Finance Monthly - February 2022

43 Finance Monthly. Bus i ne s s & Economy will make Game Pass one of the most compelling and diverse lineups of gaming content in the industry. Upon close, Microsoft will have 30 internal game development studios, along with additional publishing and esports production capabilities.” Interestingly, most of Microsoft’s stock price gains have stemmed from investor enthusiasm for its cloud services division. In 2020, the global cloud gaming market was valued at approximately $432 million and, by 2026, it is expected to reach a value of around $3,256.7 million. As a top market player, Microsoft will likely see huge profits from this shift in gaming in the years ahead. The acquisition of Activision will only make it easier for Microsoft to achieve its goal of making gaming more affordable andmore accessible for consumers. A Boost for Microsoft’s Metaverse Ambitions? While Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision boosts the potential for cloud-based gaming, Activision’s virtual worlds do not yet comprise a metaverse play as they still largely depend on various platforms, including consoles and mobile platforms, and are not yet fully immersive. However, Microsoft’s technological push in cloud computing and virtual reality could see it become a metaverse play over time. Last week, Bernstein analyst Mark Moerdler said that “over many years [Microsoft has] built what we would argue is the largest breadth and depth of functionality that will be required to deliver the metaverse platform.” Meanwhile, despite Meta having purchased 8 of the 13 firms that currently work in AR and VR, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella insisted that “there won’t be a single centralised metaverse.” Some experts view Microsoft’s ambitious move to enter the gaming scene alongside one of the leading gaming giants as its first major step to position itself at the forefront of the Metaverse race, ready to compete against big names such as Meta and Apple. Final Thoughts The news of the MicrosoftActivision deal was followed by a tidal wave of speculation, though only time will tell what materialises from the largest tech deal in history. “In 2020, the global cloud gaming market was valued at approximately $432 million and, by 2026, it is expected to reach a value of around $3,256.7 million.”

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