One of the big themes out of this year’s huge E3 gaming conference wasn’t one we expected. Two of the biggest companies in the world of video gaming announced plans to bring their console games to mobile devices such as phones and tablets. Those two companies were the mighty EA, and the massive Microsoft.
We’ve already started seeing a range of console-like games appear on these devices in recent years. But usually they are from older eras of gaming, like back on the PS3 or Xbox 360. Or they have been spin-offs like Pokémon Go. Or more simplistic indie games that appear on both mobile devices and consoles without any real differences between them.
But at E3, they were talking about current, big blockbuster games like Halo, Forza Motorsport, FIFA and Star Wars Battlefront playing on a mobile device. Is it even possible? Can EA and Microsoft bring their biggest games to mobiles? Surely they are not powerful enough, right?
Well yes, they can. Both of these companies are looking to cloud-gaming services to make this possible. It will work similar to Netflix, where the movies and shows aren’t actually on your TV, they are playing over the internet. In this case, instead of movie streaming from the cloud, it’s a game. And because the game isn’t actually playing on your mobile phone – it’s playing on the internet – it doesn’t need to be super powerful to work.
While Microsoft didn’t show how this experience might play, EA showed footage at E3 of someone holding an Xbox controller, with a mobile phone attached to it. This makes it feel like a handheld, even though it’s the console version of FIFA being played.
This is pretty crazy right? Imagine if you could play your favourite Xbox One or PS4 game without actually owning the console. It could happen in the very near future so just remember, you read about it first in Krash!
