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[Spyxos]

Speaking of Fortnite, another major game was recently added to Xbox Game Pass' cloud library in the form of Grand Theft Auto V. Last time GTAV was added, the service saw a surge in popularity which resulted in occasional queues. Although it's unconfirmed if GTAV is directly responsible, many users on Xbox Cloud Gaming communities are blaming GTAV for this recent, much larger influx of queues, which is hitting Microsoft's cloud gaming systems in various regions.

Even off-peak, I've found myself in situations where a cloud game can take anywhere up to 5 minutes to get going. Before writing this article, I sought to test it out for myself, and nabbed a 3-minute queue time followed by a further 3-4 minutes of "Sorry, this is taking longer than we expected" queue timing. Some users on reddit have reported queues of anywhere up to an hour though, which surely strikes me as a bug, but it's hard to know exactly what the situation is per region.



It has been suggested to me that some of the delay could be caused by how Xbox Game Pass handles game delivery on cloud these days — as the library has grown, Microsoft doesn't keep every single cloud game installed on the servers at all times, opting instead to spin up nearby servers on the fly with the specific game you requested.

Microsoft is also offloading some of the GPU cycles from Xbox Cloud Gaming to A.I. processing services when they're not in use as part of Microsoft's big ChatGPT / Bing Chat push. The AI processing may also be inducing queues, as servers flip priorities around. It's a downside, but it also crucially extends the business viability of the service in a world where Apple and Google won't allow Microsoft to monetize on their platforms.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is seeing increased queue times as demand surges

People are blaming GTAV, but is something more going on?

www.windowscentral.com

I have also had frequent waits of 10 minutes in recent weeks.

 

[Optimus Lime]

 

[Quezacolt]

All that talk about "you dont have to wait with cloud gaming" and here we have it, queue times, wich is even worse than waiting to download a patch.

MMO players know the pain that is to be waiting a long time in a queue, some BS happens, you lose your spot and have to wait 1+ hours again

 

[Quasicat]

I was at a friend’s house and he wanted to play Fortnite. All I brought with me was my iPad, so I fired up the free version of cloud gaming and saw a 30 minute queue line. I wasn’t too upset since I’m not a GamePass Ultimate member, but I would be pissed if I were paying for it.

 

[Dacvak]

Wow, didn’t know cloud gaming could get less appealing

 

[Pelta88]

Sounds like an article by Jez Corden.

 

[Spyxos]

All that talk about "you dont have to wait with cloud gaming" and here we have it, queue times, wich is even worse than waiting to download a patch.

MMO players know the pain that is to be waiting a long time in a queue, some BS happens, you lose your spot and have to wait 1+ hours again

Not only that, I think after a patch Battlefield 2042 was not playable at all on GeforceNow for weeks. You would think that something like that would be fixed immediately, but somehow they are still very slow.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Yeah, I think I'll pass on queue simulator 101. I'll continue playing all my shit locally.

 

[analog_future]

I don't think it's because demand is surging. I think it's because they're no longer prioritizing cloud gaming because of low adoption.

There's been near zero promotion, updates, quality improvements, latency improvements, QoL improvements, etc.. etc.. in like a year at this point.

The product is still in "beta" ffs and it's been out for like 3 years.

 

[StealthGoblin]

Wow I honestly didn’t know that queuing in the cloud was a thing. TBF I only ever tried PSnow and have done a bit with Premium, so colour me interested.

 

[tommycronin]

In almost most cases you can download the game faster than the cloud queue times.

 

[VolticArchangel]

I really hope that Xbox xCloud project "Overdose" from Kojima Productions, gets a local release. Cloud gaming is still in it's infancy, especially the global infrastructure of wireline/mobile internet and data centers.

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[a multicultural team of v]

I really hope that Xbox xCloud project "Overdose" from Kojima Productions, gets a local release. Cloud gaming is still in it's infancy, especially the global infrastructure of wireline/mobile internet and data centers.

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This might not use the console servers though, I could see this being built in a way that it can run on "normal" Azure servers, meaning they could scale it much better.

 

[twilo99]

Considering how much money they poured into this, wait times shouldn't be a thing at all..

 

[GHG]

First queue times, next they will have you paying per minute/hour.

All part of the plan. Godspeed.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Considering the sheer number of datacenters they need for xCloud to work properly, this could be a problem in a few places and not at all elsewhere.

Cloud gaming is such a shit business proposal at this point lol

 

[Aenima]

On the bright side, think of all the extra hobbies you can start getting into while you wait to play something.

 

[TLZ]

 

[Topher]

This might not use the console servers though, I could see this being built in a way that it can run on "normal" Azure servers, meaning they could scale it much better.

They have to use xCloud servers. A "normal" Azure server is not going to run games.

 

[IntentionalPun]

They have to use xCloud servers. A "normal" Azure server is not going to run games.

I think he's thinking it'll be like Crackdown 3's "power of the cloud" usage.

But we know jack shit about Overdose at this point or what the usage of the cloud will be.

 

[Hendrick's]

Still in beta, but glad to see the increase in usage. Maybe this will prompt MS to start taking cloud seriously and at least try to match GeForce Now.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Switch on the sentries X farms stat!

Gonna meltdown when starfield launches.

 

[ResilientBanana]

This shitty right now, but this just means demand is rising. Time to get more servers.

 

[GHG]

Still in beta, but glad to see the increase in usage. Maybe this will prompt MS to start taking cloud seriously and at least try to match GeForce Now.

 

[StereoVsn]

They have to use xCloud servers. A "normal" Azure server is not going to run games.

Normal Azure server with an Nvidia GPU can certainly run games. How well is a diff question as well as how many users it could host.

Mind you, this would be PC versions of games.

 

[Hendrick's]

Because I travel a lot and want an option to play more types of games without carrying dedicated hardware.

 

[avin]

Good lord. This must mean demand is increasing.

Do they post which games get played most over Xcloud, as opposed to elsewhere on Xbox? I'm wondering if it's the subset of games that don't really need low latency.

avin

 

[Topher]

Normal Azure server with an Nvidia GPU can certainly run games. How well is a diff questions as well as how many user it could host.

Mind you, this would be PC versions of games.

Fair point. I think about Azure with my apps and it just comes down to vcpus and memory allocation. You certainly can setup a full virtual machine with GPU and run it as a game server. But yes, in the context of Xbox, I believe you are only ever running off of Xbox hardware.

 

[Topher]

Because I travel a lot and want an option to play more types of games without carrying dedicated hardware.

I've used it in the past when I've traveled and it works fairly well depending on the game and the area. That's a bit far from the mainstream though.

 

[In Cold Blood]

This is why Microsoft was prioritising xbox APUs for server blades. I posted here how there were ques to get on xcloud and the normal retard fanboys put their laugh emojis on the post

 

[MarkMe2525]

In almost most cases you can download the game faster than the cloud queue times.

I use cloud all the time and this is no where near true.

 

[Topher]

I use cloud all the time and this is no where near true.

At most queue times have been a few minutes long for me and that is only in peak hours. Usually it is a matter of seconds.

 

[tommycronin]

I use cloud all the time and this is no where near true.

Yeah, for you.

 

[DenSho]

Suffering from success. Nothing buying one or two publishers can't fix.

But remember: cloud is not the future, although it totally is the future.

 

[Captain Toad]

Queues to play single-player "offline" games. Now, with input latency, resolution drops and stuttering! The future is now.

 

[Patrick S.]

WTF at those queue times for a service as expensive as Gamepass Ultimate?!

 

[MarkMe2525]

Yeah, for you.

I just don't understand how it could vary so wildly that I infrequently encounter a queue, and you state it's almost always faster to download a game VS stream through the cloud. Am I reading you wrong and you are trying to state that whenever you do encounter a queue, it can sometimes take awhile?

 

[ManaByte]

Trying to stream Tunic right now and it’s a five minute wait. I could install it faster.

 

[bender]

And I thought five minute queues were long. Geez.

 

[Sleepwalker]

First queue times, next they will have you paying per minute/hour.

All part of the plan. Godspeed.

Best deal prepaid plan in gaming.

 

[ManaByte]

Confirmed. I just installed Tunic faster than the cloud queue. Took 1 min to install.

 

[tommycronin]

I just don't understand how it could vary so wildly that I infrequently encounter a queue, and you state it's almost always faster to download a game VS stream through the cloud. Am I reading you wrong and you are trying to state that whenever you do encounter a queue, it can sometimes take awhile?

I thought the exact same as you before. Then when I went to try out cloud version of a game for a gamepass quest it said it was going to take around 25-30 minutes. I have very good Internet and I could just download the game in 15-20 minutes if not less than that.

I can download 50 gigs in about 25 minutes which is my point for me that there's absolute zero reason for me to even be using cloud in the first place but the selling point about Cloud is cutting out the waiting time or the wait to download a game and to free up space on your console isn't working. There has been times where it's taken only about 30 seconds to play a game and then sometimes where its gone much higher. Also the day and time of day is a big factor too.

 

[Hendrick's]

I've used it in the past when I've traveled and it works fairly well depending on the game and the area. That's a bit far from the mainstream though.

It works well for certain games, but the image quality isn't great. This is fine if you are on a phone or a tablet, but not great on a TV.

It does kind of feel like MS has dialed back what they were doing here. Nothing much has changed. Still on beta. Still the same resolutions and framerates. They are lagging behind Nvidia and I just want to see them go all in instead of muddle about with half measures.

 

[Wooxsvan]

this is the worst one of the bunch as far as latency, streaming quality, hitching, etc. geforce now is miles better

 

[Topher]

It works well for certain games, but the image quality isn't great. This is fine if you are on a phone or a tablet, but not great on a TV.

It does kind of feel like MS has dialed back what they were doing here. Nothing much has changed. Still on beta. Still the same resolutions and framerates. They are lagging behind Nvidia and I just want to see them go all in instead of muddle about with half measures.

Yeah, typically I find some good turn based game for the phone. That's how I found out about Ocotopath Traveler.

 

[lh032]

hmmm seems like more and more reason to abandon xbox console

 

[adamsapple]

Queue times are gonna be insane when the Call of Duty games hit game pass.

Better to download.

 

[Robb]

“Queue times”?

Cloud gaming isn’t the future if that’s a thing.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Do they post which games get played most over Xcloud, as opposed to elsewhere on Xbox? I'm wondering if it's the subset of games that don't really need low latency.

The 'most popular on cloud' section via GP PC is:
-GTAV(Xbox One)
-FH5
-FIFA 23
-Rainbox Six Siege
-GTAV(Xbox S|X)
-MLB The Show 23
-Sea of Thieves
-MK11
-Halo Infinite
-FS2020
-Farming Sim 22
-ARK: Ultimate

---

I just did 2 tests and it was 1m30s for GTAV, 1m20s for Halo MCC. West Coast, US. That is longer than it usually takes(10-20s).

 

[alphachino]

Imagine owning nothing, and being happy about it, AND having to wait in a fucking queue.