Xbox boss Phil Spencer has teased the launch of streaming sticks for xCloud, as well as a new tier of Xbox Game Pass membership.
In an interview with Stratechery (paywall), Spencer said streaming sticks could be used to plug into TVs in order to play games via xCloud.
“I think you’re going to see lower priced hardware as part of our ecosystem when you think about streaming sticks and other things that somebody might want to just go plug into their TV and go play via xCloud,” Spencer said (via The Verge).
“You could imagine us even having something that we just included in the Game Pass subscription that gave you an ability to stream xCloud games to your television and buying the controller.”
According to a report by Windows Central, Microsoft worked on a streaming dongle similar to Chromecast, and was even set to reveal it at E3 2016, but it failed to materialise. Perhaps now, four years later, the time is right.
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Spencer also teased the launch of new tiers of Xbox Game Pass membership, including Xbox Game Pass Platinum. This would include free, guaranteed access to new Xbox hardware. As The Verge points out, Xbox All Access is an existing payment plan that includes either an Xbox Series X or S, and 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.