Another week, another episode of DF Direct and Microsoft’s latest endeavors are our main topics of discussion. Last week, the Xbox app for the Amazon Fire Stick 4K was released, backed by aggressive marketing from Microsoft that suggests you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox. On a broad level, the message is correct, but based on the quality of the service, things need to change significantly before we can embrace that idea, whether you’re experiencing Xbox on PC or through the cloud.
I bought an Amazon Fire Stick 4K Max to test out Xbox streaming last week, but fully expected the experience to mirror the current cloud streaming offering available through an Xbox console or PC. Ultimately, streaming quality isn’t really determined by your client’s hardware, but by whatever data is being streamed to you from Microsoft’s servers. The difference offered by the Fire Stick is, of course, accessibility. Similar to its efforts to make cloud streaming work on Samsung TVs, this is about opening up the Xbox to more potential users who might not be particularly interested in buying a console. The idea is sound, but I think the execution needs work.
Although you need one of the latest 4K versions of the Fire Stick to stream Xbox, it’s the same 1080p streaming we’ve seen before in our previous tests. Microsoft deserves some praise for input lag response that surpasses its PlayStation counterpart. It’s still significantly slower than the local experience, but you can adjust to it. Mostly, it’s good, especially if you choose a game that runs at 60 frames per second. Microsoft also deserves praise for a working interface and a clear suggestion from the app to switch your TV to game mode (mine defaulted to Film Maker mode on an LG CX OLED – good for media content, no good for gaming).
- 0:00:00 Introduction
- 0:00:54 News 01: Microsoft says you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox
- 0:24:31 News 02: Game Pass prices increased
- 0:38:36 News 03: New Black Myth: Wukong PC details revealed
- 0:53:26 News 04: Original Xbox gets 1.4GHz CPU upgrade
- 1:01:34 News 05: First Generation of Descendants Frames Tested!
- 1:13:21 News 06: Ace Combat 7 tested on Switch
- 1:19:41 Supporter Q1: Which Windows based handheld would you most recommend?
- 1:25:36 Supporter Q2: Are you going to make more three-person video games?
- 1:29:44 Supporter Q3: What old unused Nintendo IP would you like to see again?
- 1:34:45 Supporter Question 4: If Microsoft made Windows run smoothly on ARM, what would that mean for their products?
- 1:43:27 Supporter Q5: Do you think Valve will give Steam Machines another shot?
- 1:49:21 Supporter Q6: Why is Intel’s XeSS better than AMD’s FSR?
- 1:59:01 Supporter Q7: Will the Unreal Engine traversal stutter be fixed for the new Witcher game?
- 2:02:08 Supporter Q8: Can the PS Portal be updated or hacked to be a much more useful device?
- 2:06:25 Supporter Q9: John asks: how’s the recording session going?
However, the gaming experience is not good enough. The stream itself is bitrate-starved, meaning the image quality is relatively poor – especially when streaming to a large living room screen. Macroblocking is easily visible, even on static screens, especially in gradient color transitions – the Starfield menu system is a good example of this. Other content is better (Forza Horizon 5 looked good), but this is in no way a substitute for the local experience.
Our recent analysis of Microsoft and Sony’s cloud platforms revealed something else: although Xbox servers are running on Series X silicon, users are getting Series S versions of games. Our understanding is that Microsoft is virtualizing more game instances from the same hardware using the less demanding S Series code for any given game. Given that the stream itself is 1080p, the idea has merit – the exception to the rule are titles that support 60fps on the Series X but not the Series S. Doubling the frame rate lowers latency – essential for a cloud system.
So you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox. It’s true. The streaming system works, but it’s not a particularly good experience for Xbox games. The simple solution would be to increase the bitrate of the video and thereby improve the quality. Stadia did it, PlayStation Plus cloud streaming does it, GeForce Now does it. It works and respects the target screen in a way that Microsoft’s current cloud streaming does not. However, as things stand, in a world where the Xbox Series S is ridiculously cheap (especially second-hand – I bought one for £65 on Facebook Marketplace and £100 is an easy target price), the fact is that spending a bit it is more. you have a much superior gaming experience: improved input lag, crystal clear images, no streaming image quality issues. And you’re not only limited to Game Pass, but standard Xbox titles as well.
Manage cookie settings
But you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox for a while – and you don’t need to use streaming either. You can use a PC, and while there are a few exceptions (Halo Infinite comes to mind), the quality of Microsoft’s PC releases is usually good. However, according to our discussions of this week’s Direct, we have a lot of complaints about the Xbox app for PC. It’s just not fit for purpose. While there’s nothing stopping you from bypassing the Xbox app by buying games on Steam, that’s not really an option if you’re subscribed to Game Pass — and here’s the rub. For reasons that are completely unknown, there are problems with the Xbox launcher actually launching games: its main purpose.
When Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition launched on Game Pass a few months ago, I was eager to try out a version of the game that was only available on consoles before its Game Pass launch. Even now, it’s only available in the Microsoft marketplace and yet on my main computer, it never works. The game launcher appears, but actually trying to launch the game does nothing. We’ve had similar issues with the Xbox app over the years, requiring a full reinstall of Windows to get any joy, and yet it still hasn’t been fixed.
Maybe it’s a problem with my specific computer? Well, the fact that Alex can’t launch Hellblade 2 on his PC via the Xbox app suggests not, while the Steam download works fine. It is completely surprising, as is the apparent inefficiency of the download process. Right now, Alex is downloading Forza Motorsport. It downloaded at 14MB/s via the Xbox app, which isn’t catastrophic. And yet downloading via Steam delivers 112 MB/s and maxes out the connection effectively. In that regard, the Xbox app is at least functional, but at a disadvantage to the opposition Microsoft is trying to compete with. And a launcher that doesn’t always release games? These are basic things.
I think what is clear is that Microsoft is entering a period of transition – and an uncertain one at that. Moves like cloud gaming marketing and giving PC Game Pass users better value compared to Xbox console users send a signal that the focus on the console offering is changing. All signals from the platform holder suggest that Xbox as a console and Xbox on PC could merge in the medium to long term.
Meanwhile, the multi-platform game release strategy seems to be constantly evolving – and it’s still somewhat surprising that some titles from Xbox studios are coming to PS5 with advantages over their existing Xbox counterparts. And yet, I think the overall trajectory from Microsoft is the right one. I think it’s safe to say that the traditional keyboard model isn’t working for them and needs to change. Having acquired so many studios, including heavyweights like Bethesda, Minecraft and Activision, a multi-platform approach to Xbox just makes sense.
However, I can’t help but think that this transition period could be better handled and return to cloud and PC streaming, it just makes sense that if you’re going to introduce new ways for people to play, these alternatives should JOBS and should deliver the best realistic quality – and with the Fire Stick experience and the Xbox PC app in particular, there’s no doubt Microsoft can do better.