In 2021, Microsoft will bring the power of the Xbox Series X to its game streaming service, Project xCloud. And xCloud will be fully released as part of Xbox Game Pass later this year.

Sources familiar with Microsoft's xCloud plans told The Verge that the cloud-based game streaming service will exit beta and launch as a service bundled with Xbox Game Pass. This means that not only will you be able to download and play select Xbox games on your Xbox One S or Xbox One X, but you will also be able to stream those games and future Xbox Series X games to your smartphone or tablet.

Project xCloud will leverage Microsoft's cloud infrastructure, one of the largest in the world, to stream games from dedicated servers to smartphones and tablets using cellular broadband or Wi-Fi connections. The overall goal is to provide a service that can stream games to all types of hardware, allowing Xbox owners to stream games from their console to other devices.

Project xCloud, currently in beta, allows some Xbox games to be streamed to Android phones and tablets. The service is also available for iOS devices, but due to limitations in Apple's App Store, only "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" can be streamed.

However, it appears that xCloud will be officially released on Android at least by the end of 2020. It seems unlikely that the game streaming service will be officially released for iOS devices this year, as Microsoft will need to negotiate with Apple to make xCloud available on iOS.

When xCloud launches, it will use custom servers running Xbox One S-based hardware, but The Verge reports that these servers will be upgraded with the powerful Xbox Series X hardware in 2021. The Verge reports that these servers will be upgraded with the Xbox Series X's powerful hardware in 2021. Furthermore, the ability to take advantage of the Xbox Series X's 12 teraflops of power means that overall game streaming services could be improved through faster video encoding.

I tried out the beta version of Project xCloud and was reasonably impressed, especially with its ability to sync with Xbox Game Pass games on both Xbox One and Windows 10. However, it is far from perfect, has a slight delay, and requires a fast broadband connection to work well.

If they can improve this experience by upgrading the hardware on the server side and provide access to the next generation of games, Microsoft could actually create a successful "Netflix for games" where other services like the now defunct OnLive have failed service could be created.