Microsoft xCloud Arrives on iOS, With Some Limitations

had a-tease at E3 2018, Microsoft just announced Project xCloud officially in October 2018. Five months later, the company demonstrated its service capabilities cloud gaming them by running Forza Horizon 4 on smartphone Android while using controller Xbox One. The public trial phase started shortly after - before Stadia glide.

And in the middle of this week, the Redmond tech giant finally expanded xCloud access to Apple devices. Version beta xCloud was released via TestFlight, allowing users to try it out from their iPhone or iPad. This is very interesting because xCloud is one of the services cloud gaming The first third party available on iOS, predating Stadia and GeForce Now. In the past, OnLive was scheduled to launch on iOS, but unfortunately Apple never agreed to it.

xCloud's landing on an iDevice was good news for users, but Apple's regulations put a lot of restrictions. For example, program preview currently can only be followed by user in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada only. Then, there's only one game that can be tested, namely Halo: The Master Chief Collection and features Xbox Console Streaming can't be used yet. Furthermore, Microsoft limits the number of tests a maximum of 10.000 people.

Director of programming Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb explain that because Microsoft strives to comply with Apple policies, the appearance and experience of using xCloud on iOS is different from Android. Registration gate has been opened, but distribution of tickets to this program is entirely Microsoft's decision, depending on whether there are still available slots. If developer agree, iDevice users will be notified by email.

To participate, there are a number of technical requirements that must be met. You must have gamertag Xbox, wireless controller unit Xbox One, internet support via Wi-Fi or mobile data with a minimum speed of 10Mbps. If using Wi-Fi, it is recommended that you use the 5GHz frequency. And finally, make sure your iOS device is running on iOS version 13.0 or later and supports Bluetooth 4.0 connection.

Although cloud gaming is a fairly new thing in iOS, Apple has actually introduced a number of services third-party streaming games  released in platformits applications, such as Steam Link, Remotr and Rainway applications. However game streams not the same as cloud gaming genuine, because this service still requires a system Gaming primary (like a home PC) to run games.

The way Microsoft Project xCloud works is more like Shadow - which is also available on iOS. But like GeForce Now, Shadow requires us to have gameit comes first, while xCloud offers Xbox game catalog and plans to be integrated into next-gen console Microsoft.

With The Verge.