Phil Spencer may not have given up hope of bringing xCloud to rival consoles

Microsoft’s head of gaming was seemingly still hopeful of making the company’s xCloud streaming service available on rival console platforms as of August 2020.

That’s according to an email sent by Xbox boss Phil Spencer to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney last summer, which was surfaced this week in documents filed in the Epic Games vs Apple legal case.

“I did want to just let you know that I have your point on xCloud on other consoles (haven’t given up)”, Spencer wrote.

Spencer has spoken on several occasions about his desire to make Xbox‘s games and services available on as many devices as possible.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can currently access over 100 games on Android mobile devices via the cloud, and Microsoft recently started inviting selected subscribers to a cloud gaming beta for Windows 10 PCs and Apple devices.

However, in July 2020, shortly before his email to Sweeney, Spencer said Microsoft had no current plans to bring Xbox Game Pass to Nintendo or PlayStation consoles.

Further reading

Microsoft not ruling out Xbox game streaming on Switch

But company focusing "near-term" efforts on Android devices

Beyond the company’s own consoles, it’s focusing its efforts on PC and mobile because it’s able to deliver players an undiluted Xbox experience on those platforms, he told GameStar.

“Because we know when somebody is playing one of our Xbox games there is an expectation that I’ve got my Xbox Live community, I have my achievements, Game Pass is an option for me, my first-party library is completely there,” Spencer said.

“And the other competitive platforms aren’t really that interested in having a full Xbox experience on their hardware. But for us, we want to be where gamers want to be, and that’s the path that we’re on.”