“Right now, we see all the big players going, ‘Oh, gaming? It’s bringing in billions of dollars a year? I want a piece of that’. And so we have Google, Netflix, Apple and Amazon wanting to get piece and trying to disrupt our industry,” said Layden.

It is important to note that Layden is specifically speaking about the business side of the games industry, rather than the artistic side. The “disuption” mentioned by Layden refers more to new ways of making and selling games rather than any fundamental changes to gaming itself.

“I’m hoping gaming will be the first industry where we disrupt ourselves,” he continued. “Where it doesn’t take a Google or an Amazon to completely flip the table. We should be smart enough to see these changes coming and prepare ourselves for that eventuality.”

Interestingly, all of the companies mentioned by Layden have thrown their hat in the gaming business in some form or another, with varying degrees of success. While both Google and Apple are predominantly focused on mobile gaming, both companies have tried to break into console/PC gaming at some point—Google with its now-defunct Stadia service and Apple with its ill-fated 1996 console, the Pippin.

Amazon is trying its own hand at the gaming business with the release of various games that it is either developing in-house, like New World, or publishing like Lost Ark. The company also has its Luna cloud gaming service. Netflix itself is largely focused on mobile gaming, with a few licensed games here and there.

Layden goes on to draw parallels between these tech companies entering the gaming space with Sony entering the business with the 1996 release of the PlayStation, and how various parts of Sony—Sony Electronics and Sony Music Japan—worked together to make the console a success.

“PlayStation knew that we couldn’t do what Sega and Nintendo did and [provide the bulk of the software], we didn’t know enough how to make it. We had to be the third-party platform, so we had to get Namco, Square, EA, Activision,” Layden continues.

“Those Sony Music guys are the ones that got Square to move Final Fantasy 7 off of Nintendo and onto PlayStation, probably the biggest sea change move.”

“So yeah, we weren’t endemic, but I think we brought the entertainment piece in, which really helped accelerate the success of PlayStation.”

It is also worth noting that Microsoft itself was once considered a non-endemic company entering the gaming market with the release of the original Xbox. Since then, the company has joined Sony and Nintendo as owners of one of the three major console platforms.

When the announcement for Stadia’s closure was made, Google said it would continue to offer its cloud streaming technology to third parties, however, as reported by Axios’ Stephen Totilo on Twitter, it turns out Google has put an end to that as well.

What this means for the future of Google’s cloud streaming plans for games remains to be seen, but it’s become abundantly clear – not that it wasn’t clear already – that the Stadia experiment has unequivocally failed, nearly on all fronts.

Something not in my story but that may clear up some confusion:

Google is not offering its Stadia-style game-streaming to clients. While it had offered that for some business deals (like steaming a Batman game to AT&T 5G users), that's endedhttps://t.co/KYBErYfiv8

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) March 8, 2023

Talking about emerging technologies like ChatGPT, Zelnick stated that he doesn’t believe that AI will impact the overall costs of developing a game. According to Zelnick, if development becomes easier, developers will likely want to add more to a game.

“The belief among college students [is] that ChatGPT is now going to allow them to make a query and send their homework,” said Zelnick. “The problem is if the question is, ‘Describe what actually happened on the night of Paul Revere’s ride’, and everyone gets the same question, which you do in class, and everyone uses ChatGPT, oops, everyone’s going to submit the same essay, last time I checked.”

Zelnick compares the rise of ChatGPT with that of the historic rise of hand calculators in an era before computing was commonplace.

“ChatGPT is today’s hand calculator. When I was a kid, there was no such thing, I hate to admit, but it’s true, so I had to do math longhand. And then hand calculators came along and parents were up in arms and thought, ‘Oh kids won’t have to learn math anymore,’ and the answer is yes, you still have to learn math, turns out, you absolutely have to learn math, but you have a tool that makes it easier to do. And ChatGPT is the same thing.”

“We are ushering in a very exciting era of new tools and they’re going to allow our teams and our competitors’ teams to do really interesting things more efficiently, so we’re going to want to do more, we’re going to want to be even more creative. And no, it’s not going to allow someone to say, ‘Please develop the competitor to Grand Theft Auto that’s better than Grand Theft Auto‘, and then they just send it out and ship it digitally and that will be that. People will try, but that won’t happen.”

Zelnick also spoke about the current status of cloud gaming in the wake of Google shutting down its Stadia platform earlier this year. Speaking at the earnings call, Zelnick states that he never felt like cloud gaming platform would be a big change for the industry.

“That said, I’ve never felt like cloud gaming would represent a seismic change, because I think if you’re prepared to pay $60 or $70 for a frontline title, you’re also prepared to buy a console, and I think Stadia found that out,” said Zelnick. “So bringing high quality titles to consumers that don’t have consoles will probably have an effect around the edges but I don’t think it’ll be a revolution in the business. I think it will be more an evolution in the business. And there are still technical challenges to be addressed.”

Having released the update, Google has updated its help pages for the Stadia Controller with details on how players can pair the controller with a PC through the use of Bluetooth. According to the official website, the update will be available to users until December 31.

The Stadia Controller’s Bluetooth mode comes with a few caveats, however. Since it uses Bluetooth Low Energy mode for its connections, its 3.5mm audio jack doesn’t allow for pass-through audio wirelessly. On the other hand, the controller allows for remapping the Google Assistant and Capture buttons.

Google announced the update for the Stadia Controller just last week. Google Stadia is slated to go offline today at 11:59pm PT. When announcing the closure, the company announced that everyone who had made a Stadia purchase would be refunded.

Google made the announcement through a Twitter post, where it revealed that the update for the Stadia Controller will be coming some time next week. The company hasn’t yet given a release date.

Google Stadia is slated to go offline on January 18, at 11:59pm PT. Since first announcing the service’s closure, the company also revealed that it would be refunding everyone who had made a purchase for the platform directly through Google.

Developers that have games on Stadia have started the process of migrating players on to other platforms, with companies like Ubisoft providing free copies of the games for owners on Stadia through its Ubisoft Connect software on PC, and a transfer of progress and save data.

https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1613999717519605760

Both Nvidia and Google state that, on acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft would be able to gain a major advantage in mobile gaming, cloud, and subscription markets, according to a report by Bloomberg.

While the argument made by both companies is much wider than the arguments by Sony, which seem to primarily revolve around PC and Xbox Game Pass and the future of the Call of Duty franchise, Bloomberg has noted that Nvidia doesn’t strictly oppose the acquisition.

Earlier this month, FTC attorney James Weingarten had revealed that the agency hadn’t yet had any “substantive” settlement discussions with Microsoft regarding the company’s attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority also recently revealed that it is extending its investigation into the acquisition by eight weeks.

While those who bought games on Stadia are set to get complete refunds on any games they may have purchased, several studios are offering ways for players to get their progression and save data from Stadia on to other platforms.

Destiny 2 players, for example, can enable cross-save and link their account from another platform with Destiny 2 to get their progression transferred. Ubisoft, on the other hand, is offering free copies of its games on PC.

Google Stadia’s shutdown was announced back in September 2022. Unfortunately, the platform’s closure was considered to be a long time coming owing to a lack of faith in Google brought on by the company shutting down first-party studios following a poor launch that had trouble getting more users on to the platform.

While these games will seamlessly make the transition without much need for players to fiddle around with anything through Ubisoft Connect, the company also points out that any virtual currency tied to those games will not be making the jump, so players are encouraged to spend the virtual currency before Stadia’s shutdown on January 18.

Stadia users that subscribed to Ubisoft+ Multi-Access will also get emailed instructions on how they can start using the service directly through the Ubisoft+ website, alongside a free month for the subscription service.

Ubisoft is also trying to to appease players who prefer playing through cloud streaming, with Amazon Luna users getting continued support for Ubisoft+. All Ubisoft players on Stadia are also going to get a coupon for one free month of the GeForce NOW Priority Membership.

Ubisoft has also revealed that games that support cross-platform progression, such as Assassin Creed Valhalla and Far Cry 6, will be able to pick up and play where they last left off, regardless of platform.

According to Politico, Google has also been revealed to have some concerns about the acquisition. While the report states that Google’s concerns aren’t to the same extent as that of Sony, the concerns are quite similar in nature, with Google afraid that gaming on its ChromeOS platform will suffer if Microsoft successfully acquires Activision Blizard.

Google’s main argument revolves around the idea of gaming through Game Pass on a system running on Google’s ChromeOS has been purposefully degraded by Microsoft.

In giving credit to Microsoft, however, the company has seemingly been working on improving the Game Pass experience through its xCloud streaming service on not only ChromeOS, but on Linux platforms as well, despite both operating systems being stark competition to Windows.

Google relatively recently decided to leave its biggest attempt at an entry into the gaming market when it announced that it will be shutting down its cloud gaming platform Stadia.

Interestingly, it seems like the Redmond-based company also plans on launching a mobile gaming store to compete against the likes of the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. In a recent official filing published by the UK’s CMA, where Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard is currently being scrutinized, the company wrote that the acquisition will help enable it to launch a “next generation” game store that will be available across a number of platforms, including mobile. Microsoft’s hope is that offering “well-known and popular content” will help with “attracting gamers to a new Xbox Mobile Platform” and “shift consumers away from the Google Play Store and App Store.”

“The Transaction will improve Microsoft’s ability to create a next generation game store which operates across a range of devices, including mobile as a result of the addition of Activision Blizzard’s content,” the document reads (pg. 7). “Building on Activision Blizzard’s existing communities of gamers, Xbox will seek to scale the Xbox Store to mobile, attracting gamers to a new Xbox Mobile Platform. Shifting consumers away from the Google Play Store and App Store on mobile devices will, however, require a major shift in consumer behaviour. Microsoft hopes that by offering well-known and popular content, gamers will be more inclined to try something new.”

Earlier this year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that mobile gaming was one of the most crucial elements of the company’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Read more on that through here.

Interestingly, in the same document, Microsoft also claimed that Sony and Insomniac’s PS5 title Marvel’s Wolverine is set to launch sometime in 2023.