Transform Your Living Room with Skype for Xbox One and Share Experiences with Friends and Family
Editor’s Note: Yesterday at the Xbox Reveal event, Xbox executives Yusuf Mehdi and Marc Whitten discussed how Skype on Xbox One will transform communication in the living room. This video shows Yusuf’s demo from the event, showcasing Skype and other entertainment features. And today, we’re excited to have a special guest blog post from Skype President, Tony Bates. You can keep up with the latest Skype news here.
Big Blog, by Tony Bates
I’m excited to let you know that Skype will be available on Xbox One. For the very first time, Skype for Xbox One lets you enjoy your Xbox games, apps and live TV with friends and family as if they were right there with you in the living room, all through features such as group video calling and Snap.
Whether it’s everyday check-ins with friends, playing your favorite game, watching a football match, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries or holidays, we’re making it easy and natural for you to celebrate and experience the moments that matter to you—how and when you want, together, through your living room TV.
You’ll also look sharper than ever, because Skype for Xbox One uses the new Kinect camera and your broadband connection to send one-to-one Skype video calls in full 1080p HD resolution (providing you have the right broadband speeds). That’s not all—because the camera has a wide-angle field of view, everyone can sit and chat comfortably.
Even the Kinect microphones are specially designed to block out sound from the TV and focus on your voice, so you’ll sound like you. What’s more, Skype and Xbox One work so seamlessly together that you don’t have to lift a finger to make or receive a call. Just say: “Xbox Skype Mum!” and Skype will do the rest.
Skype for Xbox One also lets you enjoy a whole new TV experience by using the new Snap feature that enables you to add a Skype video call alongside your other Xbox One activities. By saying “Xbox Snap Skype,” your voice or video call can move alongside your other Xbox One content, so you can watch a live sports or Xbox One game with a friend, even if you’re in different cities (or rooting for different teams).
Yesterday, Xbox’s Yusuf Mehdi and Marc Whitten talked about Skype for Xbox One and how it will deliver the best Skype shared communications experience in the living room. The living room is incredibly important for us, and you.
It’s where the majority of your Skype conversations take place, and where you gather with family and friends.
Our work with Xbox and this announcement are big steps toward reaching our vision for the future of communications. You can see more from the Xbox team on their blog, Xbox Wire.
I’ve talked before about how we we’re working to re-humanize communications by putting people at the center. Skype for Xbox One does just that!
Stay tuned for more details about Skype for Xbox One. In the meantime, you can see more of what’s possible with the new Snap feature in the video below. We look forward to hearing what you think.