-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Phil Spencer: Amazon and Google are ‘the main competitors going forward’ in relation to Sony and Nintendo’s ability to create a cloud infrastructure
- Thread starter Fiery Phoenix
- Start date
No, i think they can see the potential of what Google and Amazon can do 20 years down the line. They know its that investment that'll drive attitudes towards a combination of products, not just gaming itself.
"but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position. I guess they could try to re-create Azure"
he's talking about sony and nintendo here. sony is out of position it could try to recreate azure? they're using azure wtf
He's right when insinuating that streaming is tech/brand agnostic but his statement can be confusing if said while wearing his Xbox cap or an Azure polo - a division's interests can pass far behind relationships between the main company with a big contractor.
Then don't buy it. Some of you are so stuck in your mindset it's crazy. Can't even wait to see what happens first?
I always wondered why some of you focus so much of your energy on what Microsoft might do. Can't you just enjoy what Sony our Nintendo offers then because it appears no matter what Microsofts direction is you have something against it.
Oh i see. Microsoft is getting alot of positive feedback and attention over Gamepass. Can't have that, it must mean no more physical games. Microsoft spends billions in cloud infrastructure, that's not good, say goodbye to traditional gaming.
Yeah, true, although there's a tremendous amount of middleware and cloud infrastructure that sits between the user in their home and the instance of their game running somewhere, and AWS is comprised of like... 150+ different cloud products now, haha. Sony spoke at AWS re:Invent a couple years ago about using AWS for PSN, PS Vue, and PS Now, but who knows, they might have abandoned that throughout the years, and the details of what products they use obviously aren't published online.
I mean as already shown many people will not understand what he is talking about and interpret this the wrong way.
It's not about Sony or Nintendo not having or creating a competitor to Gamepass and other services that offer streaming from the cloud it's about Sony and Nintendo not having the actual physical servers themselves and not going to invest in trying to compete in that market but Amazon and Google does.
This is the reason Sony have made a deal with MS and their azure servers.
It's not about Sony or Nintendo not having or creating a competitor to Gamepass and other services that offer streaming from the cloud it's about Sony and Nintendo not having the actual physical servers themselves and not going to invest in trying to compete in that market but Amazon and Google does.
This is the reason Sony have made a deal with MS and their azure servers.
There is a big difference between supplying components and a consumer facing platform business.
It definitely means something, but not as much as it used to. Hardware sales numbers used to show the size of a potential market for your game or service. Microsoft is saying that this isn't the case anymore, so while consoles still carry some significance (they are making the Series X, after all), the more important thing going forward is the infrastructure that allows you to market your software and services to people, whether they have bought your $400 box or not
I guess we all should have just sat back and kept our mouths shut in 2013 as well, right?
It is still the case and it still means a lot.
All the reasons why it meant something are still intact today...
I mean, maybe a bit farther in the future they don't be, but right now? They are.
I use to enjoy xbox, almost more than Sega/Playstation and I grew up on both of those. My OG xbox collection is full of awesome games that remind me of how out there xbox was in a good way.
I've literally watched as they have gone over 2 gens now just changing from thing to thing to see what works. And now it seems the rest of the company is fed up with xbox trying to figure itself out and wants a concise path that alligns with their vision.
They don't realize that the reasons they've had trouble was the original intent for xbox was never what it should have been. Which should have been a awesome american branded gaming platform. With PC roots in the console and ties to Sega.
They just chased everything from motion, to dabbling into VR that ended up going nowhere. Instead of just investing in studios, partnerships, and connections to sega.
XBox is shell of itself, and this "re-branding" with gamepass/xcloud to me falls flat, and hollow. Even with attempts at their revival of some of their classic games.
It's super disappointing. And we have a right to talk about it.
If you don't like it put me on ignore.
You can be in competition in one department and not in another.
Xbox is only a small part of the whole MS pie, revenue for cloud was up over 60% last year. Their cloud services make almost as much as Windows, Surface and Xbox combined.
So if Sony do use Azure then great for MS Cloud division and ultimately for MS as a whole. It is not good for Sony as they are having to pay for a service they cant supply. Even if Sony went to Amazon or another server house it would still be them paying out for a service.
I get what he's saying and agree somewhat but this really does reek of them simply changing the game and narrative because they were unable to compete in a traditional sense. In terms of actual sales, which apparently don't matter anymore, MS got clobbered. Outside of the west the Xbox brand is near irrelevant. So now it's the amount of revenue streams they fired up, subscribers to a service they are basically giving away, cloud servers and 7 billion gamers. All of which conveniently fit in with Microsoft as a whole.
They already done 100 mill, that wasn't enough, even Sony called Playstation a niche product. Its clear conventional gaming can only reach so many but the gamers themselves as a population could be much bigger. Google/Amazon have that infrastructure to launch multiple initiatives as the tech around them begins to support it (5G/greater speeds). MS are trying to get their foot in the door for when that eventually happens.
Microsoft would be supplying a cloud infrastructure solution to Sony. It's not that different unless you're looking at this solely from a console fanboy perspective lol
What an odd read.
I'm constantly amazed at how gracious Spencer is when he mentions competition. Seems like he never takes shots and always indicates that there's room for everyone in the pool.
I like it as a saving game state resource. but thats about it. I like having consoles thank you very much.
No he's not...
As above, he's saying they are not competitors because cloud is the future, not that they simply not competitors in the cloud space.
Are really hoping to compare a situation where they were going to force you to sign in every 24 hours to this? Cmon, you can do better than that.
Sony has n been offering a streaming service for years no problem. Gamepass gets a lot of attention, uh oh can't have that. Microsoft has also invested for years into Azure but now they are so powerful that they and Sony and Nintendo are al going to go away with traditional gaming?
Yes, its 2013 all over again.
I can see it in the long run. As much as Sony and Nintendo are doing really well right now, they simply cant build their own cloud infrastructure, and a large % of the money made from the gaming industry is going to come from it. I have no idea how long it will take for this to come true though, 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
The real world doesn't work like that at all.
Competitors work with competitors all the time wherever it makes business sense for both parties. Sony using LG panels in their TVs for example. And I could give over a hundred examples just from personal experience in my own business where we've bought, sold to, subcontracted to, or even gone in to OEM partnerships with the competition.
VR pretty much requires close to 0ms latency though, and high speed internet is still very spotty in rural areas. Latency is a problem in many online games still and thats just client/server traffic, not video. Game streaming simply is not the forgone conclusion that music and movies were IMO. Yeah in non "garbage infrastructure" areas like cities it might be viable in most scenarios but I still think the physical limitations of the internet will hold it back from taking over completely.
Nor do I, but MS is smart to be thinking 10-15 years into the future here, no?
I mean look people, they're investing crazy money into first party studio acquisitions, and previewing some pretty beefy looking next gen hardware - the hot takes regarding their "focus" are a little silly.
Their strategies seem obvious but people here are still getting salty about a completely accurate statement from Phil (if you consider the specific context here).
If MS can make a client out of Sony that's just brilliant - Sony saves some money not having to build out their own cloud infrastructure, MS makes a bit of money off the console king... win win?
Microsoft no longer needs you to buy their console for you to become a Game Pass subscriber or buy their first party software. How does that not change everything and undercut the significance of selling consoles?
This is pretty obvious. Anyone who thinks Nintendo can (or should!) roll their own cloud infra is not thinking clearly about what kind of company Nintendo is. Sony you could at least hear out arguments, but they're still 3rd rate compared to the global data center scale and engineering resources of the 3 other companies. This is not a bad thing, they are just a different kind of company.
If you end up renting out the infrastructure that Nintendo or Sony use for their core offerings, you're not that worried about them as a competitor -- you're worried about the other companies that could poach them over
If you end up renting out the infrastructure that Nintendo or Sony use for their core offerings, you're not that worried about them as a competitor -- you're worried about the other companies that could poach them over
They don't have to create one from scratch though. To say that they're not going to be competition because they haven't built that infrastructure when they can buy in that expertise (as Sony are clearly showing is the current path they're aiming for) is somewhat naive. Plus Sony already have a mountain of data from PS Now to sift through and work out how to make a cloud-based system work.
Why do people not understand that you can be both a customer and competitor at the same time?
....because the brand significance of a console being in a home is still huge?
And they will still be able to compete even if they partnered with MS to use their cloud service for their products.
I would pay top dollar to be in a meeting where NIntendo demos their homegrown cloud infrastructure. Their S3 competitor would probably be an FTP server
Sure, in that it increases general stickiness to a platform holder's services, but it is no longer the only way that you can consume those services. That's really the bottom line I'm trying to drive home here
So they should stick to their vision from 20 years ago!!! Not try anything new ? Should have stayed investing in their connection with SEGA ?
This is a special level of absolute nonsense.
Just to be sure, is everyone else's cloud gaming /subscription service falling flat for you (PS Now/Origin Premiere/Geforce NOW etc etc) or just MSs?
Sony and Nintendo have also dabbled into everything from VR to motion with mixed results, is that a problem?
Just my opinion your posts kinda come off like as of anything they do is something worth damning them for.. also, "should've been an awesome American focused console" is literally one of the reasons Xbox struggles to this day.
Last edited:
I have no idea. Their minds might explode when they learn that Sony is supplying sensors to Microsoft for the Azure Kinect.
They have and are investing in studios yet again you're stuck in this rut because only Microsoft can make you whole again.
Oh i see. Microsoft is getting alot of positive feedback and attention over Gamepass. Can't have that, it must mean no more physical games. Microsoft spends bullions in cloud infrastructure, that's not good, say goodbye to traditional gaming.
No, your original point was that it doesn't matter any more when it still very much does.
The notion that there is a 7 billion untapped gaming market is ludicrous. Everybody has a phone. Everybody can game fairy easily if he or she wanted to. The idea that these billions are waiting for MS, Amazon or Google to show them the way to gaming is just nuts. Gaming is not for everyone. Especially games that consoles provide. That 7 billion untapped market is more likely interested in the next Candy Crush or, and this is more likely, not interested in gaming at all.
Sony doesnt have a huge enterprise software business that would necessitate having their own server infrastructure, video game streaming is NOT enough of a reason to build a huge server infrastructure around the world, not even Netflix has their own. Google and MS are using theirs for tons of reasons, and they just throw game streaming in there because they can and they hope it will catch on because they own the wires.
I think my point was clear that if we dont like a direction a major game company is headed in, possibly irreversibly, we dont need to just sit here and wait to see what happens.
Last edited:
This may be a dumb question but how is playstation now run for ps4 games. Are they using ps4 racks or is it some sort of emulation of ps4 on "normal" server hardware? How will they do it in the future for ps5 and how does this work with the partnership they have with MS (do they provide racks to microsoft?)?
Yeah but that doesn't mean Ninetendo and Sony aren't currently their number 1 competitors. He's saying they are not competitors in that space so they don't really see them as competitors currently, but It's pretty obvious that Sony and Nintendo are competitors in the console space. Which is where gaming is right not. It's not an on and off switch.