For the past year and a half, Google launched its Stadia cloud gaming service, Apple introduced the Apple Arcade subscription service, and Amazon launched a free PC game called “Crucible.” Live streaming platforms like Facebook Gaming also compete for audience attention.
But after flashy launches, what happened to apple arcade or google stadia or some of these other products? We look at them below.
In September, Joost van Dreunen, founder of video game investment firm New Breukelen, estimated that 50 million people could subscribe to Arcade in the next two years, which could generate $ 250 million for Apple each month, he said.
“I still believe that Apple Arcade has potential, but has a long way to go,” said van Dreunen on Saturday. “Its titles are beautiful and smart, but they seem to serve Apple’s aesthetic more than gamers looking for casual gaming and without complications”. content.”
While the service doesn’t get much attention online anymore, Apple regularly adds new games.
Arcade now has more than 120 games, playable on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and Apple TV. It remains a viable service for gamers who exist in the Apple ecosystem and don’t own consoles or PCs.
Google Stadia
Stadia manages to deliver a console-quality experience without clunky, space-consuming hardware. You also don’t have to wait and install games, saving hours of typical download time for serious gamers. In tests conducted by CNN Business last year, Stadia showed minimal lag thanks to the cloud, and the graphics loaded seamlessly onto the mobile, even in particularly intense battle scenes, as long as the internet connection was strong.
But the platform’s biggest challenge has been delivering content that appeals to gamers. Stadia now has more than 55 games on the service, with more being announced each week.
However, critics have noted that many of these games are already available on other existing platforms and consoles, so why should consumers switch to Google Stadia?
“Stadia has a long way to go,” said Dreunen. “The service is running out of track to make its way into the traditional console space as Sony and Microsoft prepare to launch their next-generation devices.”
Google declined to say how many users there are on the Arcadia platform.
Microsoft Mixer and Project xCloud
Now homeless streamers will have to decide whether to migrate to Twitch, Facebook Gaming, YouTube, or a smaller platform.
In October, Mixer had only 3.2% viewing hours, according to StreamElements, which publishes quarterly streaming reports. (Contraction, on the contrary, constituted 75.6% of the hours observed).
In a statement, Microsoft explained that Mixer did not grow fast enough to match the company’s vision for its players.. “It became clear that the time to expand our own live streaming community was out of the question with the vision and experiences we want to offer players now, so we are shifting our focus to fulfill that vision.”
Amazon ‘Crucible’
“Crucible” combines elements of adventure games and missions, such as defeating monsters by experience points, as well as features of popular shooting games.
Amazon’s game development arm has little brand recognition, so your reputation will depend on whether fans are excited about “Crucible” or its upcoming massive “New World” multiplayer game, analysts told CNN Business in May.
Whatever the outcome, Amazon already has its footing in the gaming industry by offering its web services to top developers and drawing millions of page views on Twitch, the king of live streaming.
Facebook games
As of last November, Facebook said that more than 700 million of its 2.4 billion active users “interact” with game content on its platform each month. But the statistic has caveats: Facebook counts anyone who has watched even a minute of content, played a game, or left a comment or reaction within a game group.
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