Since Microsoft initially revealed their plans to work closely with Cloud computing for the Xbox One, reactions were mixed. On one hand, fans expressed excitement at the possibilities Microsoft described; however, some lamented the company for their lack of proof of concept. It seems as though now, with Age of Ascent supporting multiplayer battles of up to 100,000 players, Microsoft revealed their hand.
Developed by Illyriad Games, Age of Ascent is an HTML-based space dogfighting MMO currently in alpha. Although Age of Ascent is of a similar vein to EVE Online – in terms of its large player count – it features locations based on planetary scans and star maps conducted by NASA and the European Space Agency.
Detailing their partnership with Age of Ascent and Illyriad Games at a presentation on cloud gaming during Develop earlier in the week, Microsoft’s Robert Fraser had only good things to say on the space-sim’s possibilities. For $75 an hour, Illyriad can give the game with 250 load balancers and game servers. Fraser describes these benefits as “…the kind of thing which uniquely cloud can provide you in terms of access to scale, and a different kind of experience.“
And, of course, the game supports multiplayer battles hosting up to 100,000 players in one session. This in and of itself is a pretty impressive feat, and it gives more weight to Microsoft’s talk of using the cloud for gaming purposes. Given the Xbox One’s use of Azure servers, and its similar architecture to a PC, it’s not out of the question that a game such as this may appear on the console. At the very least, we’ll start seeing more ways in which Microsoft can cleverly implement cloud computing into gaming: starting with Age of Ascent.
Age of Ascent is currently in alpha, with a planned release for early 2015. Check out the alpha yourself here.