A few months back, Microsoft and Xbox released the public preview of their streaming service, Project xCloud. Having been lucky enough to get into that beta, it’s been an interesting and enlightening experience. For the most part, Project xCloud just works and it’s been a far better time than with another cloud gaming service. However, as the beta is only available for Android devices, iOS users have been left out in the cold.
In a weird twist of fate, iOS devices are not part of these beta. Which is typically the complete opposite with most applications before released ahead of their Android release. Which has to lead to a large number of potential users asking two questions. The first being why did Microsoft go with Android first, with the answer being that the OS has been the smartphone market OS leader for the past few years. The second question being, when will Project xCloud coming to iOS? To which, there’s no answer to that as of yet.
When the public preview was released for Android, Microsoft did provide a statement about their current plans. They would focus on Android first, then circle back to other platforms at an undisclosed time.
“We’re excited about partnering with Android partners in the early phases of our public preview and are working closely with others in the industry to bring game streaming to a wide variety of devices with a screen and internet connection,” the spokesperson said. “We’ll have more to share about bringing Project xCloud to other platforms at a later date.”
While iOS wasn’t mentioned, it’s hard to assume it would be any other OS. For now, if you want to check out Project xCloud, you’ll have to do it on an Android device. As for attempting to use an Android emulator on PC, so far my attempts on trying Project xCloud with BlueStacks have been an exercise in failure.
Hopefully, Project xCloud comes to iOS devices, sooner than later.
