Microsoft’s Project xCloud gets its UK public beta next month

Microsoft has announced that its Project xCloud game streaming service will be tested in the US, UK and South Korea from October. 

You can volunteer here, with Microsoft saying a “small number of participants” will be invited to test the service when it goes live.

Project xCloud, for those that don’t know, is Microsoft’s technology to stream AAA console games to smartphones for remote play when the Xbox One isn’t in reach. 

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Eventually this will allow players to turn their own Xbox Ones into Project xCloud servers, but that part of the plan isn’t the first part of the test, which will be limited to four games running off the company’s own Azure servers: Gears 5, Halo 5: Guardians, Killer Instinct and Sea of Thieves. For the duration of the trial, these will be free for beta testers to play to their heart’s content.

For the moment, sign up is limited to people with Android handsets only, and from a technical perspective, you’ll need a phone or tablet running Android Marshmallow or later. It’ll also need to support Bluetooth 4.0, because you’ll have to pair it with a wireless Bluetooth-supporting Xbox One gamepad too.

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In the UK, Microsoft is partnering with Vodafone for the xCloud test, but that’s to help developers learn about player behaviour and the limits of the infrastructure, rather than any exclusivity deal: you can be on any network and still play. Microsoft has apparently got a similar partnership with T-Mobile in the United States and SK Telecom in South Korea.

When the option to stream from your own Xbox One opens, it will be a key differentiator from Google Stadia, which only lets you play games from remote servers. Until then, it’ll still be kind of magical to see AAA games on your phone screen – assuming it works as well as Microsoft hopes.  

Will you be signing up to the Project xCloud beta, or are you happy with the games available on Google Play Pass or Apple Arcade? Let us know on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.

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