3 ms·

Using cloud gaming as an argument to block this merger, sets a dangerous precedent. Effectively, CMA is dreaming a future where cloud gaming has taken over. It

by screye 3y ago

Using cloud gaming as an argument to block this merger, sets a dangerous precedent. Effectively, CMA is dreaming a future where cloud gaming has taken over. It is passing a judgement based on where the industry could go, rather than where it is now. This allows a bureaucratic organizations to impede companies based on arbitrary & unsubstantiated fears.

pwthornton 3y ago
The future is unknowable and unpredictable. The last console generation really dragged on because there was concern that consoles were dying. Well, this generation is selling better than ever. PC gaming is exploding in popularity too. The Switch is a sensation. All the cloud gaming predictions haven't happened. Mobile gaming hasn't killed traditional gaming either. In fact, it turns out that all those precautions were largely wrong. There is a huge market for high-quality games you play on local hardware for maximum visual and input fidelity. I too find it very dangerous for government regulators to be predicting a future that industry can't themselves predict. They are not experts on this industry and don't conduct user and market research. They are literally just guessing. It is equally likely that cloud gaming never becomes a thing because phones keep getting more powerful and eventually they take the place of the future that cloud gaming was supposed to represent. Apple could eventually allow you to hook/locally stream an iPhone to a TV to use it as a console. There will always be a market for hardcore hardware like consoles and PCs, but who is to say that the more casual option will be cloud gaming and not some world in which mobile devices can be used as less-powerful home gaming machines?
meroes 3y ago
> It is passing a judgement based on where the industry could go, rather than where it is now. This allows a bureaucratic organizations to impede companies based on arbitrary & unsubstantiated fears Seems disingenuous that MS wouldn’t leverage their monopoly on client/game OS into the cloud as well. It at least doesn’t seem arbitrary and unsubstantiated. And prevention is better than reaction in many cases.

by screye 3y ago

pwthornton 3y ago

The future is unknowable and unpredictable. The last console generation really dragged on because there was concern that consoles were dying. Well, this generation is selling better than ever. PC gaming is exploding in popularity too. The Switch is a sensation. All the cloud gaming predictions haven't happened. Mobile gaming hasn't killed traditional gaming either. In fact, it turns out that all those precautions were largely wrong. There is a huge market for high-quality games you play on local hardware for maximum visual and input fidelity. I too find it very dangerous for government regulators to be predicting a future that industry can't themselves predict. They are not experts on this industry and don't conduct user and market research. They are literally just guessing. It is equally likely that cloud gaming never becomes a thing because phones keep getting more powerful and eventually they take the place of the future that cloud gaming was supposed to represent. Apple could eventually allow you to hook/locally stream an iPhone to a TV to use it as a console. There will always be a market for hardcore hardware like consoles and PCs, but who is to say that the more casual option will be cloud gaming and not some world in which mobile devices can be used as less-powerful home gaming machines?

meroes 3y ago

> It is passing a judgement based on where the industry could go, rather than where it is now. This allows a bureaucratic organizations to impede companies based on arbitrary & unsubstantiated fears Seems disingenuous that MS wouldn’t leverage their monopoly on client/game OS into the cloud as well. It at least doesn’t seem arbitrary and unsubstantiated. And prevention is better than reaction in many cases.