Reports circling around suggest that Alphabet’s Google may just have been enticed by the success stories of online casinos such as novibet.co.uk as it is now considering venturing into gaming with its own in-house video gaming studio.
Gaming giant Kotaku released a report which states that tech giant Alphabet is assessing the prospects of venturing into gaming. According to Kotaku, Google is particularly interested in venturing into video and console games first but is not entirely ruling out the chances of venturing into the online casino industry in the future.
According to the Kotaku report, Google is eyeing three main areas in its quest to enter into the gaming industry.
Competing against established brands
The first area that Google is currently exploring pertains to the console and video gaming market. Kotaku says that Google has earmarked Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo as its main competitors’ when it makes its first bow in the gaming industry. With a wide customer base, Google will certainly be relying on its brand’s power and influence across the world in competing with these already established brands.
Streaming Service
The second option that Google is currently exploring is developing a streaming service where gamers can access video games. This streaming service will be just like a combination of Amazon’s Twitch and YouTube. Using the streaming service, gamers will be able to log in to the service and choose any game of their choice. Once they select their preferred game of choice, they proceed to load it and play. It’s not clear at the moment if these games will be free or if gamers will have to purchase them. However, considering the success of both Amazon’s Twitch and Google’s YouTube, any streaming service that will be able to operate in as much the same way as these two will definitely be popular among gamers.
Gaming Studio
The third option currently under review is establishing an in-house video gaming studio. The studio will incorporate both the features found in the two options above i.e. competing against established brands and also launching a streaming service. By establishing a gaming studio, Google will recruit top game developer talent. These game developers will, in turn, develop consoles that will be used by players who will be playing the streamed games on Google’s Streaming Service. By establishing an in-house video gaming studio, Google will directly become the main competitor of Glu Mobile, Zynga and Electronic Sports as these gaming companies offer almost the exact same service to gamers.
Reasons why Google is looking to venture into Gaming
As Alphabet itself has not issued an official statement announcing its plans to venture into gaming, all we can do at the moment is speculate. The major reason why Google may have been attracted by the gaming industry is due to the increase in revenue. IHS Markit reports that in 2017 gamers purchased gaming products (hardware and services) totalling a massive $40.7 billion. Therefore, Google may want its share in one of the fastest rising industries in the world. Another possible reason is that venturing into the gaming market may boost Google’s advertising business.
