Xbox to roll out trial of its cloud gaming service in India

VIDEO gaming brand Xbox will roll out a trial of its cloud gaming service in India.

This was stated by Xbox head Phil Spencer during Microsoft’s glitzy Xbox showcase in London recently.

Global businesses such as Microsoft are moving ahead with their own plans with Project Xcloud, a game streaming service that will allow players to stream Xbox games to mobile phones.

The free preview of the service will begin in India next year.

Corporate Vice President of Gaming Cloud at Microsoft Kareem Choudry said: “The content library we have that runs on console and the community that's attached to it is very compelling. So we are giving that access to people who only have a smartphone device. I think that's the magic.”

As part of Microsoft’s bid for world domination in the next generation of the gaming industry, India is becoming a hot testbed to reach emerging markets of the globe.

Microsoft’s experiment with Xcloud will depend upon India’s internet infrastructure  to run its streaming service, with India focusing more to improve it.

Emerging economies such as India, China, and others are the new destinations for gaming businesses to expand their empire and to reach billions of users.

The market value of the gaming industry in India was estimated at £664 million in 2019.

The figure is expected to grow to over £2.7 billion by 2024.

Affordability and availability of smartphones has boomed the opportunities for gaming companies in India.

Until very recently, the south Asian country has had a relatively small market for console and PC gaming.

India, the world’s second-largest smart-phone market and smartphone owners, downloaded over 14 billion games last year.

India has the largest youth population in the world, with 600 million people under the age of 25, over 50 per cent of the country’s vast population.

The gaming industry in the Asian country is also starting to grow, with gaming staff set to reach 40,000 in the country in the next 24 months.

Gaming studios are also growing around the country, especially in India’s Silicon Valley -  Bengaluru.

However, India is lagging behind due to the expense of dedicated gaming hardware.

Piracy has also remained a pronounced issue, and there is a growing gap for established companies from foreign countries to exploit.

Within five years, the number of people online in the world’s second most populous country  is expected to reach 850 million.

The American technology giant aims to move forward with its own cloud service in the country.

Google’s Stadia and other gaming brands are likely to watch the Xcloud India experiment with greater curiosity.