Kliuless? Gaming Industry ICYMI #43
Hi, my name is Kenny Liu, and each week I compile a gaming industry insights newsletter that I publish broadly. Opinions are mine.
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
The Mirage of Cloud Gaming (and How to Reach the Oasis)
[KL: This essay was the most well-constructed think piece I have read to date on cloud gaming's future. I highly recommend reading its entirety]
"[W]e hear lots about 'the next two billion gamers' (Microsoft) or even the 'next five billion' (Ubisoft). [...] I’m not convinced that cloud gaming will deliver on this expectation – at least as traditionally defined and as applies to the gaming sector today. This doesn’t mean it won’t drive material incremental value – it will. It also offers a pathway to these customers, albeit not via traditional games"
"Cloud gaming will make it easier to start playing and in more places – all the while maximizing actual play time. [...] Subscription-based access, which makes incremental games free, and the ability to play a new game right away[,] will also drive gamers to sample and thus play more titles. [...] Each of these benefits is real and significant. But they’re not arguments for unlocking new groups of players; they’re arguments for better monetizing the existing audience of AAA-playing, hardware-based gamers"
"All of this returns to the thesis that mobile is already maximizing the gamer audience, and mobile products are largely the result of what the market has demanded rather than what processing capabilities and input capabilities are or aren’t available"
"The benefit of cloud gaming, at the end of the day, is going to be in the types of content that could only be created via the cloud – the same way there was value to the types of games that could only be created on console versus arcade, or touch screen versus console. And this has always the case in media. So, what is this content? The history of the last forty years only dwelled on markets for players. Going forward, non-players will drive much of future growth"
Esports
Ninja departs Twitch for Mixer exclusivity deal
Real estate investor agrees to buy Outlaws for $40 million
Opinion: The Fortnite World Cup is a glimpse of esports' future
"This isn't the esports that pioneers of the field envisioned, but it's the esports that we're getting; something that owes as much to wrestling TV shows, with their focus on personality, flair and entertainment value, as it does to the austere, skill-focused world of Olympic sports and their ilk. This emerging world revolves around individual players and their ability to relate to a fanbase; it's as much if not more so about the capacity to play to a crowd as it is about the capacity to actually win the game
The focus on the individual is not to say that there won't be plenty of room for sponsors and managers and teams of people in the background, but the task is going to be more like managing a high-profile celebrity than running a sports team"
Art / Design
Creating terrifying, memorable 2D monsters
Mark Brown: Why Does Celeste Feel So Good to Play?
PC / Console
Bungie delays free-to-play Destiny 2 to October
Rockstar Touts GTA Online Casino Update As Game's Biggest Launch
Apex Legends has 8-to-10 million players a week
EA: Our players often choose other platforms over Nintendo Switch
New Game Trials program will let Switch Online members try games for free
Mobile
Ustwo begins work on Monument Valley 3
Bandai Namco launches a new mobile division
Ubisoft acquires mobile publisher Green Panda Games
My.Games & iDreamSky partner for mutual international expansion
Qualcomm & Tencent team up for future mobile game devices and content
Google is testing $5/month Play Pass subscription for Android
