Microsoft plans to bring Xbox games to a browser near you

With the announcement of the DirectX 12 application programming interface Microsoft Corp. has made it clear that it wants video games that rely on it to be played on all types of devices, including smartphones, tablets, personal computers and Xbox game consoles. According to a new rumour, the company’s new plan may be even more revolutionary: to bring Xbox games to browsers.

Microsoft is testing out playing games, including titles for Xbox 360 and Xbox One game consoles, in browsers, reports Neowin. According to the report, the software giant is creating a cloud service which could deliver high-quality titles to all devices. The service is expected to stream games to various browsers, but what is unclear is whether it will process/render all games in the cloud, or will require devices to process/render something locally as well. The service is expected to work with all browsers, not just Internet Explorer, but it is unclear whether it will require Windows operating system.

If the information is correct and Microsoft is working on a cloud service that will bring various video games, including titles for the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One game consoles, to virtually all devices and platforms, then it means that the company is dramatically reassessing its video game strategy. Instead of “connecting” all of its platforms with DirectX 12 API, Microsoft intends to simply bring its games to all devices possible, which greatly reduces importance of current products, such as Windows, Xbox and other. If you can play games for Microsoft’s platforms on a Mac, then why stick to Windows or get an Xbox?

Publishers and retailers may not be exactly happy with Microsoft’s initiative since it will hurt their sales of titles for PC and Xbox One.

Since there are not a lot of details available about the upcoming service, it is possible that the world’s largest software designer is working on a service that would not stream games to all devices, but would help games to work on all devices by offloading certain processing/rendering to the cloud. Such service could work exclusively on Windows or Xbox platforms and rely on DirectX 12 API, thus boosting importance of Microsoft’s operating systems for gamers and game developers.

Microsoft did not comment on the news-story.

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KitGuru Says: If Xbox games could be played on all devices, what is the point of getting the console itself? Moreover, in a bid to ensure that its cloud service will replace lost revenue from Xbox and Windows games, Microsoft would have to create the best cloud gaming service in the world, which is not an easy thing to do. Sony Corp. takes very cautious approaches to the cloud gaming and clearly has no plans to replace consoles with such a service.

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