Twenty percent of Xbox Cloud Gaming players only use touch controls

Over the previous 12 months, Microsoft has been steadily including customized Xbox touch controls to greater than 100 video games that may be streamed to Android and iOS telephones utilizing its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) service. Whereas these controls could appear gimmicky to some, Microsoft is now revealing that 20 percent of players use these touch controls solely.

“[Twenty] percent of our Xbox Cloud Gaming customers use touch as their unique methodology of taking part in video games,” explains Monty Hernandez, a senior program supervisor at Xbox. “As such, it’s necessary to us that the touch-enabled video games we launch are related and, most significantly, play effectively with touch controls.”

It’s a shocking stat and there are even particular person video games the place 30 percent of players use touch controls solely:

• Hades
• New Tremendous Fortunate’s Story
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• Scarlet Nexus
• Dragon’s Quest XI
• Minecraft Dungeons
• Soccer Supervisor 2022 Xbox Version

Given the quantity of utilization, it’s not shocking that recreation builders have been eager so as to add these customized touch controls over the previous 12 months. Microsoft has made it comparatively simple to take action, permitting recreation builders to construct on high of a sample layout from GitHub that may be custom-made to every recreation.

“We’ve seen, on common, a 2x improve in utilization for titles out there by way of Xbox Cloud Gaming, throughout genres, that implement touch controls,” says Hernandez. Lots of Xbox Cloud Gaming titles now have some spectacular touch controls, with customized styling and iconography that helps players who’re purely utilizing a touchscreen.

Xbox touch controls on a Floor Duo.

Photograph by Tom Warren / The Verge

Xbox touch controls began off with Minecraft Dungeons assist, earlier than increasing to 10 extra video games a month after the preliminary launch of xCloud. Microsoft has additionally been utilizing Xbox touch controls for its dual-screen Floor Duo handset, turning its Android-powered gadget into extra of a Nintendo 3DS with Xbox video games.

With greater than 100 video games now supporting these customized touch controls, and players apparently eager to use them, it’s clear we’re going to see many extra video games implement Xbox touch controls within the months forward.