Microsoft Reportedly Working on 'Streaming Puck' for Xbox Game Pass Cloud Gaming

gamerant.com:

Microsoft, like many other companies before it, enjoys a good codename to keep its ventures secret while still generating a good amount of buzz and publicity. The long speculated on Keystone project is no exception, but now it seems we finally know what this upcoming Xbox release is all about.

Xbox shrouds its hardware projects in mystery and intrigue almost as a force of habit at this point. Before the Xbox Series X was so named, the gaming world knew it as Project Scarlett. It was only natural that as soon as there were whispers of something codenamed Xbox Keystone, speculation would abound that a new console was in the works.

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Now, thanks to a statement to Windows Central from a Microsoft spokesperson, we know exactly what Keystone is. Rather than being a new iteration of the Xbox Series X as some had theorized, Keystone will be Xbox's next big step into cloud gaming. The company is currently working on a cloud gaming dongle to diversify its current hardware lineup.

In the statement, the spokesperson speaks of wanting to remove as many hardware barriers as possible to gamers accessing Xbox gaming services. The Keystone dongle would see this be achievable without the need for a console. All that would be needed is a screen to plug the Keystone device into.

The move from Xbox makes sense. With the Xbox Game Pass service already offered to gamers, a low-cost cloud gaming dongle could be a way to capitalize on this competitively. It would be able to enter this purely cloud gaming service space with a strong footing against the likes of Google Stadia from the start.

We shall have to wait some time to see exactly how Keystone fares, though. In the same statement, Microsoft