The latest Alpha update for Xbox One and Series consoles updates the Microsoft Edge browser to the more recent version based on Google’s Chromium, and gamers have already found a way to manage Stadiums.
Back in 2019, Microsoft re-launched its Edge browser based on the work done by Google and other contributors to the Chromium open source project. Ultimately, this move gave Windows 10 users a more compatible, stable, and frequently updated browser by default than the previous Edge, which used Microsoft’s own EdgeHTML browser engine.
As reported by The edge, the latest Alpha Skip-Ahead version – an example of an invitation update – for Xbox One and Series consoles receive the same Chrome-based Edge browser as seen in Windows, with some improvements to a scroll down controller. For now, there is no support for a full keyboard and mouse, leaving the Xbox controller to serve those purposes.
In addition to the standard benefits of using a Chromium-based browser, such as improved compatibility with web applications, fans of games have already begun to dream of the possibilities of the new Edge on a game console. In fact, one Stadia fan, @billetviolet, managed to enter the Xbox Alpha Skip-Ahead and was able to play Cyberpunk 2077 in the new Chromium-based Edge.
Between the video itself and a larger discussion taking place about the Stadia subreddit, we learn that you need a Stadia Controller to play, as the paired Xbox Controller serves as a keyboard and mouse for Chromium-based Edge rather than a gamepad. That said, some reports suggest that you need to disconnect the Xbox Controller in order to properly recognize the Stadia Controller as ‘player 1’.
Given the current requirement of a Wi-Fi enabled controller, it appears that Stadia and Luna will be supported by Edge on Xbox in the short term, although Luna may have to switch up some of its stricter device restrictions first. Services like Xbox Game Pass’s xCloud streaming – which will soon get a web app – and GeForce Now that uses your device’s controller will have to wait until Microsoft Edge adjusts so you can use your Xbox controller properly as an administrator.
To sign up for the Alpha Skip-Ahead update, sign up for the Xbox Insiders Update Preview program and hope to receive an invitation to participate in the test. Otherwise, since this is not a preview of the ‘next’ update for Xbox consoles, but rather a ‘future’ update, it will take a few weeks, if not months, before the Chromium-based update Edge arrives. As Edge comments, Microsoft will release support for the older version of Edge on Windows tomorrow, so hopefully it won’t be long before Xbox is up to date.
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