The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has hinted in a recent interview with Stratechery that Microsoft is planning to release TV streaming sticks for its xCloud cloud gaming service. Streaming sticks will be a part of Xbox Game Pass, and with this, people can stream games through xCloud after they plug them into the TV. Spencer, in the interview, discussed the potential for a free bundled TV stick to play xCloud games.
“I think you’re going to see lower-priced hardware as part of our ecosystem when you think about streaming sticks and other things that somebody might want to just go plug into their TV and go play via xCloud,” said Spencer. “You could imagine us even having something that we just included in the Game Pass subscription that gave you an ability to stream xCloud games to your television and buying the controller,” he added further.
You’ll Not Require Xbox Console
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has had the idea for an Xbox game streaming TV stick. The company was reportedly preparing lightweight Xbox streaming devices in 2016 too. However, for some reason, the software giant canceled the hardware during that time. Even now, Spencer has only hinted about the possibility at this point but, you shouldn’t be surprised to see Microsoft moving beyond the high-priced gaming consoles.
Streaming sticks will not need any console hardware but will play a selection of Xbox games on the TVs. You should know that the Xbox chief is not against the idea of console hardware at all. He also put forward the idea of an Xbox Game Pass Platinum tier, which will guarantee access to new hardware as part of the subscription. Microsoft has currently bundled xCloud game streaming only with its highest Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier that charges users $14.99 per month.
