Girts Ragelis/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Sony (New York Stock Exchange: SONY) the CEO downplayed the risks to cloud gaming in the video game console market, saying that cloud gaming is still technically “very challenging”.
“I think the cloud itself is a great business model, but when it comes to gaming, it’s technology “The difficulties are high,” said Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO of Sony. Financial Times interview on saturday. “So there will be challenges for cloud gaming, but we want to address those challenges.”
Comments from the CEO of Sony (SONY) come as (Nasdaq: MSFTActivision’s $69 billion takeover of the Juggernaut video gameNasdaq: ATVI) hangs in the balance as the UK’s antitrust authority sued to block it, citing concerns about the cloud market.
Sony (SONY), which makes the PlayStation video game console, has been critical of the Activision (ATVI) deal since it was announced in January 2022, claiming that Microsoft will likely limit popular Activision games like “Call of Duty” to its own Xbox cloud gaming service. .
Sony’s Yoshida declined to comment to the Financial Times on the impact he sees from the Activision (ATVI) deal, citing ongoing regulatory reviews.
Microsoft (MSFT) has proposed licensing the deal for a period of 10 years Call of duty To Sony, an offer similar to the deals Microsoft has with Nintendo (OTCPK: NTDOY), makers of its third major competing game console, the Switch, and with Nvidia (NVDA), which operates game streaming service GeForce Now.
Yoshida also highlighted the cost inefficiency of cloud gaming because the servers are down for most of the day as players primarily play during the evening, or “dark time”.
“The dark time of cloud gaming was a problem for Microsoft as well as Google, but it was helpful that we could use those (quieter) hours to learn AI,” Yoshida told the Financial Times.
Yoshida’s comments on cloud gaming come as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) chief Brad Smith is set to meet British chancellor Jeremy Hunt this week to discuss his concern over the UK antitrust regulator’s decision to block the Activision (ATVI) deal, according to reports. Bloomberg reported on Friday. Smith is due to hold discussions with Hunt as well as officials from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.
A UK judge held a hearing on Tuesday and set the trial for Microsoft’s appeal of the UK’s decision for July 24, well before the CMA asked for a date in late September or October. The hearing comes after the July 18 date to end the massive video game deal, when the parties could walk away, extend or renegotiate the deal.