Microsoft announced at its E3 conference earlier this evening that it is planning to release a new console (codenamed Project Scarlett) during the holiday 2020 season. During this announcement, Xbox division’s Executive VP Phil Spencer expanded more on the company’s upcoming xCloud game streaming service. First unveiled back in October of 2018, Project xCloud will allow players to access and play Xbox compatible games anywhere in the world across a large selection of compatible devices. As Spencer states, Xbox owners will soon be able to stream their games anywhere using two separate methods. Method one allows Xbox One owners to essentially use their own consoles as free xCloud servers. You will be able to stream games that you own directly from your own console to another compatible device over the internet. Alternatively, method two makes use of space on one of Microsoft’s own in-house xCloud servers.

Starting October 2019, players can begin using a preview version of this new streaming technology. While no information on pricing has been provided at this time, it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to assume that this would pair well with existing Xbox services like Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass. If you’re lucky enough to be at E3 this week, Microsoft will let you experiment with a preview of the new service at no additional cost. For more information on Project xCloud, have a look at Microsoft’s most recent xCloud trailer which discusses the service in more detail. Also, be sure to stay tuned here as more information becomes available. The mention of xCloud occurs at around 01:47:00 in the video below.

SOURCE: Press Release