An incredible new ad from Xbox makes it very clear that you no longer need an actual console to access its huge library of games. In fact, all you really need is Amazon Fire Stick and you’re set.
The ad begins as a parody of the opening moments of Scream, one of the greatest movies ever. A young woman at home alone answers a call, with a menacing voice on the other side of the line responding that they are someone who “wants to play Xbox.” The woman responds by saying that you need the console to play Xbox games. “You don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox,” the voice spookily asserts. Soon the menacing voice calls back and asks, “What’s your favorite video game?” Freaked out, the woman asks, “What kind of game is this?”
Ohoho, this is no game. It’s hundreds of games! The woman walks into the living room and sees that her TV, which boasts an Amazon Fire Stick, can now play Xbox games. Turns out she locked the doors to make sure no one interrupts her unprompted game night now that she has Game Pass, and most of its catalog, at her fingertips thanks to the cloud.
As of today, Xbox is taking the next step in its Play Anywhere initiative, which has found Microsoft deemphasizing the need for a physical console in order to play its games. This began in earnest at the outset of the current console generation when Xbox Game Pass also debuted on PC, allowing folks with capable computers to access a sizable chunk of Xbox’s library. Soon enough, the term “Xbox exclusive” effectively implied PC as well, and Microsoft hasn’t stopped there.
Thanks to its efforts with the cloud and remote gaming, Xbox games have also been playable on mobile devices, as well as certain makes of Samsung smart TVs as of just last year. With this latest ad, the Xbox app is now making its way to Amazon Fire Sticks, further eliminating the need for a console.
However, this initiative isn’t without some drawbacks. As great as the cloud is these days, it’s still hardly a proper substitute for a console with games installed on it, as cloud gaming remains susceptible to the ebb and flow of internet connectivity for stability. For folks expecting high quality graphics, cloud gaming (and especially Microsoft’s XCloud technology) isn’t ideal, as it compresses the image in order to run games better. Then there’s the matter of the catalog: Xbox’s app can only afford players most of the titles on offer via Game Pass, not the entirety of one’s catalog of owned games. That not only means the library is fairly limited, but also that you must be subbed to Xbox Game Pass in order to make use of the app.
Other than that, Xbox’s play to get its games on as many platforms as possible is clearly off to the races, and it’s a reasonable bet to assume it’ll keep expanding for the foreseeable future. Despite this push, and the thinking of critics and fans alike, Microsoft isn’t getting out of the console space entirely, and has even confirmed its already working on a next–generation console. However, Xbox’s future certainly doesn’t seem like it’ll be limited to the sales of a box that’ll sit in your entertainment center, and considering the ground that it’s lost to its competitors the last few generations, it’s probably smart to be thinking wider.