Interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the outlook for the Metaverse, the future of the game, etc.
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With the announcement of the acquisition of major game maker Activision Blizzard on January 19, 2022, Microsoft will rise to the position of the world's third-largest game company after Tencent and Sony. British economic magazine Financial Times has published an interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the future of Metaverse and games, as well as the regulatory issues facing Microsoft with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Satya Nadella:'Being great at game building gives us permission to build the next internet' | Financial Times
https://www.ft.com/tech-exchange
When Mr. Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, there was a voice saying that the company should abandon the game business and concentrate resources on the cloud computing business to compete with rivals such as Amazon. However, Nadella's first CEO was the acquisition of the miniature garden game Minecraft . Even after being acquired by Microsoft, Minecraft continues to grow, with cumulative sales surpassing 176 million in 2019, making it the ' best-selling game in the world .'
◆ About the acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Nadella, who has clearly stated that he is focusing on the game business, told Financial Times, 'People are wondering what it means about Microsoft's acquisition of a major game company while Microsoft is moving to a cloud company. I think you're thinking about it. '
In response, Nadella said, 'Microsoft's Game Pass and xCloud are now the future of games, but my favorite thing is that you can stream games that run in the cloud.' So for me, cloud and games are more integrated than secondary. '
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On the other hand, Microsoft's absorption of Activision Blizzard has been scrutinized from the perspective of market competition, with the Federal Trade Commission announcing that it will be under review . With this in mind, the Financial Times reminded us that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard is a big company, so Microsoft is the same as the other technology companies we're wary of. Are you thinking of a way to convince us that this is not the case? '
'We have a low 10% share even after this acquisition, and even the top players have a 10% share,' Nadella said of the company's size in the gaming industry. What we do is how the content creation platform is fragmented. We have become a big part of this fragmented place. '
“We also need to think about why content companies are about to grow. The answer is that distribution is a bottleneck. The only open platform for game content is Windows, Windows. The biggest store in is Steam, which we don't run. Given this environment, I want to allow many small and medium-sized businesses to expand their sales channels through xCloud, etc. by growing even if their share is low. I'm doing it. '
Furthermore, regarding the point of facing regulation, 'The regulatory framework needs to be considered positively and negatively. We can say that we already operate something close to the open web and open store. So what I have in mind is to provide equal traffic rules to all participants. Whatever form it may be, such as law or regulation, we are open and proactive. I'm going to be involved in it. '
◆ Future of Metaverse
The next question from the Financial Times is how games relate to people's lives. In response, Nadella said, referring to the Metaverse, 'These interviews will soon be held in conference rooms made of avatars and holograms, and they've been doing the same for a long time. What is it? That's the game. '
Also, regarding the outlook for the Metaverse, 'For now, we are playing the game, not in the game, but from now on, we will literally have a meeting in the Metaverse conference room. The Metaverse that you put inside should be found in various places in your daily life. Metaverse also appears in the business scene. For example, in the retail and construction fields, how do you make a factory? It will visually simulate how it will run in the Metaverse, which may look like a game to the eye, but it's actually a reproduction of the factory's functionality. ' talked.
Nadella describes these platforms as 'essentially the next Internet'embodied presence'.'
According to Nadella, Microsoft has begun developing applications that allow businesses, meetings and games to run on the same platform through the Metaverse. The Financial Times was reluctant to hear this, but Nadella said, 'When I talk to people in the tech field, I almost always have to rethink things from scratch. It's really just an evolution, which means you don't have to abandon your real workplace all at once. With this pandemic, we're digitally connected, teamed up, working together and improving our skills. I was able to learn what I can do, 'he said, saying that Metaverse is not a replacement for the actual workplace, but an extension of the way we work.
◆ About the future of Metaverse and the Internet
To Nadella, who talks about the Metaverse, the Financial Times said, 'We talked about how the Metaverse would be like the Internet, which means that each Metaverse would be a continuous platform rather than an isolated one. But why? Is it? Metaverse is still stand-alone, like the games Microsoft makes, 'he said.
Nadella, on the other hand, said, 'In a sense, the Internet is also incomplete, because if you move from one website to another, you can't carry over your identity. So I go from website to website. , I'm trying to get back to the basics of being able to move from game to game without the intervention of anyone. '
by HS You
As for the specific method, 'Our first goal is to realize what can be called'identity syndication '. This is our own as a user, whether it is an organization or an individual. The question is how to make your identity available in different ways. The answer is more like single sign-on , where you can use multiple services with a single user authentication. We share this mechanism. We want to broaden our reach, and the Windows Store will be the starting point, where not only will we have a variety of payment methods, but we will also have the flexibility to shop from multiple stores. It's a good example of how to connect your identity with multiple stores. '
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