If you’ve been using an Xbox One since 2014 and its performance is no longer up to date, Microsoft may have the right solution for you. Xbox Cloud Gaming, also known as xCloud, will allow you to play games from Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at no additional cost to your subscription. The Spanish channel ElAnalistaDeBits on Youtube looked at the performance of this online service on Xbox One, and it turned out to be more efficient than the latter.
Xbox Cloud games available on Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One!
What does Xbox Cloud Gaming offer?
Xbox Cloud Gaming was born on November 14, 2019. It was first shown on some compatible smartphones, and soon expanded to other platforms. iOS, PC and Xbox devices have gradually joined the service which is now 100% powered by Xbox Series X! The transmission stream is 1080p/60 FPS and Microsoft is now aiming for 4K at 120 fps.
With these offers, the Spaniards on Youtube channel ElAnalistaDeBits wondered if Cloud Gaming Xbox could get better results from an Xbox One console by using the service on the latter with enough connectivity. The answer is yes, because all the games tested are optimized, by image fluidity, resolution or even loading times.
Make way for different tests on Xbox One
In total, six games were tested: Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4, Hellblade, The Medium, Battlefield V and Psychonauts 2. All titles on the online service perform better than the console itself, and even better than that. It is now possible to play The Medium which is not available on Xbox One. In terms of in-game rendering, xCloud is closer to the Xbox Series S than the Xbox Series X, which is the error of the blur effect imposed by broadcast replays.
In general, all titles go from dynamic 1080p resolution and 30 fps to native 1080p and 60 fps. Load times have also been significantly reduced from 45 seconds to 7 seconds on Gears 5, which is one of the service’s best-optimized titles.
In Forza Horizon 4, the graphic difference is not very noticeable. On the other hand, the title goes from 30 to 60 frames per second, which is really a nice difference in a racing game like this. The game loads almost six times faster, going from 1 minute 20 seconds to 16 seconds.
Xbox Gaming Cloud also allows you to tweak in-game graphics settings, Hellblade also offers on Xbox Series X | S. In addition to the original 1080p resolution, it is also possible to activate ray tracing. If you are not interested in getting nice reflections, you can also choose 60fps. Load times are four times faster, dropping from 40 seconds to 10 seconds.
It’s hard to compare to The Medium, because it’s not on Xbox One! So the cloud version has been compared to the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, and the result is quite mixed. The online service version is lower than the one obtained on Xbox Series S. Resolution, ray tracing and FPS are similar, but on xCloud the graphics are a little lower, just note the texture of the book cover in front of the mirror.
In Double Fine Studios’ latest kid, namely Psychonauts 2, you’ll now be able to play at 60 frames per second, which isn’t luxurious for a platform like this. In this title the loading times stand out the most, almost ten times faster! Going from 1 minute 17 seconds to just 8 seconds.
The last title compared was Battlefield V. That runs around 50-60 fps at 900 dynamic pixels on Xbox One, is now more stable on Xbox Cloud Gaming at 1080p, 60 fps, with load times cut in half. No drop in frame rate. On the other hand, the graphic difference is not very noticeable.
Impressive performance but not without compromise
While the results are important, keep in mind that playing through this system can be nerve-wracking. In fact, if your internet connection is unstable, resolution like yoyo will run from 240p to 1080p while having coarse fluidity. Some titles are also less optimized than others, Gears 5 is the perfect example of a title that excels in service, unlike Forza Horizon 4 which suffers more from input lag, and latency between console and console.
Keep in mind that the service is constantly improving, and even if some games aren’t perfectly playable yet, massive improvements have been made in a couple of years. Xbox Cloud Gaming can be a great compromise if you have enough connectivity and are still looking for the holy grail: the Xbox Series X.
As a reminder, xCloud is integrated into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at no additional cost.