“Any game, with anyone, on any device.”
Microsoft announced its plans for expanding gaming to its users over the next decade at DICE 2019 on Tuesday.
Head of Global Gaming Partnerships and Development at Xbox and Microsoft, Sarah Bond, spoke about the methods that will be implemented by Xbox to put their visions into reality.
Bond noted the amount of gamers globally at the moment, and what the growth rate will be like by the year 2030.
“Of the eight billion people on the planet, four billion of them are digitally connected and two billion of them are gamers. By 2030, the eight will become nine, the four will become five, but the big number is of the two billion – that will become four billion. Nearly half of the world’s population will be playing games.”
Bond continued by touching on cross-play and saying, “We envision a world where you can play any game, with anyone, on any device. A world where gaming connects each and every one of those four billion players,” Bond said.”
Microsoft wants to focus on letting gamers share experiences, despite which console they are playing on or their physical abilities.
“No matter device, location, appearance or physical ability. Doing our part and unlocking that future – that is our passion. It drives us every single day,” Bond said.
Bond then announced Microsoft’s plan to use three technologies to enhance gaming experiences for players in the future. These include connectivity, cloud, and artificial intelligence/machine learning.
For connectivity, Microsoft invested in Project xCloud, where players will be able to play any game natively from the cloud, on any device – including mobile phones.
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Microsoft has also invested in services such as PlayFab that will help developers create through the cloud without worrying about the backend, and share their worlds with others through those platforms.
Lastly, artificial intelligence and machine learning is meant to help players modify games to their own abilities, with the game adapting itself to the players through algorithms that translate the input across controller, keyboard, and touch.
“For example, Forza has a fairly complicated control scheme, but most of the time people just hold down the gas and steer. So for touch input, we’re experimenting with a control scheme where you can actually just use your screen to steer, accelerate and brake. Thats it,” Bond said.
For more on DICE 2019, watch IGN’s live stream of all the presentations, and follow along with the schedule and full coverage on IGN.
Jessie Wade is a news writer for IGN and started playing first person shooters on Xbox back in the day. Chat with her on Twitter @jessieannwade.
