US tech firm Microsoft has claimed that it no longer sees Sony and Nintendo as the biggest competition for its Xbox platform.
According to Phil Spencer, head of gaming at Microsoft, he no longer views Sony and Nintendo as the main rivals of Xbox but instead, he considers Amazon and Google as its top competitors because of their cloud-computing infrastructure.
Spencer claims that "traditional" rivals Nintendo and Sony are not keeping up with the future of gaming.
Speaking to new technology news website Protocol, he said: "When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward."
"That's not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position," he argued.
Google made its way into the home-gaming market in 2019 with its Stadia streaming service but despite its vast cloud-computing infrastructure, critics pointed out that the lineup of games on Stadia is currently sparse.
Meanwhile, Amazon and Apple are offering games on their app stores, with Apple providing a monthly subscription service. While both companies do not currently offer a cloud gaming service, Amazon is rumored to be developing its own as it currently operates a large cloud computing business.
Nvidia launches GeForce Now
After several months of testing, gaming hardware-maker Nvidia launched its GeForce Now streaming service, which allows players to stream games they have already purchased on a digital store, such as Steam.
Piers Harding-Rolls from the IHS Markit consultancy said that the new service is aimed at "existing gaming PC users that want access to their games on screens away from their PCs and also those gamers that don't have access to a gaming PC."
"Google has faced criticism for its lack of supported games, so Nvidia's service, which currently supports instant play of over 300 of the most popular free and premium PC titles, is a significant competitive threat," he added.
