as clicking an icon.
Do our readers agree? Let us know below.
