画/《巴伦》Elias Stein 

| 主持人/对话人：亚历克斯·尤勒（Alex Eule）/ 金泰（Tae Kim）

The cloud will eventually remake the gaming world, Barron’s declared last year. The trend might be moving faster than we expected.

《巴伦》去年就宣称，云服务终将重塑游戏世界。如今看来，这种趋势可能比我们预料的来得还要快。

Apple got a huge amount of attention this week for its latest plan to move into TV streaming, credit cards, news, and gaming. Apple stock has risen 18% year-to-date through Tuesday as investor sentiment over its strategic shift to services has improved. Amid the Apple hoopla, though, consumers likely overlooked a more consequential event out of Silicon Valley—Google’s decision to bring gaming into the cloud.

本周，苹果公司（Apple Inc.，AAPL）因其进军电视流媒体、信用卡、新闻和游戏领域的最新计划而备受瞩目。由于投资者对苹果经营策略转向服务的信心有所改善，截至3月26日，公司股价今年已累计上涨近18%。不过，在苹果引发物议沸腾之际，消费者可能忽视了硅谷传来的一个更重要的消息——谷歌（Google）决定把游戏带入云端。

On Tuesday, Google unveiled a cloud-gaming service called Stadia that will launch this year. 

3月26日，谷歌宣布今年将推出一项名为Stadia的云游戏服务。

The announcement drove big moves in game-industry-related shares. Advanced Micro Devices (ticker: AMD) stock soared 12%, adding $2.8 billion in stock value, on the day of the announcement. Its graphics technology will be used in the service. Shares of Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL) rose 1.2% on the day of the announcement.

这一消息推动游戏行业相关股票大幅波动。消息公布当天，美国半导体公司Advanced Micro Device（AMD）股价飙升12%，股票价值骤增28亿美元，该公司的图形技术将用于谷歌的云游戏服务。同日，谷歌母公司Alphabet Inc.（GOOGL）股价上涨了1.2%。

The Stadia rollout is the latest example of the tech battle moving to the cloud. From software to music to video streaming, industries are shifting to cloud-computing services because it offers quicker scalability, cost efficiencies, and a closer connection to the customer.

Stadia的推出是技术争夺战迁移到云端的最新例证。从软件到音乐再到视频流，各行业都正转向云计算服务，因为它可以带来更高的可扩展性，提升成本效率，同时可以使企业和客户的联系更为紧密。

Google says its aim is to reach hundreds of millions of consumers. Publishers will benefit from the additional distribution streaming offers, he says, while traditional hardware game-console makers could potentially lose business. 

谷歌表示其目标是覆盖数亿消费者。游戏出版商将受益于流媒体带来的额外发行量，而传统的硬件游戏机制造商则可能会失去业务。

But there are other key questions around Google’s gaming strategy. Will the business model be attractive to consumers? Google has yet to disclose pricing. And just how committed is Google to Stadia? The company has a history of shuttering or backpedaling on once high-profile products, from Google Fiber to Google+, but Google played down the commitment issue.

但围绕谷歌的游戏战略还存在其他关键问题。这种商业模式会对消费者有吸引力吗？谷歌目前还没有披露云游戏服务的定价。谷歌到底有多看重Stadia这项业务？从“实验性光纤网络”Google Fiber 到SNS社交网站Google+，谷歌曾有备受瞩目的产品中途停产或重蹈覆辙的黑历史，但该公司这次淡化了产品承诺方面的问题。

Moreover, Google will have competition from deep-pocketed rivals. Both Microsoft(MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA) are developing their own comparable cloud offerings named Project xCloud and GeForce NOW, respectively.

此外，谷歌将面临资金雄厚的竞争对手。微软 （Microsoft Co.，MSFT）和英伟达（Nvidia Co.，NVDA）都正在开发自己的类似云产品，分别名为Project xCloud和GeForce NOW。

Exclusive games are what really drive gamers to new platforms, and Google says that’s where Stadia will have lots of catching up to do. Microsoft has Halo, Nintendo Mario, and Sony Uncharted，and that's a reason why Google will develop its own Stadia games.

能够获得独家游戏才是真正促使玩家进入新平台的理由，谷歌表示这正是Stadia需要努力迎头赶上的地方。微软已经拥有射击游戏《光晕》（Halo）、任天堂（Nintendo）拥有《马里奥》（Mario），索尼（Sony）拥有《神秘海域》（Uncharted），这就是谷歌要开发自己的Stadia云游戏的原因。

Electronics Arts (EA), Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO), and Activision Blizzard (ATVI) declined to say whether they would make their games available on Stadia, While Ubisoft Entertainment (UBSFY), the maker of Assassin’s Creed, was the only publisher willing to publicly support Stadia on the record.

娱乐软件公司Electronics Arts（EA）、视频游戏公司Take-Two Interactive Software（TTWO）和游戏出版动视暴雪（Activision Blizzard，ATVI）均没有透露是否会在Stadia上推出自己的游戏。而《刺客信条》（Assassin’s Creed）的制作商法国育碧娱乐（Ubisoft Entertainment，UBSFY）则是唯一愿意公开支持Stadia的出版商。

The big winner in the streaming wars, oddly enough, may turn out to be a traditional console maker: Microsoft. It has scale in the cloud and already has an extensive lineup of games for its Xbox console. A Microsoft spokesman said the company will give gamers a choice to play their games across devices through its Project xCloud.

说来奇怪，这场流媒体战争的大赢家最终可能反倒是作为传统游戏机制造商的微软。该公司的云业务规模庞大，并且已为其Xbox游戏机准备了大量游戏产品。微软发言人称，公司还将通过Project xCloud为游戏玩家提供跨设备游戏服务。

This week on The Readback, Alex Eule is joined by tech reporter Tae Kim to discuss Google’s ambitious new gaming strategy.

在本期的 Readback中，主持人亚历克斯·尤勒（Alex Eule）与科技记者金泰（Tae Kim）一起讨论谷歌雄心勃勃的新游戏策略。