Phil Spencer: Amazon and Google are ‘the main competitors going forward’ in relation to Sony and Nintendo’s ability to create a cloud infrastructure

Roxas · Feb 5, 2020

He's not wrong, cloud is the next big thing, companies have begun to adopt cloud based solutions for all of their projects, so it makes sense that eventually it will all go the way of the cloud, even if it takes some time. Sony's not dumb, that's why they've partnered with Microsoft, so yeah, in infrastructure I'd say Amazon is the biggest threat out there

Deleted member 8468 · Feb 5, 2020

I was saying the exact thing to some friends last year and they all called me crazy. Sony is a powerhouse for sure, but they don't have the service infrastructure of those giants. Streaming is going to change quite a bit of the business in the coming years.

LukasHeinzel · Feb 5, 2020

This Man knows his stuff, I trust him. Nintendo and Sony are too traditional on the long run.

Kerotan · Feb 5, 2020

Come to think about it if Google have built the infrastructure and Stadia keeps flopping they'd be crazy not to make Sony a good offer to host PS NOW.

Wollan · Feb 5, 2020

7 billion gamers = lowest common denominator, free 2 play, GaaS, advertising.
Already we see Microsoft not evolving their controller because of cross-gen, they are not supporting VR, they have Lockhart incoming & no next-gen exclusives before 2022+.

I am choosing the path of VR/AR (and by extension local compute due to latency requirements & VRR) & proper generational shifts (for now meaning Oculus, PlayStation, Valve). Cloud & the lowest common denominator are obviously bigger markets but it doesn't best serve my gaming standards.

With all that said, Microsoft is still developing titles like Halo Infinite and Hellblade 2 so we will see how things pan out in the long term. We might also see another Viva Pinata.

wwm0nkey · Feb 5, 2020

Kerotan said:
Come to think about it if Google have built the infrastructure and Stadia keeps flopping they'd be crazy not to make Sony a good offer to host PS NOW.

MS/Sony already have a deal in place, Sony preferred MS over the others.

Deleted member 10737 · Feb 5, 2020

both sony and nintendo will most likely partner with MS for the streaming future instead of their competitors, and phil knows that.

EagleClaw said:
Almost no one will realise that he is talking about the cloud market and the competition in that field of the market.

a mod should probably edit the title to reflect that

DealWithIt · Feb 5, 2020

mazi said:
this is about cloud gaming and streaming, but of course people will ignore that and get worked up anyway.

Personally I don't buy the idea of cloud gaming in the enthusiast space. I expect that 10 years from now it will be a big deal for blockbuster mobile experiences. But the enthusiast space is still growing and latency isn't going anywhere unless someone finds a way to increase the speed of light.

That's why I think the quote is not impressive.

BioDigital Jazzman · Feb 5, 2020

darkside said:
Yeah because Google Stadia is really setting the world on fire.

Stadia is bad not because of the cloud but because they rushed the launch and have no games for it.

Deleted member 6235 · Feb 5, 2020

wwm0nkey said:
He is 100% talking about infrastructure.

the original interview paints a different picture, still not really sure about his perspective though, and he's definitely talking about infrastructure only

Wollan said:
7 billion gamers = lowest common denominator, free 2 play, GaaS, advertising.
Already we see Microsoft not evolving their controller because of cross-gen, they are not supporting VR, they have Lockhart incoming & no next-gen exclusives before 2022+.

I am choosing the path of VR/AR (and by extension local compute due to latency requirements & VRR) & proper generational shifts for now thanks (meaning Oculus, PlayStation, Valve).

that is absolutely not the reality of things though

Adamska · Feb 5, 2020

I get the ethos behind this ('why sell millions of boxes when you can have billions of subscribers'), but I also feel MS is in no position to offer this when they're trailing behind on the gaming market. Good luck with their ambitions.

wwm0nkey · Feb 5, 2020

mazi said:
both sony and nintendo will most likely partner with MS for the streaming future instead of their competitors, and phil knows that.

Did yall miss the new where Sony already has? lol

Mindwipe · Feb 5, 2020

Cloud streaming of games will not have an appreciable market in my lifetime IMO.

Fundamentally Microsoft's bet is that I'm wrong.

darkside · Feb 5, 2020

wwm0nkey said:
MS/Sony already have a deal in place, Sony preferred MS over the others.

Unless I've missed something all they had was a memorandum of understanding - which is not a deal at all.

Yuntu · Feb 5, 2020

LewieP said:
You don't think Amazon are going to use the games department of their online retail operation, and google are going to use youtube, to promote their game streaming businesses?

Where did I say that? Thing is why would MS not abuse Youtubes reach for marketing or not sell their stuff on Amazon? That would be dumb. If anything Google and Amazon lose there because their platforms promote MS.

MazeHaze · Feb 5, 2020

Until streaming can get latency in line with what natively running games offers, it will never be for me. Xcloud and PSnow both feel god awful to me.

chromatic9 · Feb 5, 2020

Yep, and I've said before MS has the box seat, they have the servers and can offer nearly all the games as Xbox or Windows PC versions.

Going forward is the key word and it's quite far ahead yet.

Deleted member 54073 · Feb 5, 2020

Picking the battles he can win and leaving the ones he cant. Smart.

LewieP · Feb 5, 2020

Yuntu said:
Where did I say that? Thing is why would MS not abuse Youtubes reach for marketing or not sell their stuff on Amazon? That would be dumb. If anything Google and Amazon lose there because their platforms promote MS.

Because it sets google up to be able to have a "play now on Stadia" button on every single video about games in the future.

dgrdsv · Feb 5, 2020

I wonder why Phil thinks that Sony of all companies can't create their own gaming server cloud. I mean, okay, Micorosoft spent "billions" on Azure - which is hardly a gaming platform meaning that maybe 1/100th of these spendings would be enough for a purely gaming oriented system. Doesn't look like something which Sony or even Nintendo would be unable to build if they'd want to.

gofreak · Feb 5, 2020

Adamska said:
I get the ethos behind this ('why sell millions of boxes when you can have billions of subscribers'), but I also feel MS is in no position to offer this when they're trailing behind on the gaming market. Good luck with their ambitions.

I don't think it's even about billions of subscribers.

I think for MS as a whole this is about being the pipe-work on which services run.

Does it matter to MS if Xbox is not the biggest game platform? It matters less and less to them, I think, if they're the pipes on which the biggest platform(s) run. They're right now hashing out an agreement with one of the biggest (PS). I think they view that as their lane primarily now, and certainly as a (big) hedge against their own performance as a consumer-facing company in entertainment etc.

Jiraiya · Feb 5, 2020

Adamska said:
I get the ethos behind this ('why sell millions of boxes when you can have billions of subscribers'), but I also feel MS is in no position to offer this when they're trailing behind on the gaming market. Good luck with their ambitions.

Microsoft shouldn't offer Azure as a cloud platform because you don't like their first party output?

Papacheeks · Feb 5, 2020

darkside said:
Yeah because Google Stadia is really setting the world on fire.

LOL.

christocolus · Feb 5, 2020

Not surprised. Amazon and Google have the potential to be far bigger threats to MS in this area. Tencent should be there too.

Deleted member 6235 · Feb 5, 2020

Adamska said:
I get the ethos behind this ('why sell millions of boxes when you can have billions of subscribers'), but I also feel MS is in no position to offer this when they're trailing behind on the gaming market. Good luck with their ambitions.

that's my feeling as well. You need content to actually be succesful with this strategy. Which, to their credit, they are trying to create and buy more studios so they can have more content.

HomerSimpson-Man · Feb 5, 2020

Well yeah, gaming and Xbox ain't really MS big money maker like PlayStation is to Sony, but cloud platforms are. The big 3 is Google, Azure, and AWS which are way bigger than gaming.

Phil is sort of be blurring things which people can take all the nauances off of If talking about gaming, Sony and Nintendo are very much direct competitors but overall for MS when it comes to their cloud platforms Sony and Nintento are potential customers really.

MillionIII · Feb 5, 2020

They need to stop chasing that Netflix of gaming dream because it's not doing them any favors

Nos · Feb 5, 2020

The day I can't play on a local console natively will be the day I quit console gaming.
Fuck every single person that pushing for streaming-only future.

darkwing · Feb 5, 2020

Sony is doomed

wwm0nkey · Feb 5, 2020

darkside said:
Unless I've missed something all they had was a memorandum of understanding - which is not a deal at all.

Part of that memorandum is that they are going to be jointly exploring Azure gaming solutions and working together in that department. Not a locked in deal but Sony has A LOT more power with that than they would ever get from Google or Amazon.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the parties, the two companies will explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services. In addition, the two companies will explore the use of current Microsoft Azure datacenter-based solutions for Sony's game and content-streaming services. By working together, the companies aim to deliver more enhanced entertainment experiences for their worldwide customers. These efforts will also include building better development platforms for the content creator community.

Raider34 · Feb 5, 2020

People in their feelings but they need to understand Amazon, Google, Tencent, Apple will be the only players in this game the others will be consolidated including Sony

Earvin Infinity · Feb 5, 2020

They should be worried about Nvidia too. GeForce Now is about to kill Stadia.

Tregard · Feb 5, 2020

All three of the main console makers are playing different ball games now, and its to our benefit.

J-Skee · Feb 5, 2020

He's looking into the future. I've been playing Thumper on Stadia & it is amazing. That's what Phil is referring to. Being to able to launch a game on any hardware you own & for cheap. That will eventually have more people buy in than the traditional hardware business. Look what streaming has done to movies, TV & music. Xbox wants to be at the forefront with gaming.

mangochutney · Feb 5, 2020

wwm0nkey said:
He is 100% talking about infrastructure.

Which is why it makes zero sense because anyone can use MS, Amazon or Google for their infrastructure. MS has no competitive advantage here for Xbox.

Papacheeks · Feb 5, 2020

MillionIII said:
They need to stop chasing that Netflix of gaming dream because it's not doing them any favors

It has a bigger percentage to blow up in their face when it comes to spending and return.

packy17 · Feb 5, 2020

Streaming is still at least 15 years out from being legitimately viable and any number of things can happen between now and then.

Deleted member 10737 · Feb 5, 2020

Nos said:
The day I can't play on a local console natively will be the day I quit console gaming.
Fuck every single person that pushing for streaming-only future.

people aren't pushing for it, that doesn't mean it's not inevitable. in 10 or 15 years the majority of people aren't going to buy consoles when they can just have entire catalogs as apps on their tv.

Fright Zone · Feb 5, 2020

Tens of billions?

Yearsoflurking · Feb 5, 2020

Statement makes sense the fight for each of the trillion dollar companies cloud infrastructure has been ongoing.

Bansai · Feb 5, 2020

Guymelef said:
Must be a competion about who is going to abandon gaming bussiness first.

Salty.

It's clear that MS is focusing on Cloud right now, no wonder he's saying that.

abady-25 · Feb 5, 2020

Dr.Ifto said:
Isnt PS Now on Azure?

in the future maybe
because of the deal that happened between Sony and Microsoft
i think it will be the same thing
that happened in other industry
Amazon and Netflix
they are both have movies , tv series service
but Netflix used Amazon servers
and they are the lead of the market now

wwm0nkey · Feb 5, 2020

mangochutney said:
Which is why it makes zero sense because anyone can use MS, Amazon or Google for their infrastructure. MS has no competitive advantage here for Xbox.

They are relying on Sony/Nintendo teaming up with them rather than Google/Amazon. They already have a partnership with Sony on that front and I imagine Nintendo will choose them as well.

Xbox == software and services now and you'll start seeing more of that software on other devices in the near future I imagine.

ResetEraIsTheBestEra · Feb 5, 2020

it is gonna be interesting how it pans out at the end

zedox · Feb 5, 2020

The hot takes in the thread will be fun to read.

As MS' business is centered around cloud...it's obvious Amazon and Google are the main competitors. Interesting he didn't say Tencent but I guess they don't have a global cloud infrastructure so that makes sense.

Deleted member 2254 · Feb 5, 2020

It's pretty obvious cloud market is the next big market to conquer, and right now these 3 are the big players. Sony is behind and Nintendo is non-existent in it. I know a lot of people will take this as a console warring message by Phil, but he's not wrong if you look at the context he's saying it.

Prime2 · Feb 5, 2020

dgrdsv said:
I wonder why Phil thinks that Sony of all companies can't create their own gaming server cloud. I mean, okay, Micorosoft spent "billions" on Azure - which is hardly a gaming platform meaning that maybe 1/100th of these spendings would be enough for a purely gaming oriented system. Doesn't look like something which Sony or even Nintendo would be unable to build if they'd want to.

The time and money required to do it would be a monumental waste when it's already available

gundamkyoukai · Feb 5, 2020

kmag said:
Yes, but as tenants Sony are always going to be at a cost disadvantage in that sphere which is what Spencers point is.

Although I think it'll be about midway through the generation after the XBSX and PS5 before it's really a thing.

Truth is i don't think being at a cost disadvantage matter that much.
Once you get enough people into your service that is big advantage compare to having your own infrastructure.

Dark1x · Feb 5, 2020

That's my big fear right now. I have zero interest in the Cloud at this point.

Landy828 · Feb 5, 2020

LOL @ the posters that don't have a clue what he's talking about, and get offended. 🤦‍♂️

Phil Spencer: Amazon and Google are ‘the main competitors going forward’ in relation to Sony and Nintendo’s ability to create a cloud infrastructure

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