Microsoft's Project xCloud Takehome Release Complete, Testing Coming Soon

Project xCloud, Microsoft’s new streaming service for its Xbox portfolio of games, has reached an important milestone: the home version is completed and ready for testing.

Project xCloud, for those unaware, is a new game streaming service that will allow players to stream games from their Xbox consoles to any smartphone, tablet, or other smart device. The service was first announced six months ago and most recently shown on the latest Inside Xbox episode, but this is the first time we’ve heard of a significant milestone like this.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer announced the project’s landmark update via his Twitter:

Congrats to Project xCloud team for completing their takehome release. Excited to get feedback from our internal teams ahead of public trials later this year. pic.twitter.com/un1T8mg0d4

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) May 1, 2019

There has been no update on when the public testing Spencer mentioned will begin, but we anticipate more information to be shared on that at E3 next month.

With Google Stadia debuting in March and xCloud getting closer to public testing, the future of gaming seems to lie in streaming. How these services will deal with the myriad of obstacles in front of them -- inconsistent internet infrastructure being a huge one -- is anyone’s guess, but there’s no denying that streaming is coming soon.

For more, take a look at how the Internet reacted to the Google Stadia reveal, as well as its more recent reaction to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie reveal.