Cloud game streaming services have been a very hot topic in the gaming industry for the past 15-20 years, as the perspective of playing high-end games on a modest device with a good internet connection sounds very appealing. But after a number of major gaming companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in cloud gaming platforms, Microsoft says the technology is still in its early stages and its heyday is far from over.
At least, that’s what the software giant wrote this week in response to UK competition and market officials. withholding some games from competing platforms (i.e. Sony’s PlayStation) and the subsequent dominance of emerging markets in cloud game-streaming services. As a result, the CMA began an in-depth look at the proposed deal earlier this month to learn more about the matter.
“This is a new and immature technology recognized by the CMA and faces significant challenges, especially on mobile devices,” Microsoft wrote. Answer on page 33 (opens in new tab) to the CMA Concern (via PC gamer (opens in new tab)). “Microsoft agrees that future cloud gaming services could mean hardware differences become less important. But the reality is that cloud gaming today is still in its infancy. , has not been proven as a consumer proposition.”
During the 2000s and 2010s, cloud game streaming services suffered from major technical limitations, starting with imperfect data centers and servers on the cloud side and slow internet connections on the client side. To date, many technical limitations have been largely overcome. Still, local rendering offers the best and most stable visual quality and lowest input lag. This is especially important for avid gamers and is something most gamers know.
Cloud gaming services still fall short as Microsoft, Sony, and Nvidia continue to invest heavily in improving their cloud gaming services to provide an experience on par with local PCs and consoles. On the other hand, you can also enable your smartphone to play PC and console games. It’s the type of experience that hasn’t been available before, and many companies (Qualcomm, Razer, Verizon, etc.) are investing in it. But to compete with traditional games, streaming services need to offer visual quality, latency, and load times that match downloadable titles.
“While this has the potential to grow particularly on mobile devices, it is not expected to see rapid adoption as it would require a significant change in consumer behavior,” Microsoft explained. “Gamers care about subject matter, storylines, graphics, his performance, speed (such as load times and latency), mechanics, game choices, and game costs. […] Therefore, for streaming services to grow, they must effectively compete with downloadable gaming options across these metrics. ”
Cloud game-streaming services are unpopular among consumers, and Microsoft’s interest in promoting cloud gaming in general is likely to undermine competition for game-streaming services or discourage Activision Blizzard’s popular games from rivals. It states that withholding is not profitable.
“Consumer adoption of cloud gaming remains low,” Microsoft said. “Hammering or degrading a competitor’s service would significantly set back the adoption of this technology, leaving the market-leading incumbents (i.e. Sony on consoles, Apple and Google on mobile, Steam on PC, etc.) Protected. […] Instead, [Microsoft Xbox’s] The incentive is to encourage the widespread adoption of cloud gaming technology by as many providers as possible in order to drive the significant changes in consumer behavior necessary for cloud gaming to succeed. ”
Cloud gaming has the potential to bring games to devices that cannot render high-end titles locally, thus expanding the global gaming market. The question is when cloud gaming will become a mainstream phenomenon, as many of the technologies required for a competitive cloud gaming platform already exist. But for now, keep in mind that Microsoft has to convince the CMA and other regulators that he’s following two things. Cloud gaming is an immature technology, so don’t worry about cloud gaming today, but with the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft will increase its adoption of the technology.
