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Die Verantwortlichen von Activision Blizzard veröffentlichten in der Nacht von gestern auf heute überraschenderweise eine neue Presseerklärung, die die gesamte Community darauf aufmerksam machen sollte, dass dieses Unternehmen sich ab jetzt in einer über mehrere Jahre geplanten exklusiven Partnerschaft mit Google befindet und zwei größere Änderungen für die Zukunft geplant sind. Die erste dieser Veränderungen lässt Activision Blizzard den von Google angebotenen Service Google Cloud als favorisierten Anbieter für die zum Hosting ihrer Spiele notwendige Infrastruktur verwenden. Da diese Entscheidung etwas Aufwand erfordert und sich nicht von heute auf morgen umsetzen lässt, sollten Kunden diesen Aspekt der Partnerschaft erst in den kommenden Wochen oder Monaten bemerken (wenn überhaupt). Die viel interessantere und wichtigere Auswirkung dieser Partnerschaft läuft darauf hinaus, dass die Livestreams zu den unterschiedlichen eSports Events von Activision Blizzard in Zukunft exklusiv auf YouTube laufen werden. Die bisher gezeigte Vorgehensweise mit Livestreams auf jeder möglichen Plattform und die nützliche Verbindung mit Twitch werden also vermutlich in den nächsten Tagen wegfallen. Den offiziellen Beiträgen zu diesem Thema zufolge betrifft diese exklusive Partnerschaft auf jeden Fall die am 08. Februar startende neue Saison der Overwatch League, die nächste Woche beginnende Call of Duty League, Hearthstone Masters und Grandmasters, das World of Warcraft Mythic Dungeon International und die Arena World Championships von WoW. Zusätzlich zu diesen exklusiven Livesstreams möchten die Verantwortlichen auf YouTUbe dann auch noch weitere Videos, VODs und anderen Content für diese verschiedenen Veranstaltungen anbieten. Wer sich also für eine der eSports-Szenen von Activision Blizzard interessiert, der wird in Zukunft auf YouTube einschalten müssen. Ansonsten gibt es im Moment leider noch keine Informationen darüber, wie sich dieser exklusive Deal mit YouTube auf die von Activision Blizzard über Twitch angebotenen Vorteile auswirkt. Viele eSports-Events wurden in den vergangenen Monaten und Jahren von Twitch-Drops begleitet, die Spieler zum Einschalten motivierten und den Grundstein für das in der Overwatch-League verwendete System mit den Ligamarken bilden. Da YouTube solch eine Funktion zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt noch nicht besitzt, könnte dieser Aspekt der eSports-Szene von Activision Blizzard ebenfalls verschwinden. Außer natürlich die Partnerschaft zwischen diesen beiden Unternehmen sorgt dafür, dass Google endlich dazu gezwungen ist ihr Angebot zu überarbeiten und Verbesserungen an den Möglichkeiten der Livestreams durchzuführen. Genauere Details sollten in den kommenden Tagen oder Wochen folgen. The Overwatch League is teaming up with YouTube for a multi-year deal to provide world-class livestreaming for our fans! Starting with the 2020 season opening weekend—with home matches in New York City and Dallas—YouTube will be the league’s exclusive streaming partner, home to all live and on-demand Overwatch League matches. In addition to hosting all matches, the Overwatch League YouTube channel will also be home to other special video features throughout the season and beyond. 2020 Overwatch League matches will premiere on youtube.com/overwatchleague on Feb. 8. In addition to OWL, the Call of Duty League, Hearthstone Masters and Grandmasters, and the World of Warcraft Mythic Dungeon International and Arena World Championship will also be livestreamed and available on demand on their respective YouTube channels. Overwatch League match livestreams and VODs will be available in China on different platforms. Click here for additional details. More information will be announced soon. Activision Blizzard And Google Enter Into Multi-Year Strategic Relationship To Power New Player Experiences SANTA MONICA, Calif. and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Activision Blizzard and Google announced today a multi-year strategic relationship to power new player experiences. Google Cloud will serve as the preferred provider for Activision Blizzard’s game hosting infrastructure and YouTube as its exclusive streaming partner worldwide, excluding China, for live broadcasts of its popular esports leagues and events — including Overwatch League, Call of Duty League, Hearthstone Esports, and more. With hundreds of millions of monthly active users around the world, Activision Blizzard sought a partner to help enhance its gaming infrastructure, as well as deliver superior, low-latency player experiences. The company turned to Google Cloud because of its highly reliable global footprint, advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, and commitment to open source, creating a platform for building future gaming innovations. Players will benefit by experiencing premium network quality-of-service, including low latency and packet loss when playing high-fidelity games on any device. They will also have optimal personalized interactions, as Activision Blizzard can tap into Google Cloud’s AI tools to offer curated recommendations for in-game offers and differentiated gaming experiences. “We’ve worked closely with Activision Blizzard for the past few years across mobile titles to boost its analytics capabilities and overall player experience,” said Sunil Rayan, Head of Gaming, Google Cloud. “We are excited to now expand our relationship and help power one of the largest and most renowned game developers in the world.” “We’re excited to partner with Google to drive the next generation of gaming innovation for the industry. Google Cloud’s best-in-class infrastructure gives us the confidence to deliver great entertainment to our fans around the world,” said Jacques Erasmus, Chief Information Officer, Activision Blizzard. Additionally, beginning this week, YouTube will host the official live broadcasts of Activision Blizzard’s popular esports leagues and events including the newly created Call of Duty League, Overwatch League, Hearthstone Esports, and more. The inaugural Call of Duty League season kicks off on Friday, January 24, with 12 teams competing in Minnesota, and the Overwatch League’s 2020 season will follow on February 8. All competitions will be livestreamed on each league’s YouTube channel and will include archived and other special content. “With more than 200 million gamers a day watching more than 50 billion hours of gaming content per year, YouTube provides gamers and their passionate fans with the most popular video gaming platform in the world,” said Ryan Wyatt, Head of Gaming, YouTube. “Both the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League are the quintessential examples of world class esports content. As a former Call of Duty esports commentator myself, I couldn’t be more excited for Activision Blizzard to choose YouTube as its exclusive home for the digital live streaming of both leagues. This partnership further demonstrates our dedication to having a world class live streaming product for gaming.” “This is an exciting year for Activision Blizzard Esports as we head into the inaugural season of Call of Duty League and our first ever season of homestands for Overwatch League all around the world,” said Pete Vlastelica, CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports. “It’s our mission to deliver high-quality competitive entertainment that our fans can follow globally, live or on-demand, and to celebrate our players as the superstars that they are. This partnership will help us deliver on that promise at new levels, by combining our passionate communities of fans and players with YouTube’s powerful content platform and exciting history of supporting next-generation entertainment.” This collaboration with Activision Blizzard represents Google’s ongoing commitment to supporting game developer success around the globe. Across its business units, Google offers comprehensive solutions for game developers, empowering them to create great games, connect with players, and scale their businesses. (via)
