“Sony, Microsoft, and Google Pledge to Design Eco-Friendly Consoles - Only Single Player” plus 2 more

Sony, Microsoft, and Google Pledge to Design Eco-Friendly Consoles - Only Single Player
Google Play Pass launches subscription service with 350 games and apps for Android - CNET
Report: Cloud gaming in Asia to generate $3 billion in 2023 [Niko Partners] - Yahoo Finance

Sony, Microsoft, and Google Pledge to Design Eco-Friendly Consoles - Only Single Player

Posted: 23 Sep 2019 09:59 AM PDT

Next-generation consoles will 'go green' as PlayStation, Xbox, Stadia, and more partner with the United Nations to tackle climate change.

The climate change initiative has gained support from 21 companies that have joined the UN's new Playing For The Planet Alliance. Each platform has formally pledged to raise awareness of climate change and proactively work to reduce pollution.

Microsoft and Sony have promised to help save the planet with plans for carbon-neutral Xbox units and a low-power suspension mode for the PlayStation 5.

The UN Environment website contains a record of all promises the companies have pledged. Within the exhaustive list is the pledge from Sony indicating that the next-generation PlayStation console will have a low-power suspend mode.

In a recent PlayStation Blog post, President and CEO Jim Ryan confirmed the mode will consume less power than the PS4's, stating: "If just one million users enable this feature, it would save equivalent to the average electricity use of 1,000 US homes."

Microsoft has revealed a new manufacturing project that aims to reduce supply chain emissions by 30% by 2030. Additionally, the platform holder will certify that 825,000 Xbox consoles are carbon neutral as part of a pilot program.

The Google Stadia team will also aim to produce a guide for sustainable game development. The company has promised to fund research into implementing 'green nudges' into gameplay.

The companies on board so far are Sony Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft, Google Stadia, Ubisoft, Sports Interactive, Twitch, Niantic, Supercell, Playmob, Rovio, Sybo, Space Ape, Wild Works, Green Man Gaming, Creative Mobile, Reliance Games, iDreamSky, E-Line Media, Strange Loop, Pixelberry, and Internet of Elephants.

The UN has partnered with these companies because it estimates they have a combined audience of 970 million players. Furthermore, the planned initiatives from the Climate Action Summit will reduce CO2 emissions by 30 million tonnes by 2030.

For all the latest news from the world of single-player gaming, be sure to follow OnlySP on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Also, be sure to join the discussion in the community Discord server.

Google Play Pass launches subscription service with 350 games and apps for Android - CNET

Posted: 23 Sep 2019 02:20 PM PDT

Google to Apple: "Game on!"
Getty Images

Google on Monday launched Play Pass, a monthly subscription service that gives people access to a library of games and other apps on Google's Play Store, as the search giant experiments with new pricing models for its products. The service, which costs $4.99, includes more than 350 apps and games, including Monument Valley, Risk and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. But Google said it wants the service to go further, so it's also bundling other types of health, fitness and photography apps. That includes photo retouching, weather and camera apps.

Play Pass is a $4.99 subscription service.

Google

"Games are super important, but we're going beyond that," Austin Shoemaker, a group product manager at Google, said in an interview last week. "It doesn't just appeal to hardcore gamers."

Play Pass is similar to Apple Arcade, a service from the iPhone maker that launched last week and also costs $4.99. Apple's offering, though, focuses solely on games and has a library of about 100 titles. Asked about the comparison to Apple Arcade, Shoemaker didn't specifically address the competitor. He did say, though, that the company thinks of Play Pass as "much broader."

The Play Pass launch comes as Google makes a big push into gaming. In November, the search giant is releasing its Stadia platform, a service that lets people stream games from the cloud instead of playing them on a console. Tech giants and media companies have also been more broadly experimenting with subscription services. For example, firms including Disney and NBC have announced plans for their own streaming video services. Meanwhile, Google has been building out Google One, a subscription service for consumers that gives people more storage for the company's suite of apps, including Google Photos and Drive.

play-pass-titles — Google says the Play Pass service includes more than 350 games and other apps.
Google

Play Pass also gets rid of ads, in-app purchases and paywalls. For now, Google is offering a promotion that lets people pay $1.99 per month for the first year, with a 10-day free trial. Google will also let people share the subscription with up to five family members.

To use Play Pass, subscribers will see a new tab with a ticket logo in the Google Play app. The page includes featured apps and recommendations that have been curated for the service. Google said it will share subscription revenue with app developers, but declined to provide details on how the money would be split.

Shoemaker said the service won't come with any exclusive content, but that could change in the future.

This article was originally published on Sept. 23, 2019 and has since been updated.

Now playing: Watch this: Stadia announcement: All the cool games previewed

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Apple iPhone 11

Report: Cloud gaming in Asia to generate $3 billion in 2023 [Niko Partners] - Yahoo Finance

Posted: 23 Sep 2019 12:04 PM PDT

Within five years, cloud gaming in Asia is expected to reach 60 million gamers, and may surpass 500 million by 2028.

Sam Desatoff,Mon, 23 Sep 2019 19:04:00

As cloud gaming continues its upward trajectory and prepares to dominate the gaming landscape, markets around the world are anticipating its impact. In particular, the Asian game market -- the largest in the world -- is expected to see enormous growth from cloud gaming. According to a new report from market analyst group Niko Partners, cloud gaming in Asia is expected to generate $3 billion by 2023.

"Cloud gaming will be of tremendous benefit to gamers who will have access to a large number of high quality titles without the need for expensive hardware," Niko Partners founder Lisa said in a statement. "Developers, publishers, and platforms all profit as well with greater reach and more ways to monetize, however the companies that own the most parts of the value chain from IP to infrastructure stand to benefit the most. And as with so many other sectors of gaming, Asia is leading the way."

According to the report, cloud services will reach approximately 3 million gamers in Asia by next year, with that number rising to 60 million in 2023, and 500 million by 2028. Niko expects that mobile gamers will make up the majority of consumers impacted, as they're the largest segment of the market.

"Consoles are a niche market in Asia outside Japan, and we expect this to remain the case moving into the next generation," Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad told GameDaily. "We believe that cloud gaming can expand the console playing audience by bringing high quality console games to PC and mobile gamers via cloud. Microsoft has already partnered with SK Telecom to trial its XCloud console cloud game service to over 1 million 5G users on the network."

Widespread adoption of the cloud is likely to be driven by advances in the technology behind it. While previous endeavors into cloud gaming--services like OnLive and Gaikai--hinted at its potential, they were badly bottlenecked by the low bandwidth available at the time. Now, with the advent of 5G technology, Niko expects those roadblocks to disappear, assuming cloud gaming continues to see substantial investment.

"5G and new business models for cloud gaming platforms will be the main drivers of growth through 2023," Ahmad said. "5G, along with edge computing, will enable mobile gamers to play cloud games at high resolutions and with low latency, providing an experience that cloud games could not previously reach. New business models for cloud gaming platforms, such as free-to-play and time-based fee platforms, will allow cloud games to reach a much larger audience on PC and Mobile."

The cloud has been the target of tech giants like Microsoft and Google. For years, Azure cloud services have been one of the most lucrative sectors of Microsoft's business, and it's grown by more than 73% over the last year. Clearly, doubling down on the cloud and further tapping the Asian market is in the best interest for Microsoft.

The upcoming launch of its Stadia gaming service illustrates Google's confidence in cloud gaming. The company also already boasts a substantial footprint in the Asian market, and will likely continue to grow over the coming years. However, Google is one of several companies prohibited from operating in China, making the country an enormous untapped vein of cloud users for the U.S. tech giant.

While the cloud is less of a focus for Sony, it's made its own moves into the industry. In May, it announced plans to work with Microsoft to further cloud gaming, and analyst group IHS Market anticipates that PS Now will be important to Sony's success in the cloud.

Chinese tech giant Tencent has been building its cloud gaming division for some time now, and even owns an entirely separate company dedicated to the technology. Tencent Cloud has been making efforts to expand westward in recent years, and will likely continue to grow as more and more consumers flock to cloud gaming.

"We believe the best positioned cloud gaming companies will own multiple parts of the cloud gaming ecosystem," Ahmad said. "Tencent being the prime example due to its large library of self developed and licensed games, its strong distribution channels such as WeGame, WeChat, MyApp, and its cloud computing segment. Western cloud game companies can find success in Asia but may be limited by the popularity of business models they use, as well as regulations that restrict them from operating in certain countries, such as Google in China."

The Asian game market is the largest in the world, so we're likely to see some tough competition there moving forward. There's no denying the future of gaming will be inseparably tied to the cloud, and it's simply a matter of time before 5G technology makes a global impact. As platform barriers are removed and more consumers shift to cloud-based gaming, revenue is likely to skyrocket, making the industry more and more attractive for tech companies.

"5G is a killer app for cloud gaming and will grow the market significantly over the next few years in Asia," Ahmad said. "There is also a strong push from governments, publishers and developers to explore the 5G and cloud gaming market. We think that cloud gaming will reach mainstream by 2023 and go fully mass market by 2028 as developers move to create cloud-first games and platforms promote the convenience of cloud games."

Cloud artiicle 14

Monday, September 23, 2019