Nvidia’s chief executive believes we are about to enter the “most amazing season ever” in terms of the gaming scene, with a “really strong” latter half of the year in 2020 about to unfold.
In fact, in an earnings call following Nvidia’s revelation of its latest financial results, CEO Jensen Huang was banging the drum about how the PC is becoming such a large and crucial part of the overall gaming industry – as well as the (pretty much given) importance of next-gen consoles.
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Huang enthused: “We are expecting a really strong second half [of 2020] for gaming. I think this may very well be one of the best gaming seasons ever and the reason for that is because PC gaming has become such a large format.
“The combination of amazing games like Fortnite and Minecraft, and because of the way people game now, their gaming and their e-sporting, even F1 is an e-sport now, they are hanging out with friends. They are using it to create other content. They are using game captures to create art. They are sharing it with the community. It’s a broadcast medium.”
He continued: “The number of different ways you could game has just really, really exploded. And it works on PCs because all the things that I described require cameras or keyboards or streaming systems and – but it requires an open system that is multitasking. So, the PC has just become such a large platform for gaming.”
Nvidia’s CEO then added that on top of this, the second element driving this golden gaming era we are apparently about to enter is RTX (meaning ray tracing). Huang noted: “And the second thing is that RTX, it’s a home run. We really raised the bar with computer graphics, the games are so beautiful, and it’s really, really the next level.”
And the third source of momentum? That would be next-gen consoles. The chief executive observed: “And then the third factor is the console launch. The game developers are really gearing up for a big leap. And because of how vibrant the gaming market is right now and how many people around the world are depending on gaming at home, I think it’s going to be the most amazing season ever.”
Hype machine
Clearly enough, on one level, this is hype stoking as is expected from any CEO, particularly around ray tracing which is, of course, Nvidia’s trump card at the moment. And it’s one the firm will play with increasing fervor, no doubt, with the launch of Ampere GPUs which is imminent (although Huang didn’t mention that, perhaps slightly surprisingly given how close it is – September 1 to be precise).
Equally, it’s just as clear that the Xbox Series X and PS5 will obviously be hugely important for the gaming industry when they emerge later in the year, but perhaps what’s most interesting here is Huang’s comments on the PC platform, and how streaming along with other content creation on PC is driving gaming forward.
The assertion that the “PC has just become such a large platform for gaming” would certainly appear to suggest that Nvidia sees PC gamers as highly important, in much the same way that Microsoft has been careful to make similar points in recent times. (Recall Microsoft’s Phil Spencer asserting last year that PC gamers are critical to the future of Xbox and gaming in general).
So in one way, Nvidia’s chief exec’s latest comments are further proof – if you needed any – that PC gaming most certainly isn’t dying (that long-standing myth which keeps rearing its head from time to time).
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Via Wccftech
