There are many things that have defined the gaming space over the decades since its birth. The biggest thing of the bunch is innovation. That might sound basic, but it’s a bit more nuanced than one might think. After all, just because you think you can innovate something doesn’t mean that you can or that the technology you wish to use will work in the way you intend. Every major gaming publisher, both past and present, has tried to innovate hardware and software over the years, and with mixed results. Now, we know one of Xbox’s biggest almost-blunders via the cloud gaming platform they intended to make.
The project was called “Keystone,” and it was legitimately going to be a cloud gaming hardware platform that people could buy and then play games on via the cloud. The original announcement of the Keystone was done back in 2021, and seemed to be something the company was legitimately going after, even filing a patent for their device. However, a year later, they said they “canceled it in its original form” and were trying to make something even better.
Oh, and that “original form” showed up on Phil Spencer’s shelf for some reason. Sure, why not? Anyway, they apparently did keep working on it until late 2022, when Spencer himself admitted that they canned the project due to high costs and a desire to focus on other things. Fast forward to now, and Windows Central found the patent that detailed what this Xbox cloud platform would look like. In short, it’s very…square.
To be fair, Microsoft didn’t stop pushing their agenda with cloud gaming, but there are many hurdles that have yet to be cleared. The biggest one isn’t about servers, as some would point out, but with gamers themselves. While the internet is a key part of many gaming franchises, the quality of internet around the world various. Cloud gaming needs a constant and strong internet connection to make it work, and that’s not a guarantee.
The servers are an issue, too, as they are costly to run and maintain. The initial plan for Keystone was to do cloud gaming via the Xbox Game Pass. That could work in theory, but it would likely jack up the price of the subscription service, which could backfire on Microsoft heavily.
Oh, and let’s not forget that there already WAS a cloud-focused gaming platform via the Google Stadia, and that thing didn’t last too long for multiple reasons. Just saying.
