Amazon is partnering up with Xbox to deliver Xbox Cloud Gaming via Fire TV devices

John Elden Ring

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Microsoft and Amazon have kindled an unexpected partnership to deliver Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud gaming platform via Amazon Fire Stick, in a boost for the platform.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is a great option for those who don't fancy shelling out for a pricey video game console or gaming PC, offering hundreds of games for a $15 per month fee bundled with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Playable on Android devices, iOS via the web at xbox.com/play, Xbox consoles, and Samsung TVs, Xbox Cloud Gaming streams Xbox games over the internet, bypassing the need for powerful local hardware.

Xbox games are still designed for television screens, however, and playing many cloud games on a phone can be a fiddly affair, even with the best Xbox cloud gaming mobile controllers. Even if you don't have an Xbox console, Xbox Cloud Games play best on a TV, but up until now, only Samsung TVs had the privilege. Samsung TVs with the necessary gaming hub feature can be quite pricey too, but what if there was a cheaper way?

Now, you can use a $40 Amazon Fire TV stick and connect it straight up to any monitor, and instantly gain access to Xbox Cloud Gaming. That's right, the big tech cloud rivals are unexpectedly partnering up for Xbox Cloud Gaming, offering a native solution for the first time.

"The expansion of Xbox gaming to Fire TV devices offers players another option for enjoying their favorite games using devices they already own," said Ashley McKissick, who leads Xbox cloud gaming as Xbox CVP for Xbox experiences. "For those who don’t own an Xbox console, this provides an affordable and convenient way to get started. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, there's something for every type of player. We look forward to having more people join the Xbox gaming community."

"We’re committed to making it easy for customers to access their favorite entertainment experiences with Fire TV,"
said Daniel Rausch, vice president of Fire TV and Alexa. "We’re excited to work with Microsoft to bring the Xbox app to select Fire TV devices so customers can enjoy a vast library of high-quality games, allowing them to play amazing titles without the need for a console."

Initially, Xbox Cloud Gaming will be available on the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and Amazon Fire Stick 4K Max models, before potentially expanding to the cheaper HD Amazon Fire Stick Lite model later on. The slightly more expensive Max model supports Wi-Fi 6E, which should give it an edge in connectivity over the 4K Wi-Fi 6 model, should your home network solution support Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, that is.

It seems that Xbox Cloud Gaming on Amazon Fire TV will be available in every region where Xbox Cloud Gaming is currently available, too. Naturally, you will also need a Bluetooth Xbox Series X|S controller to connect up and play via your Fire TV, too.

Amazon and Microsoft are often bitter cloud rivals when it comes to business service applications, going as far to sue each other to gain favor for lucrative governmental contracts. Amazon Gaming and Xbox seem a little more chill, though. Microsoft partners extensively with Amazon's Twitch and Prime Gaming platforms, for example, and Amazon is bringing its New World MMO to Xbox later this year. At the end of the day, it's all just business, and this partnership stands to be mutually beneficial for both.

Amazon has its own nascent cloud gaming platform dubbed Amazon Luna, and you'd think they'd want to proliferate their own service on their own hardware. But cloud gaming is hard, and Microsoft already owns all the pieces of that puzzle since picking up Activision-Blizzard, Bethesda, and various other major global franchises. Microsoft has already started supporting Amazon Luna with its content too anyway, adding Fallout titles to the platform. Of course, Amazon has been instrumental in causing the Fallout franchise to utterly explode in popularity thanks to the Amazon Fallout TV show. So, I'd say that relationships between the two firms are probably quite peachy right now.

What is more interesting is the fact Microsoft is still intent on growing Xbox Cloud Gaming. For a time, it felt as though Microsoft might've been backing away from it. Server capacity has still been an issue in some regions, although Microsoft has gradually worked to repair the delta. NVIDIA GeForce Now has also given Microsoft incredibly strong competition in this space, given that its tech is just so good that it regularly beats Xbox Cloud Gaming for latency and connection stability. Although recently, I've found NVIDIA GeForce Now has had some queue issues of its own.

It was already sort of possible to side-load Xbox Game Pass onto a Fire TV, but being able to get it straight from Amazon's app store will deliver it to a whole new audience. It's also fortuitous timing, since my colleague Zac Bowden discovered a patent for Microsoft's own cancelled Fire TV-like Xbox Keystone just yesterday.

Though, with Microsoft adding an entire new platform into the mix with Amazon Fire TV, I do wonder how server capacities might be impacted. I also wonder what investments Microsoft is making to bring the latency of their experiences up to par with their PC-first brethren. Xbox Cloud Gaming servers are built using Xbox Series X hardware, after all, which aren't necessarily spec'd with video encoding in mind.

In any case, it's great to see Microsoft isn't backing down here. I'm eager for more information on exactly when we'll be able to bring our own games to Xbox Cloud Gaming, though.
 

AllBizness

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Too bad Firestick quality is crap, if people with Samsung TV's aren't downloading Gamepass I certainly doubt Firestick TV users will. This is a nothing burger.
 
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voke

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imagine using a fire stick in 2024. I got an Apple TV a couple years ago and my television experience got better tenfold
 

toucandela

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Kinda surprising what with Luna continuing to grow; I saw that GOG have a Luna section for some games now. GOG have been pally with Amazon for a while with free games. Amazon's gaming moves have always felt a bit random but they seem happy.
 
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saltyashell

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How is this supposed to grow subs? According to that press release, this requires that you already have a GamePass Ultimate subscription. I don't see how this is gonna convince casuals and normies to add another $20 subscription to their lives
 
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ethomaz

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It is a good move to be fair but not sure if it will be a success.

Remote cloud play doesn't require a lot of hardware... you just need to display the video output and send the inputs.
It should be good to Firestick if it has full support to all controllers features.

Said that my experience with Firestick is pretty good... it is not like Apple TV but at least it is in a more affordable price.
Plus mine runs everything super fast... something I can't say for others similar devices except Apple TV.
 

Nhomnhom

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Remember when Samsung TVs were going to sky rocket Xcloud?
No matter what cloud gaming hype always come back, it doesn't matter that people show at every opportunity that they don't care about cloud gaming, you can make it available to them for $1 and they still don't care.

People that don't own a console are not going to go buy a gamepad for this.
 

Etifilio

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Sony already had PSnow is their TVs and Samsung’s back in 2014. They removed it later on.
and they'll put it again because they panic and follow almost every step MS makes, in the Insomniac Leaks they had sliders full of fear about Xbox leapfrogging them (literally looked like an Xbox fanboy slider) and about putting PS Plus on Smart TVs and Fire Stick / Roku like devices, they'll kill their console EXACTLY like Xbox is doing, they have no trust in their own franchises
from-insomniac-leak-sony-plans-to-bring-ps-to-pc-browser-v0-CMg7ZjauM-LOTmxyEneWC0YK0J9TTG8f9GDTMghK0Z4.jpg
 
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Etifilio

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How is this supposed to grow subs? According to that press release, this requires that you already have a GamePass Ultimate subscription. I don't see how this is gonna convince casuals and normies to add another $20 subscription to their lives
subscriptions for games will never be the main model, it doesn't even financially work for movies/tv shows, core gamers hate Cloud Gaming and Casuals in the vast majority are inclined to mobile games, Microsoft has invested 100B+ on acquisitions to put content on subscription service that doesn't grow even tho it is already avaliable everywhere and now they're turning completely third party cause they can't convince shareholders to bleed money anymore, that's why Sony should follow Nintendo steps, they're doing all the wrong moves when they literally cannot afford day one releases on subscription services and a dead console model, when their console dies, their business model also dies, and it'll be too late for turning back, PlayStation is already turning into an UNDESIRABLE console, now imagine when Plus is avaliable everywhere with most first party games there...
 
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ToTTenTranz

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This a nice initiative.
The jury's out on whether the FireTV sticks have a CPU fast enough to provide a service with adequate latency, and how much the local WiFi's own latency can interfere with gameplay.

I actually own like 3x FireTVs 4K Max myself, that we take on vacations to connect to hotel TVs, as well as to get streaming services on older TVs.
Since I've got Gamepass Ultimate until like september 2025 that I bought for really cheap, I guess I'll try it some day.


and they'll put it again because they panic and follow almost every step MS makes, in the Insomniac Leaks they had sliders full of fear about Xbox leapfrogging them (literally looked like an Xbox fanboy slider) and about putting PS Plus on Smart TVs and Fire Stick / Roku like devices, they'll kill their console EXACTLY like Xbox is doing, they have no trust in their own franchises
from-insomniac-leak-sony-plans-to-bring-ps-to-pc-browser-v0-CMg7ZjauM-LOTmxyEneWC0YK0J9TTG8f9GDTMghK0Z4.jpg


All that those slides from 2021 and 2022 are telling me is if Sony launches a similar service to this within the next 12 months, it will have been something that was planned for years and not a reaction to Xbox's plan.

Truth is, for most Europeans and many Asians the internet speeds are more than enough for the 25-50Mbps required to reach 4K60 HDR H265, plus having the kids and wife watching their own streaming services at 4K30 HDR, plus the older kid downloading his new Steam game all at once. Latency and therefore QoS has been a struggle for a while though, but eventually this is getting widespread.


This still isn't going to replace local processing anytime soon. I believe this will be more of an add-on for people who would otherwise get a second console for the kids.
 

Etifilio

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This a nice initiative.
The jury's out on whether the FireTV sticks have a CPU fast enough to provide a service with adequate latency, and how much the local WiFi's own latency can interfere with gameplay.

I actually own like 3x FireTVs 4K Max myself, that we take on vacations to connect to hotel TVs, as well as to get streaming services on older TVs.
Since I've got Gamepass Ultimate until like september 2025 that I bought for really cheap, I guess I'll try it some day.





All that those slides from 2021 and 2022 are telling me is if Sony launches a similar service to this within the next 12 months, it will have been something that was planned for years and not a reaction to Xbox's plan.

Truth is, for most Europeans and many Asians the internet speeds are more than enough for the 25-50Mbps required to reach 4K60 HDR H265, plus having the kids and wife watching their own streaming services at 4K30 HDR, plus the older kid downloading his new Steam game all at once. Latency and therefore QoS has been a struggle for a while though, but eventually this is getting widespread.


This still isn't going to replace local processing anytime soon. I believe this will be more of an add-on for people who would otherwise get a second console for the kids.
it literally was a reaction to Xbox's plans, you can check it on the Insomniac leaks, they were panicking about MS, GamePass and ABK, they show NO TRUST in their own franchises/service/console, the fact the console will not be necessary anymore will basically kill PlayStation overtime, and the only way Cloud can work is through subscriptions due to the insane high costs of these datacenters, so they're basically betting on the wrong model and they'll adapt their players to bet on that future too.
 

ToTTenTranz

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you can check it on the Insomniac leaks,
You just showed the slides. Not studying the possibility of using popular streaming sticks for cloud gaming would have been stupid. Of course Sony was looking into it and it had nothing to do with Xbox.

The first Cloud Gaming Service was OnLive that launched in 2010, 14 years ago. When OnLive went down in 2015, it's patents and know-how were bought by none other than Sony Computer Entertainment, 9 years ago.



Sony bought the assets of a cloud gaming company 2 years before Gamepass even existed and 4 years before Xbox Cloud was even announced.
Let that sink in.




And then Geforce Now (back then was Nvidia GRID Gaming) launched publicly 9 years ago, after 2 years in beta, so it's been out there for 11 years.
Xbox Cloud service launched in Beta in 2019, 6 years after Nvidia's and 9 years after Onlive's (whose patents and technical expertise, by the way and in case it didn't sink in yet, were bought by Sony).





they were panicking about MS, GamePass and ABK, they show NO TRUST in their own franchises/service/console

Oh yes, Sony is totally panicking about... checks notes.. the success of their console business compared to Microsoft's.