On the cusp of E3 2021, Microsoft has been making some fascinating announcements. Alongside news of an Xbox Game Pass app coming to smart TVs in the near future, it also confirmed that streaming devices were in development to bring the game subscription service and its cloud gaming capabilities to TVs or monitors that lacked native support.
By the sounds of it, then, we’ll soon be able to plug and stream Xbox Game Pass titles on a TV without a dedicated Xbox Series X console – using a more compact streamer at even less cost than the entry-level, discless Xbox Series S.
Many questions remain though, such as what this streaming stick will look like, what it’ll cost, and what features will actually come baked into the device. Here are all our predictions for the prospective Xbox streaming device.
Nicely priced
Streaming sticks are ten-a-penny these days, and many of them cost about as much too. You can buy a budget HD streamer for as little as $25 / £25, with 4K HDR models sitting around $50 / £50 instead.
We’d expect an Xbox streamer to sit near the latter price point, but not too much higher – though a $100 / £100 RRP isn’t impossible. That’s still far cheaper than a new console, or a refurbished last-gen Xbox One, so there’s a clear saving to be had for those who can’t afford a proper gaming machine.
Of course, there are plenty of premium streamers that jump into three-figure sums, like the Apple TV 4K 2021 or Amazon Fire TV Cube, which offer a more multifaceted AV experience.
The Apple TV 4K comes with Siri voice commands, a fancy Apple remote, HFR support, and an A12 processor that can comfortably outperform the value Roku Express streaming stick. The Fire TV Cube, meanwhile, doubles as an Alexa speaker and can act as a hub for other AV equipment. But an Xbox streaming stick likely wouldn’t need many fancy features beyond support for the Xbox Game Pass app.
There’d be no need for it to connect with other Xbox hardware, for one, given the Xbox Series and Xbox One consoles come with the Game Pass app from the get-go. We’d love to see some localized co-op capability, with an Xbox streamer on one TV or monitor connecting to a console elsewhere in the house over Wi-Fi, but we don’t necessarily expect it from an initial streamer.
