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Phil Spencer acknowledges Amazon and Google as long term competitors, sidelines Sony.

12Dannu123

Member
Yeah, you know, when I think about who I see as our long-term competitors over the next decade in this gaming category, I think you're going to see the big tech companies that Microsoft competes with in many different areas entering. And you see it. Amazon has

Amazon Game Studios. They have for a while. AWS has a very large workload in the gaming space. Google has just started working on Project Stream. And they are -- you can see the work that they're starting to do to enter this category. Tencent is a huge gaming company.

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op...?version=65af4809-9575-21b7-784d-aaf4da3823c6


There should be no surprise of this, both companies have the Cloud infrastructure to scale globally, both have the money and platforms to allow Cloud gaming to happen. Sony has none of this other than PS4. The fundamental fact is, you need data centers in physical locations in other to reduce latency. Microsoft, Google and Amazon are investing aggressively in this field and Sony hasn't anything.

If you want to know why PSNow has a very small availability, lack of global data centers is why.
 
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theHFIC

Member
i do something similar when i put a piece of electrical tape over the check engine light on my car. it makes the problem go away!
 

GamesAreFun

Banned
If Microsoft announces an inexpensive discless console and is focused on a subscription/streaming service, that sort of makes sense. Though he's perhaps having a little dig at Sony too.
 
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mckmas8808

Banned
i do something similar when i put a piece of electrical tape over the check engine light on my car. it makes the problem go away!

Basically. The last thing I would want to do is think about the guy destroying me in basketball day in and day out.
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
He doesn't sideline Sony. He's specifically talking about how he sees additional competition from Amazon and Google entering into the high profile gaming arena. He doesn't mention Sony because they're already a competitor.

And to note, that's only specifically for that paragraph. Later in the document, they talk about how to they're trying to differentiate Gamepass from EA Access and PS Now.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
He is right. When it comes to cloud based gaming, Sony will not be able to compete. They lack the infrastructure or resources that would be needed to build their own. How can Sony compete with Amazon or MS if they have to pay them to use their servers?
 

Snake29

RSI Employee of the Year
He is right. When it comes to cloud based gaming, Sony will not be able to compete. They lack the infrastructure or resources that would be needed to build their own. How can Sony compete with Amazon or MS if they have to pay them to use their servers?

So how is Netflix the most largest video streaming service on the planet, when they are running on Google services right now (AWS before)? They also don't have their own physical infrastructure. AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, IBM etc...all their services are build for other clients for the most part.

With all those thousands of IT companies. You really think they all have their own infrastructure? Most hosting companies rent capacity from other suppliers. AWS, Google, IBM and Microsoft, are the largest in the world, but not the only ones.

What's with all that Spencer butt licking around here these days? Also, this thread is made by the same person that shits on Sony in every other "Spencer talks again" threads. Can't take him serious....
 
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Sony can of course rent server space from others, but they will always be at price / cost disadvantage.

There’s a long way to go though before tens of millions of people are streaming Halo 8.
 
He doesn't sideline Sony. He's specifically talking about how he sees additional competition from Amazon and Google entering into the high profile gaming arena. He doesn't mention Sony because they're already a competitor.

And to note, that's only specifically for that paragraph. Later in the document, they talk about how to they're trying to differentiate Gamepass from EA Access and PS Now.


He does sideline Sony, they are simply a no threat and never will be what this article talks about..not enough muscle or money to burn like the other 3 giant companies..
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
So how is Netflix the most largest video streaming service on the planet, when they are running on Google services right now (AWS before). They also don't have their own physical infrastructure. AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, IBM etc...all their services are build for other clients for the most part.
I don;t think Netflix is a great example as not only did they have a huge head start, but it is also not a space that all of these cloud tech companies are trying to compete in.
 

A.Romero

Member
Streaming will be important but I don't think it will be a decisive factor next gen. Maybe next.

I really hope Microsoft's offering is not just cloud gaming. We need them in the same space as Sony so the latter doesn't get lazy.
 

Snake29

RSI Employee of the Year
I don;t think Netflix is a great example as not only did they have a huge head start, but it is also not a space that all of these cloud tech companies are trying to compete in.

Nonsense, Disney and Amazon say hi! Apple, Sony, Microsoft and even Google have their own streaming services for movies.
 

Tarkus98

Member
Well the article and Phil quotes are pretty direct as they refer to game cloud/streaming as the “category “ being focused on. In this context yeah I can understand google and amazon as Microsoft’s primary competitors.
Sony is participating in this category but will never have the infrastructure as the other three. This is an area that Microsoft can exploit as they should since they spent billions building it up (Azure). Might as well take advantage and get additional revenue.
This is just one category though where Microsoft can go in strong and where Sony can obtain an additional revenue stream but never be in the league as MS.
They (Sony) need to focus on their own strengths and ways to make revenue. Not really hugely complicated to understand.
 

48086

Member
Cloud platforms, digital services, and game streaming are the future. There is no one around that. Google and Amazon have the backbone to jump into those things when it comes to gaming. They are far more capable that Sony. Also, Google's game streaming service already works pretty dang well.
 

A.Romero

Member
So what kind of advantage can Microsoft have because of owning the infrastructure? Personally, I think the only thing Sony won't be able to match (without taking a hit) is price.
 
If it has to do with technology, they would be smart to label them as competitors. Not that Sony isn't, but the enemy you know, you know?
 

GMan72

Neo Member
Back in 2014 Phil Spencer said

"'I Want To Win This Generation,"

https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news...s-generation-says-xbox-boss-phil-spencer.aspx

That didn't happen. And so now, 4 years later, Sony isn't even competition?

giphy.gif
 
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Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Consider this:

All the cloud providers will be pulling product from the same PC-orientated space.

This leaves the two companies with the best established console-exclusive content streams (Sony and Nintendo) actually off of the front-lines, with no need to assist/interfere with MS, Amazon, and Google trying to beat each other up in the same market. And this is assuming Steam somehow doesn't figure, along with all the other providers already in the PC space.

The thing that people tend to forget is that hardware/streaming technology is worthless without the right content. And good new content is not particularly commonplace, and almost always takes years to develop. This is the huge fallacy at the heart of the "Netflix" for games pitch: Nobody can source product at anything like the rate that Netflix does movies, shows, stand-up specials etc.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Nonsense, Disney and Amazon say hi! Apple, Sony, Microsoft and even Google have their own streaming services for movies.
None of those services are like Netflix with the exception of Amazon and even that is mostly still pay per view.
 

Sparda

Banned
He does sideline Sony, they are simply a no threat and never will be what this article talks about..not enough muscle or money to burn like the other 3 giant companies..
Ms is not a threat in console gaming an never will be, not enough competence or good ip to be like Nintendo or Sony.
 

Killer751

Banned
Yeah, Amazon is going to replace one of the big three soon. Unfortunately I suspect it may be Sony... PS Now probably won't be able to compete with whatever Amazon comes up with.
 

Woo-Fu

Banned
i do something similar when i put a piece of electrical tape over the check engine light on my car. it makes the problem go away!

It's the towel trick from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Put the towel over your head cause if you can't see them then they can't see you!
 
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12Dannu123

Member
Ms is not a threat in console gaming an never will be, not enough competence or good ip to be like Nintendo or Sony.

IPs are much easier gap to fill than a Cloud platform for games of all types and sizes to support. That requires 10s of billions of investment. Why do you think Microsoft is aggressively buying Studios?
 
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haadim

Member
Deliberately omitting mentioning SONY actually speaks volumes about MS psyche concerning competition.

Maybe it's too stressful or something.
 

Sparda

Banned
IPs are much easier gap to fill than a Cloud platform for games of all types and sizes to support. That requires 10s of billions of investment. Why do you think Microsoft is aggressively buying Studios?
You're right but cloud will never be prominent in a short time because of digital divide. I ask you another thing . Why you and other say the exclusives are not important when microsoft now is buying many studios?
 
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Three

Member
i do something similar when i put a piece of electrical tape over the check engine light on my car. it makes the problem go away!

He has been using that same electrical tape since 2013 xbox one launch. Pretending they don't exist then xbox performing worse than Nintendo and Sony.

Question: What is your general reaction to your competitors this year? Nintendo was showing off the Wii U while Sony was showing Last of Us, Beyond, etc. What was your overall thinking on those two camps?
Phil Spencer: I think, to not not answer your question, it is worth noting that there is another competitor that is not here that has a developer's conference next week (after E3).

Q: Apple?
Phil Spencer: Right,

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...rtainment-platform-for-everyone-on-the-planet

Sony has none of this other than PS4. The fundamental fact is, you need data centers in physical locations in other to reduce latency. Microsoft, Google and Amazon are investing aggressively in this field and Sony hasn't anything.

If you want to know why PSNow has a very small availability, lack of global data centers is why.

What fundamental facts are you using? Some fundamental facts:

PSNow: available right now in 12 countries across (US/Europe/Asia)

Google project stream: US only

XCloud: nowhere. US only, in 2019.

I find it hilarious that during Xbox one launch people kept mentioning 'competition is good' while they were paying 100 dollars more for a crappy weaker console. Now people are frothing at the mouth at the thought that one company 'can't compete'
 
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Sony is much bigger danger than Nintendo. Nintendo has weathered 33 years of console generations and shifting tastes. Their IP is rock solid and bulletproof forever. Sony however isn't and I feel they will be displaced by Google/Amazon as a primary competitor to Microsoft in gaming space.
 

lynux3

Member
What people don't understand/realize is that PS Now is a service that runs at AWS and other DCs... Sony doesn't need a DC to scale up or maintain, they use others for that.
 
IPs are much easier gap to fill than a Cloud platform for games of all types and sizes to support. That requires 10s of billions of investment. Why do you think Microsoft is aggressively buying Studios?

Yeah, Microsoft has already built out the global hyperscale cloud. Generating all the new IP they need will cost on order of $3 billion at most. That's an order of magnitude difference between building out hyper-scale cloud.
 

Tarkus98

Member
Maybe all this stuff is going over my head but did Sony ever state that they want to be the leader on streaming /cloud services? They seemed to have carved out a nice chunk for themselves with PSNOW and purchased the companies they thought would get them to this point. Most likely in the long term they may be eclipsed by amazon or google or Microsoft or all three but they will still continue to receive revenue just as they are now. They may ultimately not be the leading provider in this category but did they ever want to be?
Sony just like Microsoft just like Nintendo have their own plans to generate profits and have their own business model to pursue. So what if they are not number 1 in this category I believe you need to look at all of the so called categories and right now Sony is on top. Will this change in the future? I sure as hell don’t know. Nor do I care, just keep the competition nice and healthy so I as a consumer can get the most out of it.
 
What people don't understand/realize is that PS Now is a service that runs at AWS and other DCs... Sony doesn't need a DC to scale up or maintain, they use others for that.

Amazon can decide at any moment to cut off Sony access to their datacenters. This is why if you're going to be a primary player, you need your own cloud.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Maybe all this stuff is going over my head but did Sony ever state that they want to be the leader on streaming /cloud services? They seemed to have carved out a nice chunk for themselves with PSNOW and purchased the companies they thought would get them to this point. Most likely in the long term they may be eclipsed by amazon or google or Microsoft or all three but they will still continue to receive revenue just as they are now. They may ultimately not be the leading provider in this category but did they ever want to be?
Sony just like Microsoft just like Nintendo have their own plans to generate profits and have their own business model to pursue. So what if they are not number 1 in this category I believe you need to look at all of the so called categories and right now Sony is on top. Will this change in the future? I sure as hell don’t know. Nor do I care, just keep the competition nice and healthy so I as a consumer can get the most out of it.

It doesn't really matter, Playstation as a brand is as good as it gets.
 

Raitoningu

Banned
Just a little more and the xbone brand will go the way of the dodo like nokia, zune, kinect, mixer...


They barely exist in the US despite the desperate daily firesales, next gen will be worst with halo/gears/forza already being irrelevent & the nightmarish legacy of the xbone following them

Elsewhere in the world is a done deal, no one will buy their products even half the price
 

Three

Member
Amazon can decide at any moment to cut off Sony access to their datacenters. This is why if you're going to be a primary player, you need your own cloud.
First of all, why would they do that?

Your household electricity provider can cut off your power at any point have you considered running your own nuclear plant?

Secondly if this dumb eventuallity were to occur there are other providers. I'm sure Sony don't even use AWS for PSNow anyway but not 100% certain.
 
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Dante83

Banned
MS is obviously looking far into the future where such platforms and services will be the standard as we get faster networks and better connectivity. Sony is their hardware competitor who has been outselling them, but their online services like PS Now is not that good, and PSN as a whole has been a lesser experience than XBL(poor download speeds, not as stable online play, etc...). Sony has been doing great with the PS4, but in the future, they may be left out if they don't step up their software performance and features.
 

cdthree

Member
Interesting read. They don't sound like they want to buy a publisher. My question is what happens when Amazon, Google, unnamed new Chinese competitor straight bans gamepass cause Microsoft competes with their service. Guess you're back to 100-200 million users not 1 billion like he's thinking. But if you buy a multi-console publishers and you continue to have them sell their games everywhere you profit off the sales of you're competitors, too. Guess they could build one under the Minecraft umbrella or sell their AAA content third party like.
 

Pallas

Member
First of all, why would they do that?

Your household electricity provider can cut off your power at any point have you considered running your own nuclear plant?

Secondly if this dumb eventuallity were to occur there are other providers. I'm sure Sony don't even use AWS for PSNow anyway but not 100% certain.

Pricing matters though, price matters more than almost anything when we are dealing with consoles and services. If Microsoft and say Amazon offer a cheaper, more stable service, it will be noticed. The benefits of owning your own cloud services not to mention the two biggest services around. It will be interesting to see how Sony deals and handles the cloud services as they evolved.

I don’t think Sony is dead in the water, they do have a great loyal fan base, but I can only imagine the eventuality of... lets say Google or Amazon attempts to buy out Sony, I don’t see Microsoft doing it, but it’s one way Sony may be out of the picture in the future.
 

Klayzer

Member
p
He has been using that same electrical tape since 2013 xbox one launch. Pretending they don't exist then xbox performing worse than Nintendo and Sony.



https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...rtainment-platform-for-everyone-on-the-planet



What fundamental facts are you using? Some fundamental facts:

PSNow: available right now in 12 countries across (US/Europe/Asia)

Google project stream: US only

XCloud: nowhere. US only, in 2019.

I find it hilarious that during Xbox one launch people kept mentioning 'competition is good' while they were paying 100 dollars more for a crappy weaker console. Now people are frothing at the mouth at the thought that one company 'can't compete'
Those facts will be conveniently ignored by the MS hype machine.
 
Just a little more and the xbone brand will go the way of the dodo like nokia, zune, kinect, mixer...


They barely exist in the US despite the desperate daily firesales, next gen will be worst with halo/gears/forza already being irrelevent & the nightmarish legacy of the xbone following them

Elsewhere in the world is a done deal, no one will buy their products even half the price


The amount of premium salt dripping, and the fact you cant pronounce Xbox right. Eery time I see "bone" in the MS thread it's an angry fanboy trying to downplay...just learn to deal with it and it's too late already.. the storm is already motion. We do understand the panic tho, we're with you any help you may need 🤣
 
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