A new report suggests that Xbox Game Studios has teamed up with Finnish studio Mainframe to work on an ambitious cloud-based MMO. The aim of this supposed title is to allow players to access the same game through any device, from console to smartphone, with different features available on each platform.
VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grubb backed up an earlier report by Jez Corden who first broke the news, adding that he had been separately informed of the game’s existence by his own sources. According to information from Grubb, the project is being developed under the working title Pax Dei and is meant to further strengthen the Xbox shared ecosystem, where games target gamers wherever they are.
The team aims to blend the best of triple-A, MMO and mobile gaming into a shared social sandbox playable on any screen. As reported by Windows Central, Pax Dei has indeed been registered as a trademark by Mainframe, having been granted until 2031 from October.
The main concept of the new MMO is that the cloud-based mechanics will scale in complexity for each platform. For example, you can use your smartphone for simplistic tasks like crafting consumables in your free time at work, or mining some resources while stuck on the bus. These additional items and resources will come in handy when you fire up the full game on your home console to tackle more complex missions.
Mainframe Industries, whose staff includes former employees of CCP Games, Remedy, and Next Games, is also investigating potential innovative game mechanics that can only work in a project that exists on a remote server. The official website humbly refers to the project as “the game of a lifetime”.
Another major focus of the project for Microsoft is to establish core cloud-based development tools, so they can be used by other Xbox studios in the future. In particular, Grubb points out that Hideo Kojima might be interested in this technology for his potential next Xbox game. Previously, Kojima said he wants to incorporate real-time elements into his future games, changing certain aspects based on external factors such as where the player lives. Cloud-based technologies could be the answer for his ambitious ideas.
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