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OMG! I thought 'GPU users' was PCs with GPUs (cloud gaming working on PC's with GPUs)!! This conversation is so confusing. Can we please use GP-U?

But everyone refers to GamePassUltimate as GPU. You are the first and only one I've seen mention they thought GPU meant something else like GFN (GeForce Now) or Cloud Streaming.
 
OMG! I thought 'GPU users' was PCs with GPUs (cloud gaming working on PC's with GPUs)!! This conversation is so confusing. Can we please use GP-U?

And still no-one actually pointed to the statement from CMA that's being disputed.

Okay, investigating, doing the whole job of discussion myself once again, the issue is the CMA asserted MS's current Cloud Gaming share as substantial (70%?) by using Game Pass Ultimate subs as a count of cloud gamers. Someone having a GP-U sub doesn't mean they are cloud gaming. The argument at present is comparing different types of subscription and service, none of which is identical or objectively comparable, and passing judgement on the subjective comparisons.

I'd say at this point the definion the CMA are using is services with a target audience, whether people use it or not. On PS, that's PS+ Premium. Not every PS+ Premium subscriber is going to be cloud gaming, but in the absence of other metrics, I guess that's all we and the CMA have got*. Counting that, the equivalent for XB is GP-U subscribers. For Amazon, Prime Gaming doesn't include anything but a tiny taster, so it's unrealistic to count anything other than Luna subscribers.

* If that's their numbers, and their source, counting these subs. Without reference to the source, I'm filling in the blanks with internet chatter.
Fair enough, I was under the assumption everyone understood GPU as Game Pass Ultimate. haha, but such is the pain of jargon.

Yea, so your investigation is correct, they set their cloud gaming share as a substantial 70% by using Game Pass Ultimate as the count of cloud gamers.
The reason why I suggested Luna or Prime Gaming is the same as Game Pass Ultimate is that they had parallel beginnings.

Amazon Prime started out purely as a sub to get your free shipping or priority shipping. Then over time they added Prime Video, Music, Twitch etc.
Its subscription base grew entirely from prime shipping. Today they now have Prime Gaming and Luna, but no one would seriously look at that number and say 'hey! you've got crazy number of millions of market ownership because of prime; we know that people bought prime for shipping and for everything that came before it.

On the flip side, this is actually what the CMA did to MS. Game Pass sold on it's own. Game Pass Ultimate sold entirely on it's own, starting as a Game Pass PC, Console + Gold. Over time they added additional benefits as well as EA Play being added to GPU. Only 2 years ago did they add Cloud Gaming to it.

Now, the years of Game Pass Subscribers from 2017 to nearly the end of 2020, are being regarded as cloud players, because that's when the xcloud beta went full public to game pass ultimate users. The simple reality is, people still buy game pass ultimate for the same reasons they've always had, it's still regarded as the best value in gaming. And that has nothing to do with xcloud as being an add-on access point, unless there's a huge population of consoleless subscribers who are playing via streaming on their mobile or PC.
 
18 million Amazon users aren't 18 million Luna subscribers. By that same token, MS has how many millions of Windows they can supply game-streaming to...something like a billion? So what are the actual cloud subscriber rates for the different services? What market share does Amazon have vs MS and Sony? Or if we're going to go with freebies, how many Windows PCs are there in the UK that MS can roll out freebie cloud streaming to?
Amazon Prime seems to contains something like Luna Gamepass. I don't know how good the selection is but a *lot* people have Prime.
 
Amazon Prime seems to contains something like Luna Gamepass. I don't know how good the selection is but a *lot* people have Prime.
Prime only includes a small selection of games. Not sure if it varies by region but it's 5 where I live. Luna+ is what includes a deeper library.
 
Prime only includes a small selection of games. Not sure if it varies by region but it's 5 where I live. Luna+ is what includes a deeper library.
Same.. included with Prime in the UK I have: Fortnite, Resident Evil 2 (2019), Overcooked! (2016), Lego DC Super Villains (2018), and Time on Frog Island (2022).

Luna+ is then £8.99, Ubisoft+ is available at £14.99 and "jackboot games" (party games) for £3.99.
 
But everyone refers to GamePassUltimate as GPU. You are the first and only one I've seen mention they thought GPU meant something else like GFN (GeForce Now) or Cloud Streaming.
No, I thought it meant GPU like Graphics Processing Unit! I thought there was mention in the CMA of how many GPUs were targets for MS cloud streaming or something. As the starting point was "the CMA is using bunk numbers", I was left guessing what the bunk numbers were because they weren't provided.
 
Amazon Prime seems to contains something like Luna Gamepass. I don't know how good the selection is but a *lot* people have Prime.
5 as others have mentioned. Not only that, they are marked as available until June 1st. I'm not sure their offering is anything other than a taster to try to get subscribers.


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Now, the years of Game Pass Subscribers from 2017 to nearly the end of 2020, are being regarded as cloud players, because that's when the xcloud beta went full public to game pass ultimate users. The simple reality is, people still buy game pass ultimate for the same reasons they've always had, it's still regarded as the best value in gaming. And that has nothing to do with xcloud as being an add-on access point, unless there's a huge population of consoleless subscribers who are playing via streaming on their mobile or PC.
I agree that's shonky counting. They should be using actual Cloud users from MS's operating data.
 
Based on personal observation, there are always 4-5 games available, they just cycle the games every month.
on a side note: it gives some insight here into the costs associated with game streaming.

Prime has increased by some $10 or so a year.
But Prime Video is largely a full catalog.
Prime Music is a decent sized catalog
Prime Gaming is the smallest offering.
 
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Interesting approach on getting approved.
 
(1/2)Chinese gaming company CMGE on Monday announced that it has signed a cloud service framework agreement with Microsoft. The pair will have more extensive cooperation in cloud computing, big data, Azure OpenAI. Main games under China Mobile Games will be connected to Azure

(2/2)OpenAI services and apply its large model capabilities to the company’s future game R&D and operations. The game “Chinese Paladin” under research by CMGE will take lead in localizing and deploying Microsoft GPT technology.


 
Some interesting sections from the EU decision. One part seems to be directed at the CMA. Expect to see snippets being posted all around the internet.
 
I think EC/EU ruling actually strengthens CMA's concerns and case on blocking this deal.
The EC/EU ruling has codified the behavioral remedies, so some see that as weakening the CMA decision. Who knows how it'll be viewed though.
 
The EC/EU ruling has codified the behavioral remedies, so some see that as weakening the CMA decision. Who knows how it'll be viewed though.

I'm mostly looking at the freebie commitments Microsoft has made on getting EC/EU approval (a sign that cloud gaming/services is VERY important to them!), and the EC/EU ruling laying out their cloud gaming concerns, but were ultimately satisficed with Microsoft's generous commitments. As such, CMA concerns about cloud gaming in the UK are justified from the perspective that they see Microsoft as a threat in growth of their own homeland cloud services. But I do wonder, if these generous commitments from Microsoft were ever made to the CMA on trying to get approval, or was it a last ditch effort on getting EC/EU approval?
 
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