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Machiavellian on 08 June 2023
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Azzanation said:
Machiavellian said:

Actually the only company that is against the merger is Google and it may not be for the reason you believe.  For all we know, Google may want the deal to fail so that they can step in and purchase ABK.  There are few companies that can pony up the money to purchase ABK outside of Apple, Google and some other huge media corporation.  Even still the question still remains that Cloud as it is today is not even close to being a big market.  It represent .02% or something along those lines of the gaming market.  The reason these companies are trying to enter the market is because its another revenue stream but as to how big it is or will be in the next 10 years, well if anything it will be a supplemental distribution method more than anything else.  We already seen Google fail, we have seen no traction with PS Now, we have seen no traction with XCloud.  Even You Azz said you have not used it but you are champion something you have not experienced.  I can tell you from basic experience, using Cox internet, that I was frequently running over my data limit without streaming any games. Just with people in my household using the internet for TV, music and regular usage.  Now you want to throw full on streaming of a game and that will blow every data cap within a few days.  Its not going to be viable as a main source for gaming for a while unless the majority of ISPs drop their data cap limits.

I am not champion Streaming, i am pointing out the buisness/industry direction. I would always prefer to game natively.

Why do you think Google wants to purchase ABK? To boost their Streaming network by offering the best selling content. Same reason MS want ABK.

We arent talking about Streaming now, we are talking another decade from now where majority of Hardware simply wont be reasonable anymore for companies to produce. When majority of the market push the narrative of no hardware required, everyone will be jumping on board weather they like to or not. 

A new generation of gamers are born every year. Streaming will surely improve in 10 years to the point that their will be little difference and issues. New gen gamers won't know any better. They were born with touchscreen devices in their hands and phones that can do everything.

MS are already in position to go full throttle into it, so its just a matter of time before everyone follows. Hardware is like phyiscal games, PCs rarely support phyiscal media because digital has taken over. Streaming is clearly the replacement of hardware just like digital replaced phyiscal.

Here is the point I believe you are missing Azz about Cloud streaming.  Think about when Sony was promoting PS Now and when MS came out with Gamepass.  The difference between the two was that MS created a download games service first instead of trying to promote XCloud.  How did Sony respond, they did double down on PS Now to compete, no they created PS+ instead because even Sony realize that Cloud streaming is not where the market is going anytime soon.

You keep bringing Google up but that boat has already sailed.  They failed, dropped Stadia and probably will not revisit it if ever.  It doesn't matter what they intended to do, the market wasn't ready for a full on cloud streaming service and it probably will not be ready for a very long time.  Why has Sony really done nothing with PS Now.  The main reason why Cloud steaming like PS Now and XCloud has not taken off because its a huge investment in hardware to get it working on scale and its not driving revenue.

So this drives my point.  The industry isn't going towards cloud streaming as a main gaming platform but more as a supplemental add on to existing hardware.  Its there to allow people to continue to experience their games when they are not on local hardware or they want to continue the experience on their mobile device while out or about or maybe when the main TV is in use.  What Cloud streaming is not is a replacement for local hardware because the experience isn't there, the investment isn't there even from MS or Sony and current ISPs make it expensive for the average household to support.

So by the time streaming replacing hardware is a thing where MS could rely on it to drop local hardware, every OEM would be dropping local hardware.  MS as the 3rd wheel cannot dictate the market.  We seen how bad that went when they came out with the Xbox one.  The 3rd place vendor has to always provide near or better experience then the leader or what happen is exactly what happen with the Xbox one.  

During the ABK merger with the CMA, MS stated they can only support 1000 UK users on XCloud at one time.  That in itself should tell you how much MS is not in a position to go full XCloud if the second biggest region for Xbox sales is that limited in XCloud support.