Telstra thought it would help celebrate the launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming by kicking off a virtual treasure hunt. It’s all part of the telco’s plan to be your gaming partner.
Australia typically isn’t the first cab off the rank when it comes to cloud gaming or new technologies, but as of tomorrow we’ll be on the same footing as Japan, Brazil and Mexico. Australians will be included in the next phase of the Xbox Cloud Gaming rollout, enabling all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate users to stream titles straight through to their phones.
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Alongside the launch, Telstra has kicked off an ‘X Marks the Spot’ treasure hunt.
The treasure hunt is basically ‘following the clues to find one of 10 hidden cloud gaming packs in virtual locations around the internet’.
The first eligible hunter to find the ‘X’ gets to choose between a Samsung Galaxy S21 5G smartphone or a Xbox Series S console as the main prize, and combine it with the Razer Kishi gaming controller and a 12-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, including access to Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Not bad while in lockdown, I have to admit.
Here Are The Clues And Locations:
- The company’s place to chirp and cheep
- It’s a game improvement, sure, but the match sounds like a rooster
- Crosses staff on every shouting line
- This blade sounds fishy
- Follow it to the letter and you’ll know where to go
- A sudden mark of shame for quick movements, it’s an elegant home for streamed entertainment
- Recreational webs
- A keep in Vic’s capital has a battleship to lend
- The company swaps upcoming victorious redhead
- The company swaps the opening of five pretty stallions for speed
Telstra will update its page at 7pm AEDT daily, so you can see what’s still up for grabs.
Partner, Not A Meme
The treasure hunt is all part of Telstra’s plan to be your gaming partner. After taking a bit of a hiatus from gaming about a decade ago, the telco’s head of gaming Nathan Gumley said it wants to now make sure it’s doing it right.
“We’ve been on a bit of a journey for being the premier telco for gamers,” he told media on Friday.
“Our position at Telstra in the mid-2000s to 2010-2011 – a really big presence there and then we kind of took a step back, to be perfectly honest, from gaming for quite a while.
“But stepping back in, what we really wanted to be conscious of, was that we were developing products to help customers have a better gaming experience, and we were taking the right steps to be authentic in the way that we wanted to position ourselves.
“[That] we weren’t just a Steve Buscemi ‘how do you do fellow kids?’ meme, we’re actually delivering value for customers.”
To that end, eligible Telstra customers who are new to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can get the first month free (normally $15.95/month), giving them access to Xbox Cloud Gaming as well as more than 100 console and PC games.
Existing Telstra Xbox All Access customers will also have access to the cloud gaming service from Saturday.