After months upon months of using Xbox Game Pass Game Streaming, previously called Project xCloud, there’s still one minor improvement that needs to be accounted for and it’s a major issue still.
When it comes to convenience, there should be no doubt that I am all for it, as is anyone else who would love to be able to click a single button, select their game, and dive on in. This has been one of the greatest conveniences of both Xbox Game Pass Cloud, formarlly called Project xCloud, and of course, the Nintendo Switch.
I’ve spent a hefty amount of time on Project xCloud – I really do prefer the name over “Xbox Game Pass Cloud – playing games such as DayZ, Journey to the Savage Planet, and even Minecraft Dungeons. They’re games I like to relax to, have a few laughs with my nephew about, before moving onto whatever else piques my interest.
To set the bigger picture for you, you may be wondering what hardware I used, what kind of internet I have, and what carrier I use. Unlike much larger outlets, our hardware is our own, phones we’ve bought, an Xbox One controller that’s bluetooth enabled, and a home-made controller mount in order to really enjoy the experience while on the couch or laying in bed.
For our mobile device, we opted for the Samsung S10+ on the “New T-Mobile” network, and a 200/25mbps internet connection at home. Due to the fact our carrier is T-Mobile and we live in rural Oklahoma, you have to take these minor things into consideration when comparing to other outlets, who for all intents and purposes, are often stationed in much bigger locales along with their writing staff.
Microsoft suggests minimal speeds of 10Mbps download and we’re guessing at least between 1.5Mbps-5Mbps upload in order to get the best experience. Even with these requirements, we’ve often found that there is a bit of trouble in the connections between Game Pass Cloud (Beta) and the devices requesting service streaming.
In our time with it, on a steady 5GHz connection and 4G LTE/5G LTE, we’ve found that this isn’t the case. There’s often lag, delay, and the notification stating that our “Network May Be Experiencing Some Problems”. This issue does disappear, however, for the most part, on our home network, but it does crop up infrequently (during non-peak hours for Xbox Live).
While this is a major push for Microsoft to compete against Google Stadia, it continues to show that services such as Cloud gaming have a long way to go. They still have to fight back against the fact that mobile infrastructures aren’t near as strong enough as services such as Xbox Game Pass require for cloud gaming.
While this is still in “Beta”, it does make you wonder: Will this actually be something that can be ironed out for much of Xbox’s rural users or will they end up only opting for services such as Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native video game reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook today.