Amazon chases Google, Microsoft in the game-streaming market

Amazon is diving into the new and hotly contested market for streaming video games, the company said during a press event that also revealed a refreshed line-up of Echo smart speakers and a flying home video camera.

Luna, a service that lets gamers play without shelling out for expensive game consoles or games, is Amazon’s biggest foray yet into the fast-growing $150 billion (Dh550.5bn) video gaming market.

A subscription to the Luna+ channel costs $5.99 a month during an introductory period and will include games such as Resident Evil 7, Control and Panzer Dragoon.

The offering, available at first to invited testers, will go head to head with rival services launched in recent years by the likes of Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Nvidia.

It is a long-anticipated debut for Amazon, which operates the largest network of on-demand software services through its Amazon Web Services cloud division.

The company has also long harboured ambitions to expand its video game entertainment franchise beyond Twitch, the gamer-focused internet live streaming company it bought in 2014.

Dave Limp, a senior vice president who leads Amazon’s devices and services group, said close ties to Twitch, as well as seamless game streaming enabled by Amazon’s cloud-computing group, would aid the company in appealing to players not served by high-end consoles.

“We didn’t build this to displace consoles, they are here, they are going to be here for a long, long period of time,” he said. “We built it to attract a different type of audience.”

Amazon announced the game streaming programme at a devices showcase. The company has held these events in recent years in an effort to stay ahead in smart speakers and accompanying voice software, a market the company helped invent with its Echo device and Alexa software.

Echo speakers and other smart home devices were the darlings of the consumer electronics world a few years ago, but growth has waned more recently.

The Covid-19 pandemic gives Amazon a chance to re-ignite growth now that millions of consumers are working and studying from home.

Amazon maintains a lead in smart speaker sales over rivals such as Google and Apple.

In recent years, the company has tried to expand Alexa’s domain beyond typical interactions like answering questions or reading the weather. It has unveiled high-end music-streaming devices, internet-connected home appliances and tie-ins with automakers.

Results

STAGE

1 . Filippo Ganna (Ineos) - 0:13:56

2. Stefan Bissegger (Education-Nippo) - 0:00:14

3. Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) - 0:00:21

4. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) - 0:00:24

5. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) - 0:00:30

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) - 4:00:05

2. Joao Almeida (QuickStep) - 0:00:05

3. Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep) - 0:00:18

4. Chris Harper (Jumbo-Visma) - 0:00:33

5. Adam Yates (Ineos) - 0:00:39

Where to buy

Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com

Best Foreign Language Film nominees

Capernaum (Lebanon)

Cold War (Poland)

Never Look Away (Germany)

Roma (Mexico)

Shoplifters (Japan)

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”