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This September will see the pair launch the Xbox cloud gaming streaming service in South Korea, utilising the operator’s 5G network
Wednesday saw the announcement that SK Telecom will launch cloud gaming for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate users over its 5G network in South Korea.
By paying around $14 a month for a subscription, users will have access to a library of around 100 Xbox games, each of which is available to play on mobile using the cloud infrastructure, without requiring a download. Users will not require a 5G mobile or tablet device themselves to enjoy the service, as the 5G cloud infrastructure will provide the low latency required.
Customers wishing to play the games on PC or via a Xbox console itself will be required to download the games, however.
"We’ve been working closely with Microsoft to offer high-quality cloud gaming in Korea through Project xCloud," said Jeon Jin-soo, vice president and head of 5GX service, SK Telecom. "Going forward, we will further enrich gamers’ experience by making more games available in the Korean language and identifying promising Korean games."
The project is scheduled for official launch on the 15th of September.
South Korea is an excellent location for a launch of such services, with excellent 5G coverage and a massive gaming market.
Project xCloud was announced by Microsoft back in 2018 and is one of many cloud gaming platforms to emerge in recent years, alongside the likes of Google Stadia and Playstation Now.
However, Project xCloud has run into something of a wall in the last few days, with Apple announcing that it cannot allow the launch of the cloud gaming service on iOS in its current form. The bottleneck appears to be that the service would bring games to iOS which have not been through Apple’s strict review process.
Microsoft has responded to this issue by claiming that Apple is holding gaming apps to a higher standard than others in related categories.
“Apple stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass. And it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content," said the company in a statement.
Much like so many technical innovations, cloud gaming is accelerating at a blistering pace, but there are clearly many kinks in the process which remain to be ironed out.
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