Number of xCloud Games Increased

From left, Microsoft vice president Kareem Choudhry, SK Telecom 5GX Service Business Division head Jeon Jin-soo, and Microsoft general manager Catherine Gluckstein 

SK Telecom and Microsoft expanded the pilot service of Project xCloud on Jan. 21. The companies formed a partnership in September last year to run a joint cloud game business in South Korea and the pilot service was launched in October last year. According to Microsoft, the duration of use and retention ratio of the service in South Korea is 175 percent and 300 percent of those in the United States and Britain, respectively.

In the expanded pilot service, the number of xCloud games has been increased from 29 to 85, including more than 40 coming with Korean subtitles and voices. Approximately 40 made their debut in South Korea and games developed by South Korean companies, such as Terra and Black Desert, are also included.

The cloud game service of Microsoft allows users to enjoy games simply by accessing its cloud server. Cloud games require no game installation on a device and are provided on the server itself. A large number of users access the server in real time and, as such, a high-speed and ultra-low latency 5G network and a sufficient server capacity are essentially required.

“Our partnership with SK Telecom is playing a very important role in providing high-quality game services based on 5G,” said Microsoft vice president Kareem Choudhry, adding, “Our cooperation with SK Telecom will be further strengthened based on the expanded pilot service.”

“I am convinced that 5G-based cloud games will change the paradigm of the entire game industry,” said Jeon Jin-soo, who is in charge of the 5GX Service Business Division of SK Telecom, continuing, “Even more gamers in South Korea will be enjoying the finest cloud games via our service.”

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