The release of the Xbox Series X is on the horizon, but it might not have to worry about the PlayStation 5 or the Nintendo Switch, as Xbox boss Phil Spencer has named Amazon and Google as the biggest competitors to the Xbox brand going forward. The home console market is currently dominated by Sony, as the PlayStation 4 beat the Xbox One in terms of sales during the most recent generation of systems.

There are several companies that believe the future of gaming lies in cloud-based technology and streaming, rather than expensive pieces of hardware. Chief among these is Google with its Stadia platform, which is available now to those willing to pay over one hundred dollars for a premium early adopters' edition that allows access to the service. The slow launch period for Google Stadia has led to doubts about the future of the service, but Google has proven that the technology works as promised, so long as the end-user has sufficiently fast & uncapped Internet. Microsoft will also be entering the streaming game industry soon with its xCloud service, while Amazon is preparing its own game streaming service with the help of several people poached from Microsoft.

It seems that Microsoft is taking Amazon and Google's entry into the streaming gaming market seriously. Phil Spencer is the executive vice president of gaming at Microsoft, making him the head of the Xbox brand. Spencer told Protocol in a recent interview that Amazon and Google are Xbox's main competitors going forward, as Nintendo and Sony don't have the infrastructure in place for cloud gaming on the same scale.

"When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward," Spencer said. "That's not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony, but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position. I guess they could try to re-create Azure, but we've invested tens of billions of dollars in cloud over the years. I don't want to be in a fight over format wars with those guys while Amazon and Google are focusing on how to get gaming to 7 billion people around the world. Ultimately, that's the goal."

These are certainly big words, considering the botched launch of Google Stadia and the fact that Amazon doesn't have anything on the market yet. The Nintendo Switch has outsold the SNES & Xbox One in a short span of time, while the PlayStation 4 is the fourth best-selling console of all time (second if you discount handheld systems), both of which were accomplished without the need for a game streaming service.

The future prospects of cloud gaming are staggering and Stadia has proven that such technology is feasible on a grand scale. It's possible that Xbox might be looking a little too far into the future in regards to banking on cloud-gaming as the next big thing, as there are still problems with Internet speed and data limits that need to be overcome in order to bring streaming gaming to seven billion people. It's clear that Microsoft has big plans for the Xbox Series X and xCloud going forward, but the company might need to focus on the enemies at hand, rather than worrying about Amazon and Google.

The Xbox Series X will be released during the 2020 holiday season.