Xbox Cloud Gaming is Microsoft's venture into the evolving mobile video game streaming market. It allows players to instantly stream games on their phones or tablets that would usually only be playable on console or PC. The cloud service was recently added to Xbox consoles and even works on third party platforms like iPhone and iPad.
Xbox Cloud Gaming Xbox Game Pass Ultimate bundle, the Xbox subscription service comparable to Netflix but for games instead of film. Xbox Game Pass is one of the major aspects being promoted by Microsoft for the Xbox brand. It is clear that a Netflix style subscription to a library of games that can be instantly streamed, is where Microsoft sees the video game market heading in the future.
Console hardware remains the current industry standard for now however. Google Stadia attempted to break through in this new medium, but it may be another console generation before a true shift towards widespread game streaming happens. But Microsoft is still working towards this as it releases a major Xbox Cloud Gaming improvement update for iOS devices.
The update is focused on improving responsiveness for gameplay on iPhone and iPad devices, this means decreasing the delay between player input and the action happening in game. The delay comes from the time it takes for the user's device to communicate with the server where the games data is actually stored. As Apple products do not allow for an Xbox Cloud Gaming app, players have to use the Safari browser. Making streamed games as responsive as controller inputs on consoles will be necessary if game streaming is to become the next industry standard in home gaming.
Although streaming instantly AAA titles is already a manageable feat in major cities and places with ultra-fast internet, many parts of the world aren't up to it yet. The current generation of consoles already require an almost constant online connection, which is itself a strain for more rural players. Tech giants like Microsoft and Google always have to think around 10 years ahead to stay in the massively competitive business of high-end technology development. This often leads to brand new global market services like Stadia that work well in Silicon Valley, where they were designed, but overpromise everywhere else in the world.
This iOS update shows that Microsoft a still committed to game streaming moving forward, but it can take time for these products to catch up with themselves. At the 2013 Xbox E3 event when the Xbox One was first revealed, Xbox hinted at features that sound now like an almost proto-version of what would later become Game Pass. These features faced such a backlash at the time they were removed the next day.