‘This is an Xbox’, tested
“This is an Xbox,” like Microsoft’s latest ad campaign goes – and with it the promise that your laptop, handheld, TV or smartphone can be played like an Xbox console. Of course, few of these options can actually run Xbox games. What underpins this slogan is the ability to stream gaming sessions via Xbox Cloud Gaming, a feature of Game Pass Ultimate that works, in a way, like a Netflix for gaming. The interface is an admirable recreation of the Xbox console dashboard, albeit simplified.
Game streaming has been part of the Xbox strategy ever since at least 2018but this year it seems to be more prominent than ever before. You can now play much of the Game Pass library with nothing more than a wireless controller and a Amazon Fire TV Stick. So with that in mind we wanted to see what it actually was do I feel like ditching the console altogether. Can a Fire TV Stick be an Xbox? According to Microsoft’s definition, yes. Does it work well enough to replace the console? That’s a more difficult question.
Given my long history with gaming hardware, I was skeptical of Xbox’s cloud game streaming pitch, no matter how compelling it sounds. I grew up playing games on consoles and have strong memories of receiving them as gifts or buying them with hard-earned money. Getting a new console these days isn’t as memorable as it was during my childhood. Will we ever get another Nintendo 64 kid moment? – but these plastic boxes that I plug into my TV still feel inextricably linked to my love of gaming, a gateway to good times and full of untapped potential.
Microsoft hopes to appeal to people who don’t feel this kind of tangible attachment and prefer to access games alone. With a $19.99 per month Game Pass Ultimate subscription, you get instant access to over 100 titles, ranging from critically acclaimed hits like Call of Duty: Black Ops6, Person 3 ReloadAnd Sea of thieves to beloved indie attractions such as Brotato And Encryption.
I have fast internet and typically get speeds of around 350 Mbps over Wi-Fi 6, which is comfortably more than the 20 Mbps connection speed that Xbox itself recommends it. That is to say, I have everything I need to have the best experience possible, but I can’t ignore the compromises that streaming games in the cloud makes in terms of the fast responsiveness and sharp graphics I’ve come to expect from my consoles . Not to discredit Microsoft’s many achievements in bringing Xbox to TVs, but the gameplay still feels like it’s being delivered over the Internet via external hardware. Of course, that’s exactly what it does. It comes surprisingly close to the native experience at times, but is even slightly off feels noticeable enough to make me question whether I can rely on it full-time.
In games where success is measured by any precise action (which the Game Pass library is chock-full of), streaming games in the cloud is simply not an adequate replacement for locally running hardware. I tried it out Call of Duty: Black Ops6 on launch day from my TV without an Xbox – definitely cool to be able to do. However, I quickly realized that I’d rather watch a high-resolution video of the gameplay on YouTube or Twitch than spend more than five minutes trying to line up shots or throw grenades correctly.
Conversely, if you plan to use cloud game streaming for turn-based games or visual novels, you’ll experience the best that the Xbox app on TV has to offer. This is a great way to play Person 3 Reload, Pentimentand others that require a lot of reading and don’t punish you for taking your time. It was here that I sometimes forgot I was streaming and didn’t play them locally. But even with my relatively fast internet, the video quality often looks compressed and the controller inputs are a bit slow.
After playing more action-packed games, my hand-eye coordination adapted to the delay enough to compensate, allowing me to make anticipatory movements to increase my chances of performing well. That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about the delay; the more I had to do this to succeed in games like run-based Brotatothe less fun I had.
Those who have ever tried to pack a console in their luggage for vacation may already be imagining scenarios where cloud game streaming comes in handy: in a hotel or an Airbnb, or at a relative’s home. Those edge cases are, I think, where the console-free route – or at least the concept of it – shines brightest. And if you already subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate on your console, you don’t have to spend any extra money to get the benefits of cloud streaming when you’re away from home (plus, your saved games travel with you). If this describes you, cloud game streaming is a great value add. And even though this kind of technology has existed in recent years, both with Google’s defunct Stadia and Nvidia’s GeForce Now, with Amazon Luna and with a PlayStation Plus subscription, it is still astonishing that it is possible to play games completely to play. via the internet.
The Xbox cloud game streaming app may be a suitable console replacement for some people, but not for me. In any case, cloud streaming is an excellent argument for consoles that can do justice to the fast gameplay of these games. If that’s Microsoft’s master plan, to convince people to upgrade to a console instead of preparing for a future without them, then maybe there’s something going on here.
If you really want to get into gaming, you’ll just have to buy a console — at $300 new, the Xbox Series S more or less rivals the Nintendo Switch as the cheapest entry point to current-gen gaming. If you don’t know where you stand, or don’t want to make such a big upfront commitment, think of cloud gaming as a scratch ‘n’ sniff test to see if you want more. It doesn’t matter how you play, it is is an Xbox – but not all Xbox experiences are created equal.