Before Microsoft officially launched its cloud gaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming was known as “Project XCloud”, a name many still use today to refer to the platform.
Apparently, Microsoft still considers XCloud a strong enough brand, as this week, the Redmond giant announced the renewal of the patent for the name.
For those who don’t know, Xbox Cloud Gaming is a streaming platform for games, offering a proposal similar to that of Netflix for movies and series. Included as part of your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership benefits, the service lets you access dozens of games via the cloud, all you need is a compatible device and an internet connection.
According to insider Aggiornamenti Lumia, Microsoft has renewed the patent for the XCLOUD brand. The type code used describes its use as “Entertainment services, naming, providing online video game games; rental of video games; providing entertainment information and video game tournaments and competitions through a website.”
That doesn’t mean Microsoft intends to rename its service, but considering the popularity the XCloud brand has achieved it makes sense that the company would want to put in place brand protections to prevent competitors from launching a service under that name.
Many people still use the XCloud brand to refer to Xbox Cloud Gaming and this is reflected in a popularity comparison on Google, where we can see that the term is almost as popular as the official name.
And you, do you still prefer to use the official name or do you use XCloud?