https://gamerant.com/cma-overstated-microsoft-cloud-gaming-share/
CMA‘Overstated’ Microsoft’s Cloud Gaming Share in Activision Blizzard
Decision, EU Says
歐盟表示:CMA在動視暴雪收購案中"誇大"微軟雲端遊戲地位
An EU official states that the CMA may have ‘overstated’ Microsoft’s cloud
gaming share when blocking the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
一位歐盟官員表示,CMA在阻止對動視暴雪的收購時可能“誇大了”微軟的雲端遊戲地位
。
An EU Commission official has said that the CMA, the UK’s competition
regulator, “overstated” Microsoft’s share of the cloud gaming market when
making its decision about the pending deal. At the end of April, the CMA
blocked Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with the government
authority citing concerns that the deal could harm the growing cloud gaming
market and hamper innovation.
一位歐盟委員會官員表示,英國競爭監管機構CMA在對未決交易做出決定時“誇大了”
微軟在雲端遊戲市場的地位。4月底,CMA阻止了微軟對動視暴雪的收購,政府當局表示
擔心該交易可能會損害不斷增長的雲端遊戲市場並阻礙創新。
Three weeks later, the European Commission approved Microsoft’s Activision
Blizzard deal, though with some caveats. Primarily, the Xbox company will be
required to automatically license Activision Blizzard titles to other cloud
gaming services, which Microsoft President Brad Smith seemed to view as a
positive move. But the EU’s decision also further called into question the
CMA’s choice to block the acquisition, considering that the two governing
bodies should have similar concerns and therefore similar conclusions.
三週後,歐盟委員會批准了微軟與動視暴雪的交易,但有一些警告。首先,Xbox公司將
被要求自動將動視暴雪遊戲授權給其他雲端遊戲服務,微軟總裁布拉德史密斯似乎認為
這是一個積極的舉措。但歐盟的決定也進一步質疑CMA阻止收購的選擇,考慮到這兩個
管理機構應該有相似的擔憂並因此得出相似的結論。
In response to the announcement of the EU’s approval of the Activision
Blizzard acquisition, the CMA stated that it stood by its decision. An EU
official, on the other hand, said that the UK regulator had “overstated”
the position that Microsoft held in the cloud gaming market. In its report,
the CMA had declared that the gaming giant already "accounts for an estimated
60-70% of global cloud gaming services." However, it seemed to many people
that the regulator had included all Xbox Game Pass subscribers in its
calculation, which is not necessarily an accurate interpretation of the
numbers.
針對歐盟批准動視暴雪收購的公告,CMA表示堅持其決定。另一方面,一位歐盟官員表示
,英國監管機構“誇大了”微軟在雲端遊戲市場的地位。在其報告中,CMA宣布這家遊戲
巨頭已經“估計佔全球雲遊戲服務的 60-70%”。然而,在許多人看來,監管機構似乎將
所有Xbox Game Pass訂閱者都納入了計算範圍,這不一定是對數字的準確解釋
Xbox Game Pass offers a variety of perks to subscribers, mainly access to a
rotating selection of games, including first-party day-one releases. Ultimate
members also receive access to EA Play's exclusive library of titles, two
free games a month via Xbox Live Gold, discounts, and the ability to stream
games using Xbox Cloud Gaming. The CMA’s analysis did not seem to take into
account that many gamers who subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate do so for
the free games and sales, and a lot of people have no interest in and don’t
use the cloud gaming service.
Xbox Game Pass為訂戶提供各種福利,提供多樣遊戲選擇,包括第一方第一天發布的
遊戲。Ultimate會員還可以訪問EA Play的獨家遊戲庫、每月通過Xbox Live Gold獲得
兩款免費遊戲、折扣以及使用Xbox Cloud Gaming雲端傳輸遊戲。CMA的分析似乎沒有
考慮到許多訂閱 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate的遊戲玩家這樣做是為了免費遊戲和銷售,
而且很多人對雲端遊戲服務不感興趣也不會使用。
The EU official who spoke on this element of the CMA’s decision noted that:
“For us, [cloud gaming is] not a separate market. It’s a segment of the
overall market.” While cloud gaming may indeed see growth in the future,
with more people accessing it in a variety of ways, it has not yet found firm
ground in the current gaming landscape. This is evidenced by the fairly
recent shutdown of Google Stadia and the somewhat niche position of Nvidia’s
Geforce Now cloud gaming service.
就CMA決定的這一要素發表講話的歐盟官員指出:“對我們來說,[雲端遊戲] 不是一個
單獨的市場。它是整個市場的一部分。”雖然隨著越來越多的人以各種方式訪問它,雲端
遊戲在未來可能確實會出現增長,但它尚未在當前的遊戲領域找到穩固的基礎。最近谷歌
Stadia的關閉以及Nvidia的Geforce Now雲端遊戲服務的小眾地位證明了這一點。
The Xbox company was aware that its strong presence in cloud gaming could be
a barrier to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard and began making deals
with third-party cloud gaming platforms. Indeed, Microsoft continued to
partner with cloud gaming companies even after the CMA announced that it was
blocking the ABK deal. It’s uncertain at this point whether the UK regulator
’s decision will ultimately be the death knell of both the acquisition and
the pending cloud gaming partnerships.
Xbox公司意識到其在雲端遊戲領域的強大影響力可能成為其收購動視暴雪的障礙,並開始
與第三方雲遊戲平台進行交易。事實上,即使在CMA宣布阻止 ABK 交易之後,微軟仍繼續
與雲端遊戲公司合作。目前尚不確定英國監管機構的決定是否最終會成為收購和未決雲端
遊戲合作夥伴關係的喪鐘。