https://gamerant.com/cma-overstated-microsoft-cloud-gaming-share/
CMA‘Overstated’ Microsoft’s Cloud Gaming Share in Activision Blizzard
Decision, EU Says
欧盟表示:CMA在动视暴雪收购案中"夸大"微软云端游戏地位
An EU official states that the CMA may have ‘overstated’ Microsoft’s cloud
gaming share when blocking the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
一位欧盟官员表示,CMA在阻止对动视暴雪的收购时可能“夸大了”微软的云端游戏地位
。
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.
一位欧盟委员会官员表示,英国竞争监管机构CMA在对未决交易做出决定时“夸大了”
微软在云端游戏市场的地位。4月底,CMA阻止了微软对动视暴雪的收购,政府当局表示
担心该交易可能会损害不断增长的云端游戏市场并阻碍创新。
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.
三周后,欧盟委员会批准了微软与动视暴雪的交易,但有一些警告。首先,Xbox公司将
被要求自动将动视暴雪游戏授权给其他云端游戏服务,微软总裁布拉德史密斯似乎认为
这是一个积极的举措。但欧盟的决定也进一步质疑CMA阻止收购的选择,考虑到这两个
管理机构应该有相似的担忧并因此得出相似的结论。
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.
针对欧盟批准动视暴雪收购的公告,CMA表示坚持其决定。另一方面,一位欧盟官员表示
,英国监管机构“夸大了”微软在云端游戏市场的地位。在其报告中,CMA宣布这家游戏
巨头已经“估计占全球云游戏服务的 60-70%”。然而,在许多人看来,监管机构似乎将
所有Xbox Game Pass订阅者都纳入了计算范围,这不一定是对数字的准确解释
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为订户提供各种福利,提供多样游戏选择,包括第一方第一天发布的
游戏。Ultimate会员还可以访问EA Play的独家游戏库、每月通过Xbox Live Gold获得
两款免费游戏、折扣以及使用Xbox Cloud Gaming云端传输游戏。CMA的分析似乎没有
考虑到许多订阅 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate的游戏玩家这样做是为了免费游戏和销售,
而且很多人对云端游戏服务不感兴趣也不会使用。
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决定的这一要素发表讲话的欧盟官员指出:“对我们来说,[云端游戏] 不是一个
单独的市场。它是整个市场的一部分。”虽然随着越来越多的人以各种方式访问它,云端
游戏在未来可能确实会出现增长,但它尚未在当前的游戏领域找到稳固的基础。最近谷歌
Stadia的关闭以及Nvidia的Geforce Now云端游戏服务的小众地位证明了这一点。
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公司意识到其在云端游戏领域的强大影响力可能成为其收购动视暴雪的障碍,并开始
与第三方云游戏平台进行交易。事实上,即使在CMA宣布阻止 ABK 交易之后,微软仍继续
与云端游戏公司合作。目前尚不确定英国监管机构的决定是否最终会成为收购和未决云端
游戏合作伙伴关系的丧钟。