xCloud officially arrives in Brazil today (30) with over 100 games

Microsoft announced, Thursday (30), the official launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) throughout Brazil. After nearly a year of testing in the country, the cloud gaming service will be available from 3:00 PM (GMT) today, at no additional cost, to all Game Pass Ultimate subscribers on Windows PCs (via the app and browser), Mac, Android and iOS devices (tablets and smartphones)

And to talk more details about the long-awaited news from the players, voxel I spoke with Katherine Glockstein, Vice President and Head of Production and Strategy at Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Karim Choudary, Vice President of Cloud Gaming at Microsoft.

Choudary begins by saying that subscribers will get “hundreds of games”. He even explained about the Brazilian library. “In a simple way, we can say that it is the same as in the United States. However, there are legal issues in every country that end up making some games unavailable in one place or another.”

On another essential point, make it clear that the service requires an internet connection of at least 10 Mbps (10 Mbps). In addition, the CEO commented that it will be possible to play even on a 4G connection on mobile phones and Wi-Fi (as long as it is 5GHz). Gluckstein added that if one uses services such as streaming movies and series (such as Netflix) without problems, the games will also work without difficulty.

In addition, players will not be required to own modern computers or mobile phones, as all game processing is performed on Microsoft servers.

The democratization of Xbox games

Microsoft executives talked a little bit about how they are working to bring xCloud to Brazil. In addition to our country, Mexico, Japan and Australia also receive a Beta version of the service, with a total of 26 countries players can access games directly from the cloud without having to download them.

“We always put our fans first. So, we want it to run anywhere, which is exactly what xCloud makes possible. We always listen to feedback to build the best gaming ecosystem,” says Choudhury.

Gluckstein continued his colleague’s speech, saying that the service “democratizes people’s access to Xbox games” and that with the system it will be possible to start a game on the console and continue to save playing on a cell phone or computer, for example.

The CEO noted that xCloud preview in Brazil It started in November 2020 with Android and since then Microsoft has been studying system performance and the opinion of Brazilian consumers. In this sense, she says, “the passion of the local fans” was necessary to meet the demand.

“Consumers were very nice (in the preview stage). The participation of the Brazilians was amazing and we saw this movement as a way to prove the quality of the experience they had,” he said.

Challenges

Contrary to what one might imagine, the poor network infrastructure in Brazil was not the main challenge Microsoft faced in bringing in xCloud. In this case, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that made the process even more difficult.

“We are all still at home and it was very difficult to coordinate everything remotely. In Brazil, we have teams in Sao Paulo and Rio (de Janeiro) and during this period we were not able to do any kind of visits, it was online,” Choudhury said. .

Gluckstein said that although the brand launched a preview at the end of last year, public studies (not just about Brazil) have been underway for more than 3 years. During this period, the teams were mapping technical infrastructure issues and looking for local partners. On this last point, including Microsoft Azure (Cloud Computing Platform) is one of the partners that helps run xCloud here.

The end of consoles?

Choudary predicted and answered one of the key questions about cloud gaming: According to him, consoles will never end. “Oh cloud games It is an additive for consoles and will not replace the experience of playing a video game. They’re like videos, you can watch them on the big screen, on your computer, on your cell phone, and they are all different experiences that complement each other.”

The representative of the American tech company also argued that the idea of ​​playing in the cloud is to try to move the gaming experience to titles like HelloAnd Energy NS Psychological pioneers for other devices.

The Vice President and Head of Production and Strategy at Xbox Cloud Gaming mentioned that many games are being adapted to run locally with the touch of mobile phones, for example.

“We want everyone to be able to enjoy video games anywhere. There are already over 3 billion people playing something around the world. By using cloud gaming, we are providing a highly immersive experience for fans,” concluded Gloxtein.