With streaming move, Google eyes future of gaming

Date created : 17/03/2019 - 09:30  GMT/ZULU

Google, which collaborated with "Assassin's Creed" maker Ubisoft on streaming technology for video games, is expected to launch its own video game service at a San Francisco industry event AFP/File

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by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, France24 Technology reporters

Google is looking to transform internet-age game play, with an expected launch of a streaming service which uses the tech giant's power in the internet cloud.

Expected Tuesday is the debut of a ramped-up version of a cloud gaming platform Google tested recently in partnership with Ubisoft.

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A video clip teasing a keynote presentation at an annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco invites people to "Gather around as we unveil Google's vision for the future of gaming."

The clip cycles through an accelerating collage of scenes one might find in video games, but says nothing about what Google will announce at the event, which will be live-streamed at YouTube.

Google collaborated with French video game colossus Ubisoft to use the hit "Assassin's Creed" franchise to test "Project Stream" technology for hosting the kind of quick, seamless play powered by in-home consoles as an online service.

A select number of people in the US were able to play "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" streamed to Chrome browsers on desktop or laptop computers.

A recently uncovered patent that Google filed for a video game controller hinted that the tech firm might be planning to release its own console and controller to go along with a streaming service.

- 'xCloud' on horizon -

Video games are following television and music into the cloud, with console-quality play on its way to being a streaming service as easy to access as Netflix or Spotify.

Computing power in data centers and devices from televisions to smartphones has surged and streaming technology has advanced, providing tools to break blockbuster titles from confines of consoles or personal computers.

Google, whose YouTube video service operates an eSports platform for viewing game competitions, will be entering a sector with other powerful competitors including Sony and Microsoft.

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said late last year that a keenly anticipated "xCloud" streaming service was in "early days."

Microsoft's Xbox consoles and games unit are big business for the Redmond, Washington-based technology titan, which has been adapting to modern lifestyles in which software is hosted as a service online and tapped into using whichever gadgets people prefer.

Video game titan Electronic Arts also has laid out a vision of streaming video games enhanced with artificial intelligence to create "living, breathing worlds that constantly evolve."

- Bigger world of play -

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter sees Amazon, Apple and Google as potential big players in the space given huge investments they have made in data centers that provide cloud services to millions of people.

Amazon, a major cloud operator through its Amazon Web Services, also owns popular game play-streaming service Twitch.

Console quality video game play streamed online as a service, hosted on servers in the internet cloud, faces challenges including moving data quickly enough to avoid lags in action or imagery.

Improvements in internet bandwidth, computing power and data storage capabilities are enabling "disruptive technologies" such as streaming that can change the way games are created as well as played, according to Ubisoft.

While streaming game services might nibble at consoles sales, they are more likely to broaden the audience of players to anyone with an internet connection, according to analysts.

The US video game industry generated a record $43.4 billion in revenue in 2018, up 18 percent from the prior year, according to data released by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and NPD Group.

"Console, PC, and mobile platforms all saw significant growth, while developing portions of the market like subscription and streaming services gave us a peek into a future full of possibilities for the industry and gamers," NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said in a release.

Analysis: Spotify: Bad rap

by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, The Economist Intelligence Unit Entertainment Analysts, New York

Spotify kicks off a cultural shift in the music business

The music-streaming giant on May 10th removed R. Kelly and XXXTentacion from its playlists

 Print edition | Business

May 18th 2018| NEW YORK

MAKING it on to an official playlist on Spotify, a streaming service, can help turn a singer into a superstar in the way that major radio stations once could. Until recently the main criterion for inclusion was a curator’s taste. Artists who have been accused of domestic violence and other serious crimes are on playlists with millions of followers, as are songs that critics find violently misogynist.
That is starting to change. On May 10th Spotify announced a new policy on “hate content and hateful conduct”, and removed two artists, XXXTentacion, a rapper, and R. Kelly, an R&B singer, from their official playlists due to allegations of abuse and mistreatment of women. Both artists deny any wrongdoing. Their music will still be available on the service, but it will not be pushed to listeners. It then quickly emerged that Apple Music and Pandora, two other streaming services, had quietly taken similar action.  

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Spotify’s public declaration sent ripples through the music industry, sparking questions about whether, and how, streaming companies should police their catalogues of some 30m songs. Few executives wish to speak publicly, but a veteran of both the music and streaming industries wonders whether Spotify and its peers should have the power to be “judge and jury” on which artists should be blessed or banished. One digital-media boss called the move “absolutely dumb”, asking, “How do you start drawing lines?”
Most executives at music-streaming firms had not seemed to contemplate any need to do so until recently (apart from taking down songs that might violate specific rules, such as hate-speech laws in Germany). Their counterparts at the record labels have for decades looked the other way as artists accused of various crimes rocketed to the top of sales charts. Yet in the #MeToo era advocacy groups have been putting more pressure on industry executives.
Time’s Up, an organisation that emerged from the #MeToo movement, had joined a recent lobbying campaign for music industry players to cut ties with R. Kelly, who has been accused of keeping underage women against their will in a sex cult. XXXTentacion is awaiting trial on charges that in 2016 he violently attacked a pregnant woman; earlier this year a video surfaced that appears to show him beating another woman in 2013 (the rapper says the video is misleading).
Spotify, which went public in April, was a particularly obvious target for activists. It is the global leader in paid music streaming with 75m subscribers and nearly $5bn in revenue in 2017. Its choice of playlist promotion is a big deal for music acts. Billboard magazine reports that 20-30% of Spotify’s music streams come from playlists. The firm’s RapCaviar playlist, which used to feature XXXTentacion, has 9.5m followers. In addition to the direct value to artists (roughly $1,000 per million streams), the extra visibility bestowed by playlists helps them with touring, record sales and label deals.
The de-listed singers and their defenders say they are being unfairly singled out. A representative for XXXTentacion issued a list of 19 other artists accused or convicted of violent or disturbing behaviour who are featured on Spotify playlists, including Michael Jackson and James Brown. This week RapCaviar still featured Famous Dex, another artist who has been allegedly caught on video beating a woman.  
It is unclear how far firms will go in de-listing artists. Many of those accused of domestic violence are in hip-hop, the most popular genre in America. Increased notoriety has drawn fans as well as deterring them. XXXTentacion hit Billboard charts for the first time months after his 2016 arrest. Dr Dre, who along with others sold Beats to Apple for $3bn and became a consultant at Apple Music, has been accused many times in the past of violence against women, though he has also shown remorse. But with the precedent now set, the pressure on streaming services to demote artists can be expected to increase.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "Bad rap"

 Print edition | Business

May 17th 2018| NEW YORK

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About The Economist

Spotify adds podcasts and video clips

by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, Reuters contributors and BBC News Technology reporters, New York

1 hour ago

Spotify has announced it is adding more non-music content to its app.

The new offerings include news bulletins from National Public Radio, the BBC and others as well as longer video and audio podcasts and clips.
Spotify has more than 60 million regular users across 58 countries. It says about 20% pay for its premium ad-free subscription services.
Chief executive Daniel Ek said that represents more than half of the global market in "streaming dollars".
The company said it had also taken steps to match the music tracks it suggests to the various activities users engage in throughout their day.
This includes a new running mode, which matches music to the pace of the subscriber based on feedback from their smartphone's built-in sensors.

The firm said it had also created a new type of audio format that allows a song's tempo to be altered to match a runner's footsteps while keeping it in tune.
And it has commissioned new track from composers and DJs including Tiesto, who made a brief appearance at the firm's New York press conference.
"If it works, the ability of Spotify to adapt what it plays you as the day progresses is interesting," commented Andy Malt, editor of the music business news service Complete Music Update.
"Being faced with a choice of tens of millions of tracks is daunting for a lot of users when they open the app, and while that catalogue is a big sell for the engaged music fans who were streaming's early adopters, it's less appealing to mainstream users.
"The less users have to interact the more music the app can serve up to them. Adding non-music content, including podcasts and video, also has the potential to keep users within the Spotify app for longer."

One of the new pieces of audio content is BBC Minute - an "alternative" round-the-clock news service, aimed at a youth audience, already offered to other digital platforms.
Launched in April, it is a 60 second conversation of shareable news, updated every half hour.
In addition, for a year-long period, overseas Spotify users will be able to listen to around 50 speech-only podcasts from BBC stations.
"These programmes are already freely available in the UK, so we're running this trial only for overseas users," the corporation said in a statement.
"This means we can generate income for the BBC to reinvest in programmes for licence fee payers as well as reaching new audiences across the globe."
Disney, the sports network ESPN, the science-tech talks organiser TED, Conde Nast Entertainment and the US TV channels MTV and NBC are among those who have also committed to providing material.

Spotify said it would suggest video and audio shows to users based on their past use.
The announcement comes less than three weeks before Apple's developers conference, when the iPhone-maker is expected to reveal plans for a streaming music service based on its takeover of Beats Music.
Spotify is also facing new competition from Tidal, a music service relaunched by the musician Jay Z and backed by other famous stars. Jay Z said last month that it had signed up 770,000 subscribers.
The new services are initially restricted to iPhone users in the US, UK, Germany and Sweden, but will later be extended to other platforms and countries.

Analysis: Rory Cellan-Jones, technology correspondent

Streaming may well be the future of music and Spotify may be the future of streaming, as Daniel Ek claims, but the Swedish chief executive faces a twin threat.
Apple is about to launch its own music service and will be determined to win back customers lost to Spotify as downloads have stagnated.
And the music labels, which have absolute power over the streaming company, have been flexing their muscles, making it clear they could withdraw their artists.
So, by offering a new service which is about more than music Spotify hopes to take on Apple by winning over the kind of music fans who also like to snack on YouTube videos or catch up with podcasts.
Meanwhile, it will be able to show the music labels that it has other options.
But make no mistake, the stakes are high - if customers don't take to the new Spotify, plans for a stockmarket float will go on hold, perhaps forever.