Microsoft and Nvidia Announce 10-Year Partnership to Assuage Regulators
Earlier this week, Microsoft and Nvidia announced a 10-year partnership to Assuage Regulators. In a press release, the two companies said that Xbox games would be available on Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service if Microsoft successfully completes its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The announcement comes after Microsoft President Brad Smith met European Union officials on Tuesday. He vowed to “reconciliation” and increase competition in the gaming market, which accounts for 9% of total revenue.
Call of Duty
Call of Duty, released in 2003 by Activision, introduced new innovations to the first-person shooter genre. In addition to a challenging single-player campaign, Call of Duty featured a multiplayer mode where players battled against computer-controlled foes in authentic World War II settings.
One of the most notable features of the game was the ability to carry a variety of firearms. In addition to a primary handgun and mounted machine gun, players could also carry up to ten grenades.
A player’s health was reflected by a health bar, while medical kits scattered throughout the levels or dropped by enemies restored their health. The game also featured “shellshock”: explosions caused the player to experience simulated tinnitus, a muffled sound effect and blurred vision.
The franchise has since expanded to include games set in the Cold War and futuristic worlds, and is now a global brand with annual releases. It is the second-most-popular first-person shooter series of all time, and has spawned numerous spin-offs.
Game Pass
Originally known as Xbox Game Pass, the service is a subscription-based gaming library that offers hundreds of games on PC, console, mobile and the cloud. It’s a trend-setter among subscription services and has a wide selection of Day 1 launch titles from Microsoft-affiliated publishers.
As a Netflix-style subscription, Game Pass is an excellent value. It consistently adds new titles and has a huge catalog of classic and contemporary games.
The service also offers ongoing discounts on some titles that can make it a more cost-effective way to play some of the best games of all time. Occasionally, though, Microsoft will remove a title from the library and you won’t be able to play it anymore.
The Xbox One’s Game Pass has been a major contributor to the company’s success, but we’re still waiting for the service to really take off. However, Microsoft’s deal with EA and the launch of the Xbox Series X console and cloud streaming are promising signs that the subscription will be here to stay.
GeForce Now
Nvidia’s cloud gaming service GeForce Now is a subscription-based platform that offers a remote PC environment similar to that of a high-end GPU, and it works on a wide range of systems including old computers, Apple Macbooks, and even mobile devices like smartphones or tablets. It also links to accounts at digital game stores, such as Steam and Epic Games Store, to stream games you already own or will purchase in the future.
The company’s Ultimate membership tier raises the bar for cloud gaming, offering up to 240 frames per second streaming with full ray tracing and DLSS 3 frame multiplying technology. It also offers click-to-pixel latency less than 40 milliseconds, another first in cloud gaming.
Currently, GeForce Now supports more than 25 million members in 100 countries. It works on Windows, macOS, Chromebooks and other devices as well as on Nvidia Shield TV set-top boxes. It’s available in nine US data centers and five European locations, and it can also be accessed through mobile apps and Chrome browsers.
AI
AI is a technology that can be used to improve many areas of life. It can help increase productivity, decrease costs, and boost efficiency within an organization.
It can also assist businesses in delivering a better customer experience by analyzing large amounts of data and making decisions on the spot. This can be helpful for things like meal delivery services, language learning apps, and more.
Nvidia’s push into AI hardware has helped the company offset sluggish sales of its personal computer chips. The Santa Clara, California-based maker of graphics processors has seen sales of AI-specialized chips soar to $6.7 billion this past year.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, a former Google executive, has made a big push into the growing AI chip market and has positioned the company to thrive for years to come. As a result, he has added about $5.1 billion to his personal fortune this year.
