Activision Blizzard’s purchase shows it’s about more than Xbox Series X vs. PS5

Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard. But in the future it could be about more than a conflict between PS5 and Xbox Series X. Because new trends such as cloud gaming have long dominated the battle between the big gaming giants, says MeinMMO author Benedikt Schlotmann.

Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard surprised and shocked many users. Many players already fear that games like Overwatch 2 or Diablo IV will no longer come to the PS5.

But Microsoft’s plans could be much bigger than just a few games that may not appear on the competition. Because the trends in gaming have also changed significantly in recent years.

Game consoles have played an important role in recent years

For years consoles played an important role and every big company made their own console to attract gamers. Each manufacturer like Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo built their own ecosystem to retain players.

If you wanted to play all the games, you had to buy a PlayStation and an Xbox, otherwise you risked missing out on important exclusive titles. And that worked for years because people bought the games and they bought the consoles. Especially because consoles have always stood for less complicated gaming. Much more accessible than, say, the gaming PC, which often offered more challenges when games didn’t work after all.

Even in this battle between the game systems, large sums were involved: Microsoft had bought Bethesda for 7.5 billion US dollars and in the same breath introduced new games, of which the science fiction epic Starfield was not on the PS5 will appear.

But with cloud gaming and new subscription services, that could change in the long term.

Cloud gaming could replace PS5 and Xbox Series X in the long term

Digital technologies are becoming more and more important and the Internet is also becoming faster and faster in many places around the world.

If you can play all the current top titles from Game Pass on your smartphone or even on the TV thanks to the cloud, then the console you have under the TV becomes less and less important, as the US site IGN explains about the purchase from Microsoft (via IGN).

IGN compares today’s consoles to a Blu-ray player. The viewing experience is certainly best on a Blu-Ray player, but most people today would still turn to Netflix or other streaming services because they are ultimately cheaper and more accessible:

• Just like Netflix replaced the Blu-Ray player
• Could Xbox Game Pass and cloud gaming oust consoles?

A look at the last few years also shows the trend towards cloud gaming. Subscription services continue to proliferate and players now have to consider how much money they spend on different subscription services each month. And here, with Microsoft, Netflix or Apple, several large providers are vying for the favor of users.

While online services such as Netflix or Disney+ are booming, sales of DVDs and Blu-Rays are steadily declining. DEG-Online speaks of a decline of 20% for the year 2020 (via degonline.org) compared to the previous year. This also shows that many people now rely on digital media and no longer go to the store and buy their films there.

Subscription services are all the rage, and for many people it’s just cheaper to spend $10 a month on a variety of movies or games than it is to spend $60 on a new game every time. When it comes to games, people often talk about a “Netflix for gamers”.

Xbox could win where Stadia fails – become “Netflix for gamers”.

Subscriptions and streaming services are trending: Many had already hoped to get a “Netflix for gamers” with Google Stadia, but Google Stadia failed miserably. Because here there was a lack of a comprehensive selection of games in order to retain a broad user base in the long term. In addition, many games still had to be purchased and Stadia could not be used with Steam and Co.

GeForce Now is much more successful here. Because Nvidia only provides the hardware for streaming with GeForce Now and charges money for the technology. The users must already own the games on Steam and Co. You cannot purchase any games from GeForce Now.

Microsoft, on the other hand, not only provides an extensive selection of games with its Game Pass, but also makes top titles available directly at the release at no extra charge. With the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Xbox expands its range with some of the biggest in gaming such as Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch and Call of Duty.

With the purchase, Microsoft is on par with Facebook, Apple and Co

Microsoft is thus on a par with the big digital competitors such as Facebook or Apple, who have already laid important foundations here.

And these topics will also be very important for gaming in the future. The head of Activision Blizzard had explained that they had to sell to Microsoft in order to be able to play with the big companies in the world. Activision’s boss names companies like Amazon, Apple and Facebook as direct competitors, but also companies like Netflix.

And if you want to participate successfully in this new world, you need resources and technologies to be able to keep up. And this is where Activision Blizzard chose Microsoft.

So it’s no longer about who sells the most consoles. Rather, it’s about people spending more time with their own games or their own world. Users should no longer have a console in their living room, but should be able to play any number of games in a subscription service on their television.