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Fortnite is now available to play via Xbox Cloud Gaming for free without a membership

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
Hey Apple....




It’s our mission at Xbox to bring the joy and community to gaming by putting players at the center of everything we do. We want to empower everyone around the world to play the games they want, with the people they want, on the devices they already own. We call this Xbox Everywhere.

As we look to make gaming more accessible to even more people, and reach the three billion players globally, we’ve invested heavily in the cloud – both for players so they can play the way they want, and for creators so they engage new, larger audiences and build, run and manage their games using best-in-class cloud tools and services. We’ve built this in partnership with Azure, which reaches more people than any other cloud provider.

Since launching in 2020, we’ve seen tremendous growth: So far, more than 10 million people around the world have streamed games through Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Today we reach another key milestone as we expand our business model to make cloud available to more people in even more ways, going beyond Xbox Game Pass to provide our first free-to-play title. In partnership with Epic, Fortnite is available via Xbox Cloud Gaming so fans can play on an iOS device, Android phone or tablet, or Windows PC through web browser. This is just the beginning for us – we’re going to learn, implement feedback, and in time look to bring even more free-to-play titles to players through the cloud.

Our continued growth and ability to enable new business models has been driven by the way we’ve evolved cloud to make it part of the Xbox ecosystem. We started off on Android only running off Xbox One S servers in our datacenters. Since then, Cloud Gaming upgraded to Custom Xbox Series X servers, and launched on Windows PCs, Apple phones and tablets, Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X, and we’ve even started rolling it out on Steam Deck. We’ve also seen the community load it up on some unconventional devices via browser, although it looks like they were having a lot of fun. In total, players across all26 countrieshave played on more than 6,000 types of devices, from various flavors of Android phones to a range of PCs and iPhones from all generations.

We’ve also enabled Cloud Gaming in more places, like Mexico, Japan, Australia, and Brazil. The gaming community has been phenomenal in all these new countries, and Brazil in particular has blown away our expectations. Adoption was so overwhelming in the first couple weeks that the demand from fans exceeded our server capacity to the point we had to quickly move to deploy more hardware to keep up with demand. The support we’ve seen going to new countries, paired with making more games available on more devices, has led to encouraging results. In the months ahead, you should expect cloud gaming to become available in even more places – we can’t wait to share more.

None of this would be possible without great content. We are in a unique position of not only having a first-party cloud that can deliver the games, but a rich history in gaming inclusive of expansive studios making titles across genres. Since launching under two years ago, we’ve worked with over 125 developers to make more than 350 games from the Xbox Game Pass catalog cloud enabled. We’ve also seen the power of cloud as a discovery mechanism by reducing the time to simply try out and play new games. On average, Xbox Game Pass players who use cloud, discover and play nearly twice as many games as Xbox Game Pass members who don’t play on cloud.

The way games are being delivered to devices has also evolved – when we began all of our games followed a lift-and-shift model to make it as easy as possible for studios to make games playable on cloud. Without the need to make any code changes, games would simply just work on our cloud platform. This has been a great way to build up the catalog with hundreds of games, and many games play wonderfully this way.

We’ve evolved over time and are also making it possible for games to be Cloud Aware; simple changes from the developer can enhance the whole experience. They may choose to add touch controls – either a basic overlay to fully custom controls like you see with Hades – or optimizing font size based on the device being streamed to. We launched cloud gaming with one cloud aware game: Minecraft Dungeons with custom touch controls. There are now more than 150 cloud-aware games featuring touch, and we’ve found games with touch controls lead to more engagement. On average, we see 2x increase in play for games that have touch controls, and 20% of Xbox Cloud Gaming users use touch exclusively.

Cloud aware titles also extend to more intensive games, making it possible to play Gen-9 titles on Xbox One via the cloud. A great example of this is Microsoft Flight Simulator. It became available via cloud on March 1, and quickly became the most played cloud game on phones, tablets, PCs and consoles for the month of March. Players who otherwise wouldn’t have access to Gen-9 titles now have the opportunity to jump in on the devices they own.

I’ll never forget the first time I played a console game on my mobile phone powered by the cloud; it was quite simply a magical experience. That was many years ago as we’ve been on this cloud journey for some time alongside a wonderful and engaged player community and incredible content partners. Together, we believe we have a bright future ahead for all players and creators.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
minion-minions.gif
 

01011001

Banned
tried it, isn't bad... the latency is ok I guess and if you have a lower end phone this will most likely be a superior experience than playing ut natively, since the game is notoriously slow on lower end phones
 

Riky

$MSFT
"We’ve also enabled Cloud Gaming in more places, like Mexico, Japan, Australia, and Brazil. The gaming community has been phenomenal in all these new countries, and Brazil in particular has blown away our expectations. Adoption was so overwhelming in the first couple weeks that the demand from fans exceeded our server capacity to the point we had to quickly move to deploy more hardware to keep up with demand."

"On average, Xbox Game Pass players who use cloud, discover and play nearly twice as many games as Xbox Game Pass members who don’t play on cloud."

Looks like it's starting to take off,

"Cloud aware titles also extend to more intensive games, making it possible to play Gen-9 titles on Xbox One via the cloud. A great example of this is Microsoft Flight Simulator. It became available via cloud on March 1, and quickly became the most played cloud game on phones, tablets, PCs and consoles for the month of March. Players who otherwise wouldn’t have access to Gen-9 titles now have the opportunity to jump in on the devices they own."

Wonder if it will come out of beta this year.
 

reksveks

Member
That's not my point, at all.

If we are saying "fuck Apple" because of their 30% curated store, should that not apply to all curated stores that are 30%?

Why does Epic have no issue with MS, Nintendo or Sony's 30% tax? (yet...)
Cause there is competition between MS and Sony for fortnite money so they probably are getting kick backs or value adds whereas Apple/Google gives no fucks.

It's all about the value that a platform holder brings.
 

Orbital2060

Member
"We’ve also enabled Cloud Gaming in more places, like Mexico, Japan, Australia, and Brazil. The gaming community has been phenomenal in all these new countries, and Brazil in particular has blown away our expectations. Adoption was so overwhelming in the first couple weeks that the demand from fans exceeded our server capacity to the point we had to quickly move to deploy more hardware to keep up with demand."

"On average, Xbox Game Pass players who use cloud, discover and play nearly twice as many games as Xbox Game Pass members who don’t play on cloud."

Looks like it's starting to take off,

"Cloud aware titles also extend to more intensive games, making it possible to play Gen-9 titles on Xbox One via the cloud. A great example of this is Microsoft Flight Simulator. It became available via cloud on March 1, and quickly became the most played cloud game on phones, tablets, PCs and consoles for the month of March. Players who otherwise wouldn’t have access to Gen-9 titles now have the opportunity to jump in on the devices they own."

Wonder if it will come out of beta this year.
About the bolded text, thats what Ive done and played a larger variety of games because its all in the cloud and no downloads. You can do that on the console as well but Im still in the habit of downloading games that I want to play there. Playing on the phone changes that because you dont even have the option to install. Its just browse and play.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Cause there is competition between MS and Sony for fortnite money so they probably are getting kick backs or value adds whereas Apple/Google gives no fucks.

It's all about the value that a platform holder brings.
Oh I get it. Believe me.
 

01011001

Banned
FTFW

I'm no Apple fan, not even close, but this logic would apply to the console storefronts as well, yeah?

Or is it only okay when they do it?

it's a bit different. Phones and Tablets these days are basically pocket PCs, as in multifunctional devices that have significant usecase overlap with PCs.

consoles are specialized entertainment systems focused on videogames with some multimedia functionality.

Consoles are also often sold at a loss or with very small margins. not so any apple products, on the contrary actually.

so not comparable situations.

comparable would be iOS vs Android vs OSX vs Windows vs Linux
as all of these are operating systems used for computing of almost any kind.

iOS is a special breed among these as it is the one and only closed system on computing devices. you can not sideload anything without jailbreaking.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
it's a bit different. Phones and Tablets these days are basically pocket PCs, as in multifunctional devices that have significant usecase overlap with PCs.

consoles are specialized entertainment systems focused on videogames with some multimedia functionality.

Consoles are also often sold at a loss or with very small margins. not so any apple products, on the contrary actually.

so not comparable situations.

comparable would be iOS vs Android vs OSX vs Windows vs Linux
as all of these are operating systems used for computing of almost any kind.

iOS is a special breed among these as it is the one and only closed system on computing devices. you can not sideload anything without jailbreaking.
Apple is their own hardware and OS. Always has been, that is why it's not a PC.

It is comparable, people are trying to change Apple to be more like PC, but not consoles to be more like PCs?

They also have Android if people so wish for a more open platform. I think there is a lot of mental gymnastics trying to compare "closed platforms."
 

01011001

Banned
Apple is their own hardware and OS. Always has been, that is why it's not a PC.

It is comparable, people are trying to change Apple to be more like PC, but not consoles to be more like PCs?

They also have Android if people so wish for a more open platform. I think there is a lot of mental gymnastics trying to compare "closed platforms."

OSX is an open platform where you can install anything anyone puts on the internet... so Apple went from open to closed platform for their mobile devices. extremely comparable therefore especially since iOS gets more and more like a mobile version of OSX
 
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01011001

Banned
Is it though? It's only on Apple products.

it is open as in you can install software not curated by Apple.

the only computing OS on the market where you can only install curated apps from a single source that I know of is iOS


(also running OSX on a PC can be done)
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
it is open as in you can install software not curated by Apple.

the only computing OS on the market where you can only install curated apps from a single source that I know of is iOS
I still think it's hypocritical to call out their iPhones, but not consoles. Closed platforms running closed OSs.

Both walled gardens, both hardware/software provided by the product maker.
 

01011001

Banned
I still think it's hypocritical to call out their iPhones, but not consoles. Closed platforms running closed OSs.

Both walled gardens, both hardware/software provided by the product maker.

they are different classes of devices tho. if the PS5 was marketed as a system where you can do text processing, PowerPoint presentations, web browsing, professional video editing etc. on that would be different, but it isn't.

all these consoles are marketed as, and which is reflected in the software used on them, is gaming and multimedia.

also, funnily enough, the Xbox consoles are pretty open lol, and more open than iOS 🙃 which is kinda funny
 

oldergamer

Member
I still think it's hypocritical to call out their iPhones, but not consoles. Closed platforms running closed OSs.

Both walled gardens, both hardware/software provided by the product maker.
Some walled gardens are taking a bigger chunk then others. I think that is the bottom line here.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Who says its 30%?
Everyone on the internet, here, indies, etc., when they want to throw shade at game platform storefronts. 30% is a common knowledge across digital storefronts. As well as the Apple lawsuit that reveled into on them.

Now if they negotiate with platform holders, so be it, but the argument still is a walled garden is a walled garden on hardware/software makers devices.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I was going to ask why anyone would use this versus the app but just checking and it seems like Fortnite is still removed from the Apple store.

Also opens it to the thousands of kiddies stuck with Chromebooks in school.
 

Orbital2060

Member
Anyone else that has used Xcloud I'm on a gigabit connect and the quality is god awful
Works very well on my Apple XR on a 4G mobile connection + Series controller 💯

The only caveat Id add is that it streams at a rate of about 3-5 GBs of hour played, so it can easily cap the 100 GBs I have on my monthly sub, if I only play on the cloud.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
FTFW

I'm no Apple fan, not even close, but this logic would apply to the console storefronts as well, yeah?

Or is it only okay when they do it?

That's not my point, at all.

If we are saying "fuck Apple" because of their 30% curated store, should that not apply to all curated stores that are 30%?

Why does Epic have no issue with MS, Nintendo or Sony's 30% tax? (yet...)

Apple is their own hardware and OS. Always has been, that is why it's not a PC.

It is comparable, people are trying to change Apple to be more like PC, but not consoles to be more like PCs?

They also have Android if people so wish for a more open platform. I think there is a lot of mental gymnastics trying to compare "closed platforms."

You are missing a big part of the whole Epic vs Apple fight.

You can buy Fortnite content from Epic directly and pay NO storefront fees.
Apple doesnt like that shit because people basically would have Fortnite installed (free so no cut to Apple) then buy shit from the Epic store (again no cut to Apple).
Apple feels Epic is circumventing Apple from making money from a game on their storefront....so they boot Fortnite.

MS and Sony you do pay the cut if you buy from the platform holders storefront....but said platform holder doesnt give a fuck if you decide to buy from Epic and "dodge" the 30%.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
You are missing a big part of the whole Epic vs Apple fight.

You can buy Fortnite content from Epic directly and pay NO storefront fees.
Apple doesnt like that shit because people basically would have Fortnite installed (free so no cut to Apple) then buy shit from the Epic store (again no cut to Apple).
Apple feels Epic is circumventing Apple from making money from a game on their storefront....so they boot Fortnite.

MS and Sony you do pay the cut if you buy from the platform holders storefront....but said platform holder doesnt give a fuck if you decide to buy from Epic and "dodge" the 30%.
So you are saying consoles are not getting a cut from Fortnite purchases? (rhetorical question) Pretty sure they are, since that came out in the court docs, hence the crossplay above 15% language.

What if Epic allowed to directly purchase from them, bypassing Sony, Nintendo, and MS? Would they not throw a same stink?
 
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