Microsoft has announced that it is locking the cloud gaming clarity boost feature on Xbox One consoles to only users on its Edge browser. The move comes as Microsoft tries to keep its edge over rival browsers, such as Chrome and Firefox. The cloud gaming clarity boost allows gamers using an Xbox One console to see games in higher resolution on devices like smartphones and tablets. However, starting with the next update for Edge, this feature will only be available to users on the browser if they are signed in with a Microsoft account. This means that non-Edge users will not be able to take advantage of the increased resolution. “We want gamers who use Xbox One consoles to have the best experience possible,” said Marc Whitten, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. “By locking the cloud gaming clarity boost feature to those using Edge, we can make sure that everyone has the best possible gaming experience.” Whitten said that this move was made in order to keep Edge ahead of rival browsers and ensure that gamers have “the best possible gaming experience.” He added that other features like cross-platform play will still be available for all users. ..
“Xbox Cloud Gaming has partnered with Microsoft Edge to create an improved experience with optimizations now available exclusively in the Microsoft Edge browser, providing the optimal look and feel while playing Xbox games from the cloud,” Milena Gonzalez, Program Manager at Xbox, wrote in a blog post.
Microsoft says that Clarity Boost “uses a set of client-side scaling improvements to improve the visual quality of the video stream.”
Essentially, games will look better with the feature, but you’ll need to be using Edge as your browser to receive the benefits. You can see a difference in the image above, but it doesn’t seem like something that’ll make us want to run out and switch browsers.
This is another attempt by Microsoft to persuade Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and other third-party browser users to make their way over to Edge, which comes preinstalled on Windows. Locking a new feature to its own browser isn’t a good look for Microsoft, as it could bring up some anti-competitive arguments against the company.
If you do want to try out the feature for yourself and see if the difference is worth switching browsers for, you can download Edge Canary and try it out right now. However, if you don’t want to mess with the potential bugs that come with the Canary Edge build, Microsoft says Clarity Boost will roll out to all Edge users “by next year.”
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