New Microsoft merger could enhance its gaming business
For almost 15 years, Microsoft's XBox has been a notable presence on the gaming scene. The company is apparently still making an effort to keep its gaming services current through a new acquisition. In an Aug. 10 blog post, the CEO and co-founder of streaming company Beam Interactive, Matt Salsamendi, announced the merger between his business' service and Xbox.
Beam specializes in interactive livestreaming, allowing several players to take part in a single shared gaming session. The purchase parallels the growing popularity of game streaming channels online, and adds to what the Xbox allows players to do. Currently, PC World reported, users can just share videos of themselves playing instead of inviting others to do so with them at the same time.
In his post, Salsamendi explained some of what to expect from the most recent of Microsoft's business mergers. The process will be gradual, he said, eventually incorporating new features over time.
"As part of Xbox, we'll be able to scale faster than we've ever been able to before," he said. "We're expanding the team, bolstering our infrastructure, and most importantly, continuing to grow and support the amazing community at Beam."
While the source did not disclose an official dollar amount for this deal, PC World did compare it to Amazon's 2014 purchase of Twitch.tv for $970 million. This service, which also caters to stream-happy gamers, showed a movement toward more stream-based content to years before the current deal.
In a different article published about that merger when it occurred, PC World referred to the benefits of the deal for both Amazon and Twitch. In particular, Amazon's web services and cloud resources seem to be a possible boon for Twitch.