Though Microsoft is positioning cloud gaming as the bright future of video gaming, Microsoft has called the technology “immature” and “untested” in a recent filing related to its pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
“Today, cloud gaming is still in its infancy and has not yet proven itself as a consumer proposition,” Microsoft wrote in a reply to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority on Tuesday. The company also said it doesn’t expect things to get any better in the next few years and that cloud gaming won’t replace consoles or PCs in part because it’s “a new and immature technology.”
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— Shannon Liao (@Shannon_Liao) October 19, 2022
Microsoft’s response comes after the CMA ruled on September 1 that it would launch a full investigation into the potential for anti-competitive behavior as a result of the acquisition. The regulator indicated that Microsoft could make Call of Duty exclusive to its platforms and add Activision games to its cloud gaming service.
Microsoft has invested heavily in cloud gaming, unveiling its ambitious Project xCloud service at E3 2019 and boasting that the service would play all 3,500 games in the Xbox catalog in addition to the 1,900 games still in development .
The reputation of cloud gaming in the industry took a serious hit when Google announced on Sept. 29 that it would be phasing out its Stadia cloud gaming service by January 2023. Microsoft’s acknowledgment that the service isn’t as imminently on the rise as it’s otherwise claiming reveals further cracks in cloud gaming boosterism.
Several other notable tidbits surfaced in the filing, including that Xbox has agreed not to bring Call of Duty to Game Pass “for a few years” in recognition of a deal already in place between Activision Blizzard and Sony to benefit PlayStation users giving early access to games until 2024. Microsoft also announced that it had offered to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation until 2027, but Sony turned down the proposal.
The filings also revealed details of Microsoft’s upcoming mobile game store, showing that it would convert the existing Xbox store into a mobile form.
Finally, the filing revealed unusually candid details about Microsoft’s market performance. It says that Sony and Nintendo have surpassed Microsoft in terms of console units and that both have a higher number of monthly active users. (No numbers were given.) Sony also blocked Xbox Game Pass from working on PlayStation.
These admissions are intended to make Microsoft appear weaker than it normally appears as the company tries to convince UK regulators that they don’t have to fear stifled competition as a result of the $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Although Brazilian regulators have already approved the deal, it remains to be seen whether US and UK regulators will follow suit.
https://www.dbltap.com/posts/microsoft-calls-cloud-gaming-unproven-in-legal-filing-01gfv1qxt60m?utm_source=RSS Microsoft calls cloud gaming “unproven” in legal documents.
