This week marked the announcement of xCloud, Microsoft’s streaming service, coming on September 15th, which enables Game Pass to be used on a variety of smartphones.
The service has been in testing since the start of the year, with Halo: Master Chief Collection and other games available to test with many controllers, and I was one of the testers, playing Halo on my iPad Pro.
It was a surreal experience, but one thing that stuck out to me, was Rare. I’ve loved playing Sea of Thieves on my PC, and the fact that its coming to this service, is incredible.
But what about the elephant, or the Kazooie in the room? What about Rare Replay on xCloud? Let’s talk about the possibility.
A Replay of Emulation
Rare Replay on other platforms has been something of a holy grail in the last few years; from the Nintendo Switch to GamePass on PC. Granted, it’s been possible to play the games through unofficial means, but ever since Blast Corps and the rest of the games were ready to play on the Xbox One, you couldn’t help but wonder.
Mix this in with GamePass, you’ve got a duo of nostalgia and fun that can eclipse even Halo. But with xCloud, you can play Halo on a certain device as soon as the service officially launches next month, but you can’t with Rare Replay.
The key question here is; Why. Some tout the emulation challenges and the many different controls that each game has, to which I cry; rubbish.
Microsoft and Rare are not companies that have no common sense; they are aware of the collections of IP that they both have, and to have a compilation of this would be alluring to even the hardened Sony fan.
READ MORE: Opinion - xCloud will be Microsoft’s asset in the next-gen wars.
An xCloud of Nuts and Bolts
Microsoft knows that Rare Replay on xCloud is a trump card for them; it’s one thing to be able to play a huge library of games on a smartphone or tablet that’s not an Xbox, it’s another to play Banjo Kazooie on these devices.
I’m convinced that it’s only a matter of time; it’s much more realistic to expect this than Rare Replay on the Switch; just imagine loading up Perfect Dark on your Samsung Note 20 Ultra. It’s possible, it’s on a system already set up, its simply up to Microsoft and Rare to make it happen.
Nostalgia is a huge commodity in these times; people want to have easy entry-points to the games that helped defined their careers, their interests, and their relationships.
I already pay for GamePass on the PC, and I would not mind paying extra for the xCloud service, just so I could play Blast Corps on the go. Granted, the service won’t be available on iOS for the time being, but that’s also a matter of time; the potential for the service is huge, and the power of Banjo is something that can’t be underestimated by anyone.
READ MORE: Opinion; It’s time for Microsoft to give Rare some freedom.