Get Those Fingers and Thumbs Ready

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Happy Thursday, folks.

There’s petty, then there’s Apple and Google choosing not to name ChatGPT as their App of the Year.

No disrespect as I am sure it is an awesome app, but apparently, AllTrails, an app for listing registered trails across the world, is the better app than the one that completely reshaped our economy and occupied our minds for the last year.

No big deal or anything.

Microsoft Is Jacked Up on Gamer Juice

Microsoft had a big week, and for once, it’s not OpenAI-related.

The company made multiple announcements related to their ambitions in the sore thumb world of gaming, and there are some takeaways that you should know.

First, something that gets my lil crypto-lovin’ heart all fluttery, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer outlined a world where you can own a game and play it anywhere, anytime, a stark contrast to the limited world of console limitations or (gasp) physical disks.

Xbox announced that is working overtime to revamp Xbox Cloud Gaming, and though it's been a bit hush-hush since a 2022 teaser, Spencer's recent quotes suggest Microsoft is back in the cloud gaming race, full throttle, something which gamers are going to be particularly thrilled about considering the infamous Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Outside of the world of consoles, Microsoft is also eyeing PCs, the device of choice for the folks that win every single cross-platform match.

Similar to the concept behind the Cloud announcements, the idea is to allow gamers to stream the games they own, whether on a phone at Dunkin or taxiing around the runway waiting to step out in the aisle and block the socially inept people that try to beat the people seated in front of them to get off the plane. Don’t be one of those people.

Further, the company hinted at opening up Game Pass to competitors like PlayStation and Nintendo, something which would cement Microsoft at the center of the promising gaming market much like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud which have all done for internet and Cloud storage infrastructure.

Microsoft’s shift towards cloud gaming shows clear trends in changing consumer preferences. Though the experience on a PC or console might be better, fans want flexibility across multiple platforms (think Smart TVs and mobile devices), and the though often underserved because of technical limitations, mobile gaming is by far the biggest market in the gaming industry.

Xbox also revealed an app update for handheld gaming PCs, which is further evidence that the companies spending billions of dollars every year to try to understand this market recognize this, too.

Mobile is slowly getting the attention which it deserves, and in case Microsoft’s recent wheelin’ and dealin’ wasn’t evidence enough, Netflix made multiple titles in the GTA series available to subscribers at no additional cost, another sign (combined with efforts like Amazon’s foray into gaming, Apple’s game subscription, etc) that there’s something here which doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.

Though I mentioned that this news was unrelated to OpenAI, I kinda sorta lied just a bit.

Indirectly, ChatGPT is poised to take over the gaming landscape, particularly for mobile which is much more friendly for beginners and novice coders.

As mentioned, ChatGPT allows pretty much anyone with an idea to build that idea thanks to its extensive coding repertoire. Already, Twitter has been flooded with success stories of individuals from non-technical backgrounds to build apps from scratch.

I see a sort of duality emerging in the mobile gaming market where on one side, it’s about to become so oversaturated so as to become virtually unnavigable for gamers as people race to pump out titles, no attention paid to quality whatsoever.

I would not be surprised if platforms integrated some sort of AI detection tool or introduced some sort of community points system to those willing to take the time to actually play and review games so as to help filter out the noise.

However, there will be a few high-value games which are made possible thanks to AI, whether from bigger studios but also from indie developers who now have the power of 10 devs in their ChatGPT chat history. Though these will take a bit longer to emerge than those low signal games which are already popping up in bulk, the oft-overlooked mobile market could flourish from some of these new titles which help to catch up to the quality of games seen on other platforms.

Big companies are betting on the potential of gaming, particularly in cross-platform and particularly mobile experiences. For the empty-walleted startups of the world, there is signal here.

These announcements, combined with the powerful new capabilities enabled by AI, mean that we’re likely to see quite the revolution for the gaming market, and even if you’re not directly involved, you might benefit from finding a new cozycore game to chill out to before bed.

I often get asked “Trey, how do you know so much about startups?”

My first impulse is to answer honestly that I just make it up as I go.

What I actually tell them, though, is that I have a strong lineup of newsletters and news sources that I use to stay up to date on the latest trends and stories.

One of the very best?

Startup Rabbithole. Get another unique perspective on the goings on of the startup ecosystem!

Cheers to another day,

Trey