Microsoft Corp. is tapping into its Azure cloud infrastructure team to develop a new game streaming service that will deliver XBox-quality games to a range of other devices.

The announcement Sunday of the as-yet unnamed service was made by Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s executive director of gaming, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles and while a time frame was not forthcoming Spencer did share a few details.

“Our cloud engineers are building a game streaming network to unlock console-quality gaming on any device,” Anderson told the audience. “We are dedicated to perfecting your experience everywhere you want to play — your Xbox, your PC and your phone.”

There are different challenges with streamed gaming, but Microsoft already has a wealth of experience in media streaming through its Azure Media Services division. In addition, Azure already has a dedicated gaming division that works with outside developers, and XBox itself launched a service in March to assist gaming developers to use Azure cloud services.

Microsoft isn’t the only company said to be working on a game streaming service. A report in February claimed that Google Inc. was building a game streaming service with the working name of “Yeti.” A bit like its namesake, it has never been officially confirmed but is claimed to be a games-as-a-service platform similar to Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Now or Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce Now that would host games on the cloud and allow users to instantly stream all available titles.

The concept is not a new one either, but it has struggled in the past: OnLive, the first company to have attempted the concept back in 2007, went bust in 2014. Microsoft has the advantage of being able to trade on own name and that of the XBox along with having a wealth of titles to tap into once the device launches, giving it a solid footing even before the first device is sold.

Ten years ago, the mass adoption of streaming music and video services may have seemed unrealistic, yet today both dominate their respective markets. There’s no reason that gaming can’t head in the same direction.

Image: Microsoft