Microsoft's E3 2022 message: Xbox is more than just a console

As E3 2022 comes to a shut for another twelvemonth, in among all the amazing game trailers and announcements, Microsoft was sending a powerful indicate that stood out above all other things for me. Although the writing has been on the wall for many years for those who have been following along, E3 2022 felt like the kickoff time Microsoft itself was willing to stand and shout that Xbox is more than than but a box nether your Boob tube.

The sheer book of content, features, and announcements that weren't specifically Xbox panel-centric far outshone previous years, and perhaps more crucially, everything Microsoft announced for PC and other platforms was adept. Information technology's a departure from previous years, where pandering to the prevailing internal Microsoftian, oft Windows-led ideology of the time took precedent over what consumers actually wanted.

None of this means Microsoft is forgetting its home console platform, though, revealing the adjacent Xbox, Project Scarlett, for the first time, a codename my colleague Zac Bowden revealed first hither on Windows Primal.

And so what is the existent implication of all this? Microsoft's goal is to build platforms and games for literally everyone, everywhere. The unabridged marketplace, two billion gamers stiff, across all sorts of platforms and services. Microsoft wants to be the glue that ties your gaming life together, wherever you are and wherever you lot play, and they're meliorate placed than well-nigh to pull it off.

Project xCloud and the promise of "everywhere"

I finally got to try Projection xCloud for myself at E3 2022, hooked up to a Microsoft data center some 400 miles away from the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. While in that location's withal some very slightly perceptible latency, I described it as being less significant than running an Xbox to a Tv without Game Manner turned on. My colleague Matt Brown perhaps described it best to me, he was able to hit every active reload on Gears of War while playing, which would exist impossible with poor latency.

Related: Projection xCloud is real. It is insane.

Of course, there'south no way to know for certain how adept Project xCloud will be in the real world until you have information technology in the palm of your hands. But let's only assume it works as well as it did for me at E3 for the sake of statement. If Microsoft nails xCloud, brand no mistake, it could upend the unabridged industry in much the same mode Netflix and Spotify inverse the game for media and TV respectively. The very thought of existence able to accept your entire game library with you to whatever device isn't exactly new, only nobody has really delivered on that hope nevertheless. Microsoft appears as though it could be the first to truly deliver.

Redmond'due south principal competitor right now is, of course, Google, with its Stadia platform. In terms of latency, Stadia is reportedly quite expert, but the platform faces an uphill battle to become content, as information technology will crave developers to spend time and effort to port their games to the Stadia platform. For Xbox, the work is already washed, for the virtually office, a developer need only flip a switch to push button their game across the service, targetting quite literally hundreds of millions, billions of devices on all sorts of platform.

Game streaming via the cloud well and truly is Microsoft'south game to lose correct at present.

Repairing the damage with PC gamers and devs

Another big slice of the growth pie is on Microsoft'southward very own platform, Windows PC, which it gave away to distribution platforms similar Steam owing to decades of misunderstanding (or but dismissing) what makes PC gaming smashing. With gaming at Microsoft elevated to the senior leadership team, for the first fourth dimension in the visitor's history, gamers are driving what happens on Windows, instead of Windows execs more beholden to the operating organization than what consumers actually desire.

Microsoft unveiled a range of new mechanisms and services for PC in the run-up to, and during E3 2022, including Discord-like Gamertag suffixes to requite players more than control over how they present on Xbox Live. A new Windows ten Game Bar app gives PC gamers quick access to recording and sharing, as well as performance monitoring and other tools, similar Spotify controls. The biggest upgrade is the Xbox app itself, which finally gives cadre PC gamers a place to find Microsoft titles without having to dig through the frankly awful Microsoft Store for apps (which itself is due an overhaul). Game developers can at present bring their games to the Microsoft Store without first porting them to UWP, too, since Win32 programs are at present fully supported. Microsoft isn't forcing developers to adopt the Xbox Live APIs either, despite their availability for Win32.

Despite solving its ain app delivery mechanisms, Microsoft isn't going to try and compete straight with other PC stores, opting instead to nurture them as part of the wider Windows PC ecosystem. Microsoft is planning to bring first-party titles to Steam, including Halo itself. Microsoft is too exploring a partnership with GOG to bring Xbox Game Laissez passer for PC and even Xbox Live chat integration to a future version of CD Projekt's own PC store.

Striking other platforms hard

Continuing with its push button outside of Xbox'due south traditional markets, Microsoft is making waves with its remarkable accept on Pokemon Go, dubbed Minecraft Globe, leveraging the power of Azure and open street maps to really push button the possibilities of augmented reality. We tried Minecraft Globe out for ourselves at E3 2022, and we'll have a full preview upwards shortly. I fully expect Minecraft Globe to be truly massive, though, owing to Minecraft's near-ubiquitous appeal, and the simple fact that it already seems similar it's gear up for the prime fourth dimension, alee of its Summer 2022 beta tests.

Microsoft also made its presence known during Nintendo'due south showcase, lending its Banjo-Kazooie IP to Smash Bros Ultimate to rapturous adulation. This comes during rumors of more support for the Nintendo Switch with some of its own games, too as quite perhaps Project xCloud itself. Cuphead will eventually be the second game, joining Minecraft, to utilise Xbox Alive APIs on the Switch. Microsoft is also publishing Minecraft Dungeons not only on Nintendo Switch, only PlayStation iv as well, which practically guarantees information technology'll be a huge sales hitting − if the terminal product is as awesome every bit it seems, that is.

A platform for two billion gamers, with Xbox every bit the cardinal pillar

Microsoft may exist building out its portfolio to incorporate mobile devices, Windows PC, and possibly fifty-fifty Nintendo Switch downwards the line, but that doesn't mean Microsoft is forgetting where it earned the majority of its gaming fans. Microsoft unveiled Project Scarlett during its E3 2022 evidence, touting 8K resolution, 120 frames per second, and the well-nigh-emptying of loading times. Microsoft is likewise investing more in content than it ever has, picking up another studio, Double Fine, for its in-house roster. It also offered glimpses of Gears of War five, Halo Infinite, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Bleeding Edge, Flying Simulator, Minecraft Dungeons, and various other first-party titles that will come first to Xbox Game Laissez passer.

No matter where yous want to play, no matter how you want to play, Microsoft is exploring means to bring that content to y'all.

Despite this large foray into new technologies with game streaming, and the re-emergence of Win32 and other PC efforts, Microsoft nevertheless wants Xbox consoles to offer the best home gaming experience possible. Despite swirling rumors that cloud compute could replace PC and panel gaming entirely, Microsoft has reiterated to united states of america that it believes there will e'er be a market for local gaming, implying very strongly that Scarlett will not be the last Xbox console.

Microsoft not but sees the limitless potential of leveraging its massive data center ascendancy in gaming, but truth be told, I genuinely believe from talking to diverse members of the executive team throughout E3 2022 that they simply want to make a good set of products. The Xbox of yesteryear has been hamstrung by budget limitations, and support for Windows technologies that were often one-half-baked at best. The Xbox leadership sees gaming as a unifying force for social good, through the joy of play, intrinsic to our humanity and well-existence. That is why Microsoft is championing technologies like the Xbox Adaptive Controller, helping schools to leverage Minecraft as an educational tool, and building interactive tools on Mixer to promote salubrious gaming communities.

At that place's still an argument that Microsoft needs to practice more than to meet PlayStation and others on upping its in-house game evolution, but nosotros're already starting to see the fruits of those efforts with Ninja Theory'south Bleeding Border, and Mojang's Minecraft Dungeons, with the big guns likely to drop in 2022 when it has to go up against Sony to make the instance for its next-gen console.

Regardless of all that, though, the message is clear: no matter where you want to play, no matter how y'all want to play, Microsoft is exploring ways to bring that content to you, on any device. It'south time to stop thinking of Xbox as that console sitting nether your Tv set − if Microsoft nails its plans, it'll go and so much more than.

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