Xbox System “Scarlett,” Coming in 2020, Rumored to Stream Cloud Games

The Xbox One, released in May of 2013, has lived a pretty long life as far as consoles go. However, new rumors point to the end of its life-cycle as Microsoft ramps up for the next generation of gaming consoles. According to the rumors, Microsoft actually has two new consoles in development. One is a more traditional gaming system, complete with all the hardware that entails. The other one, codenamed Scarlett, is rumored to be a cloud streaming console. What could this mean for the future of Xbox, and gaming in general?

Why Streaming Games with Scarlett?

Many who hear about streaming games and streaming consoles ask one question: why? It’s a fair question, as the current delivery method of games works just fine. There’s not a large contingent of gamers clamoring for cloud processing to take over the main processes of their consoles. However, the upshots to streaming games are there. For one, it would cut down on power consumption for gamers, as the heavy-lifting would be happening off-site.

Also, the system would have much less hardware, as it wouldn’t require as much processing power. As such, that makes the console much more affordable than the average next-gen gaming device. However, it remains to be seen if price alone would be enough to sway gamers.

The Problem with Streaming Games

The biggest problem with streaming games over the cloud, of course, is latency. In the US, many people have high speed internet, but it isn’t fast enough to handle streaming an entire AAA game. In some markets, like big cities or areas with fiber optics, this isn’t an issue. For the average consumer, though, it’s simply not feasible. Unless Microsoft has found a way to eliminate this hitch, their rumored console will face some serious hurdles.

Another issue often raised by collectors is the issue of availability. If you own an Xbox and want to play Halo, you need only turn on your Xbox and pop Halo in. However, if games move to streaming content, you won’t actually own any of your games. Instead, you will have a license to connect to them and play them. If the server is pulled down, if the internet goes out or if Microsoft just decides to stop providing you with the license, the game is gone. You don’t have a physical copy, so it’s not in your possession. If Microsoft can outweigh these fears with a great system, maybe this will pay off for them.