As Xbox Game Pass Ultimate launches cloud gaming, it must solve the last-mile problem

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is launching the option to stream games from the cloud beginning tomorrow, September 15. This will give subscribers in 22 countries the capability to play full console games on an Android device. Like Netflix, you won’t host anything locally. Instead, you control what is effectively a video feed that is piping into your device from a remote computer. And I’m hoping that this is the last time I’ll have to explain cloud gaming, because the tech is right on the cusp of going mainstream. Or, at least, that’s the aim for Microsoft (and competitors like Google and Nvidia). But the problem is no longer the tech. That part works. The issue is what’s in your hands and home.

When you move objects like letters and parcels, the most expensive part of the shipping journey is the last mile. It requires the most time and effort. Something similar happens with remote gaming. Microsoft can build a pristine network on the backbones of the internet to deliver games to its customers in an instant, but once that video feed hits a person’s home, it’s up to the end user to get a decent experience.